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THINGS    CHINESE 


OTHER  WORKS  BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


'Cantonese  Made  Easy,'  3rd  Edition. 
'  How  to  Speak  Cantonese,'  2nd  Edition. 
'Headings  in  Cantonese  Colloquial.' 

'  The   Cantonese    Made    Easy   Vocabulary,'  2nd 
Edition. 

'An  English-Cantonese  Pocket  Vocabulary,'  2nd 
Edition. 

1  Easy  Sentences  in  Hakka,  with  a  Vocabulary.' 

'Hakku  Made  Easy,'  Part  I. 

'  How  to  Write  the  Radicals.' 

'  How  to  Write  Chinese,'  Part  I.  (out  of  print). 

'The  San  Wui  Dialect.' 

'The  Tung  Kwuii  Dialect'  (out  of  print). 

'  The  Hong  Shan  or  Macao  Dialect.' 

'The  Shun  Tak  Dialect.' 

'  The     English  -  Chinese     Cookery     Book.'     2nd 
Edition  (in  the  press). 


THINGS  CHINESE 

OR 
NOTES   CONNECTED   WITH   CHINA 


BY 


J.    DYER  JBALL,    M.R.A.S. 


H.M.  CIVIL  SERVICE,   HONGKONG 

AND 

AUTHOR  OF  'CANTONESE  MADE  EASY,'  'HOW  TO  SPEAK  CANTONESE, 

'HOW  TO  WR.ITE  CHINESE,'  '  HAKKA  MADE  EASY,' 

AND  OTHER  WORKS 


FOURTH    EDITION 
REVISED   AND    ENLARGED 


ALL    RIGHTS  RESERVED 


NEW   YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

153-157    FIFTH    AVENUE 
1904 


COPYRIGHT   AT   STATIONERS'    HALL,    LONDON 


Registered  in  accordance  with  the  Provisions  of  Ordinance  No.   IO 
of  1888,  at  the  Office  of  the  Registrar-General,  Hongkong. 


[Printed  in  Great  firttaiit.} 


PREFACE 

NEARLY  forty  years  spent  in  China  have  given  the  author 
many  opportunities  of  observing  and  studying  the  Chinese 
in  almost  every  aspect  of  their  life  and  character,  and,  while 
indebted  to  other  writers  as  well,  he  has  largely  availed 
himself  of  these  personal  observations  and  experiences  in 
the  production  of  this  book. 

The  first  appearance  of  Mr  Basil  Hall  Chamberlain's 
'  Things  Japanese '  gave  rise  to  the  idea  of  '  Things 
Chinese,'  until  now,  in  the  words  of  that  author  in  the 
Preface  to  his  Fourth  Edition  of  '  Things  Japanese ' 
{for  edition  after  edition  of  it  and  '  Things  Chinese ' 
have  been  issued  nearly  pari  passii),  '  In  the  un- 
likely event  of  anyone  instituting  a  minute  comparison 
between  this  edition  and  its  predecessor,  he  would 
find  minor  alterations  innumerable — here  a  line  erased, 
there  a  paragraph  added,  or  again  a  figure  changed, 
a  statement  qualified,  a  description  or  a  list  brought 
up  to  date,  even  a  score  (or  two  or  more)  of  completely 
new  articles  inserted.  But  take  it  altogether,  the  book 
remains  the  same  as  heretofore.'  So  the  same  may  be 
said  of  this  Fourth  Edition  of  '  Things  Chinese.'  A 
word  here,  a  line  there,  now  a  clause,  then  a  term  struck 
out,  a  phrase  deleted,  or  sentence  altered — all  have  had 
their  share  in  making  it  necessary  to  put  the  word  '  revised  ' 
on  the  title-page.  As  regards  the  companion  word, 

vii 


Things  Chinese 

'enlarged,'  the  additional  headings  consist  mostly  of  short 
articles,  occasionally  only  a  few  lines,  or  a  sentence,  or  a 
paragraph  ;  but  though  mostly  short,  this  defect,  if  it  be 
one,  has,  the  author  hopes,  been  atoned  for  by  their 
number. 

Two  paragraphs  from  Mr  J.  B.  Coughtrie's  pen  are 
included  under  the  heading  of  Art,  and  several  emenda- 
tions in  the  same  article  are  due  to  his  critical  acumen  and 
artistic  taste.  The  advice  of  Mr  Charles  Ford,  F.L.S.,  was 
sought  on  several  points  connected  with  the  short  article 
on  Botany.  The  author  has  also  pleasure  in  acknowledging, 
as  regards  this  edition,  the  kindness  of  Dr  J.  C.  Thomson 
in  reading  over  the  articles  on  Acupuncture,  Beri-beri, 
Doctors,  Leprosy,  Mosquitoes,  Plague,  and  Vaccination,  as 
well  as  for  some  suggestions  made  by  him  ;  and  to  any 
others — English  or  Chinese — from  whom  a  suggestion  may 
have  been  received,  or  a  fact  gleaned,  the  author  desires 
to  express  his  best  thanks. 

Since  this  book  first  issued  from  the  press,  China  has 
indeed  been  the  theatre  in  which  the  leading  European 
Powers  have  passed  rapidly  over  a  corner  of  the  stage  ;  and 
in  the  minds  of  many  residents  in  the  Far  East  the  question 
is  whether  all  this  military  display  has  resulted  in  any  good 
commensurate  with  the  efforts  put  forth.  Not  that  the 
raising  of  the  dastardly  siege  of  the  Legations  and  the 
invasion  of  North  China  was  not  necessary,  but  whether 
more  lasting  good  to  China,  and  more  stability  in  the 
relationships  between  the  foreign  residents  in  that  land 
and  the  Chinese  themselves,  should  not  have  resulted 
from  it. 

The  grim  tragedy  enacted  by  the  massacres  and  war, 
what  has  seemed  the  farce  in  which  many  of  the  blood- 
stained instigators  and  perpetrators  enjoy  a  peace  with 

viii 


Preface 

honour,  followed  by  the  usual  comedy  of  an  indemnity  or 
compensation  for  losses,  drawn  from  the  pockets  of  those 
(the  Westerners,  in  the  shape  of  tariff  charges)  to  whom 
it  is  eventually  to  be  paid — for  thus  it  has  ever  been  with 
China  of  late :  the  expenses  of  our  punitive  wars  have 
been  recouped  to  us  from  the  purses  of  our  own  merchants  ; 
or,  if  a  new  departure  has  been  made  on  this  occasion, 
wrung  from  the  unwilling  hands,  and  filched  from  the 
purses  of  a  populace  distant  in  many  cases  from  the 
seat  of  outrages,  and  who  are  entirely  innocent  of  them. 
Filched,  we  say,  because  much  of  the  money  ostensibly 
taken  for  the  purposes  of  the  indemnities  is  diverted  to 
the  bottomless  money-bags  of  the  greedy  and  avaricious 
officials,  who  are  only  too  glad,  under  the  pretext  of  buying 
off  the  '  foreign  devil,'  to  have  the  grand  opportunity  of 
making  their  own  fortunes  rapidly,  while  all  the  oppro- 
brium is  shunted  off  on  to  the  shoulders  of  the  outside 
barbarian — all  these  things  would  seem  to  hold  out  little 
hope  of  a  betterment  of  things  in  the  future. 

And  yet  the  war — for  war  it  was  against  the  de  facto 
government  of  China,  notwithstanding  all  the  diplomatic 
attempts  to  deny  it — brought  out  more  than  one  good  trait 
in  China's  best  men  ;  and  more  good  still  might  have  been 
educed  out  of  the  evil,  or  in  spite  of  the  evil,  could  the 
opportunities  only  have  been  seized  to  strengthen  further 
those  who  have  the  good  of  their  misgoverned  country 
really  at  heart.  Amidst  all,  and  perhaps  in  consequence  of, 
the  crushing  defeats  inflicted  on  the  progressive  party  by 
the  reactionists,  many  a  foreign  writer  is  apt  to  forget  the 
latent  power  for  good  and  progress  still  inherent  in  the 
'  new  party ' ;  and  though  some  of  the  ancient  '  things 
Chinese' — the  corruption,  overweening  pride,  and  self- 
sufficiency,  etc.,  of  the  '  old  party ' — may  not  be  swept  away 

ix 


Things  Chinese 

for  many  a  long  year,  yet  still  this  new  force  which  has 
arisen  of  late  years,  with  its  new-born  and  fresh-inspired 
patriotism  (a  growth  of  only  some  three  or  four  years), 
is  bound  to  increase  as  knowledge  increases,  and  as 
knowledge  increases,  its  power  will  make  itself  felt  in 
increasing  proportions. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  look  only  on  this  mighty  empire — 
which  is  beginning  to  bestir  itself  and  respond  to  Western 
influences — with  the  official  goggles  of  Peking,  and  prophesy 
jeremiads  of  woe  alone.  Strife  and  commotions,  upheavals 
and  rebellions,  will,  doubtless,  agitate  and  agitate  in  the 
future  as  they  have  done  in  the  past;  but  with  further 
enlightenment  and  years,  the  elements  of  good  will  gain 
more  power,  and  tell  in  the  long  run. 

Let  us  consider  that  a  hundred  years  ago  there  was 
not  a  Protestant  Christian  in  China,  and  that  now  there 
are  a  hundred  thousand,  and  that  the  great  mass  of  these 
have  been  enrolled  during  the  last  fifty  years.  If  they 
progress  during  the  next  century  in  the  ever-multiplying 
numbers  of  a  geometrical  progression,  as  they  have  done 
in  the  past,  before  long,  this  new  section  of  the  body  politic 
will  necessarily  make  itself  felt  in  the  counsels  of  China. 
This  ever-increasing  element  of  Christianity,  under  whose 
fostering  care  nearly  all  the  material  progress  the  country 
has  ever  made  in  recent  years  has  had  its  inception,  is 
not  to  be  despised  nor  overlooked  in  prognostications 
of  the  future.  It  is  a  factor  that,  as  it  increases  in 
strength  —  which  no  one  who  has  watched  its  progress 
can  doubt  it  is  bound  to  do — will  demand,  along  with 
the  moderate  section  of  the  progressives,  a  voice ;  their 
adherents  will  occupy  foremost  positions  in  time,  and  have 
their  share  in  the  government  of  the  country. 

The  evolutionary  forces  are  at  work  :    Western  nations 


Preface 

are  surrounding  the  ancient  centre  of  the  Far  East,  and 
conditioned  by  its  new  environments,  the  foremost  men 
are  yearning  for  progress  towards  a  higher  plane  of  exist- 
ence for  their  native  country  and  themselves.  These 
aspirations  of  the  best  of  her  sons  are  not  those  of  hordes 
of  Huns  led  by  an  all-world  conqueror.  True  progress 
does  not  always  consist  in  the  conquering  of  other  nations, 
nor  in  holocausts  of  human  victims  offered  to  the  God  of 
War.  The  Chinese  as  a  nation  have  been  a  peace-loving 
people. 

The    little    white    stone     of    Western    progress    and 
Christianity  has  been  cast  into  the  well-nigh  stagnant  pool 
of  Chinese  thought,  and  it  has  sunk  deep  into  its  very 
heart,  unseen  to  a  great  extent  in  its  progress ;    but  its 
influence  is  making  itself  visible  on  the  surface  in  ever- 
increasing  ripples,  which  are  extending  far  and  wide,  and 
have  not  yet  reached  their  limit.     The  point  of  impact  of 
this  disturbing  element  seems  but  small,  compared  with 
the  vast  mass  of  old-world  traditions  and  modes  of  thought, 
and  the  influence,  at  first  sight,  may  be  considered  to  be 
but  superficial,  hastened  only  to  waste  its  efforts  on  the 
sandy  shore  of  the  arid  desert   of  Chinese  literature  (as 
some    have    described   it),  which   apparently   bounds    all 
Chinese  mental  effort  and  movement ;  but,  though  hidden 
to    a   great   extent    from    those   who    only   look    on    the 
surface,   it    is    making   itself    felt    at    the    heart    of    the 
nation,  and   will   continue   to   do  so,  more  and   more,  as 
it    sinks    deeper    and     deeper    into    the    centre    of    the 
vital   existence   of  the  country.     In   other  words,  let    us 
not    take    a    pessimistic    view    of    everything    connected 
with    China,   for    the    influences    that    are    at   work    are 
greater  than  many  would  think  ;   and  though  the  visible 

outcome    is    but    comparatively    small    at    present    (as 

xi 


Things  Chinese 

compared  with  the  hoary  mass  to  be  moved),  yet  they 
are  bound  to  extend  in  the  future,  and  to  exert  even 
more  influence  in  time  to  come,  and  to  achieve  more 
in  the  days  of  to-morrow — in  that  land  where  the 
to-morrows  are  so  long  of  coming  —  than  it  has  ever 
done  in  the  yesterdays  of  the  long  ago. 

J.   DYER   BALL. 
October  1903. 


XII 


THINGS  CHINESE 


ABACUS. — The  abacus,  or  counting-board,  is  as  much 
a  necessity  in  a  merchant's  office,  or  shrofFs  counting-room, 
as  his  account-books ;  without  the  abacus  he  would  be  at  a 
complete  loss  to  make  up  his  accounts,  and  his  books  would 
therefore  be  unnecessary.  Arithmetic  forms  no  part  of  a 
school- boy's  work  :  no  little  heathen  Chinee  ever  has  to 
sing— 

'  The  rule  of  three,  it  bothers  me, 
And  fractions  drive  me  mad,' 

as  both  the  one  and  the  other  are  utterly  unknown  to  him. 
Not  even  the  simplest  knowledge  of  arithmetic  will  ever  be 
learned  by  him  as  a  lesson,  unless  he  is  destined  for  a 
mercantile  life,  or  to  be  a  tradesman,  or  hawker,  etc.;  even 
then  he  learns  only  just  as  much  as  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  for  him  to  know  and  that  as  a  part  of  his  business 
training.  What  little  idea  of  figures  he  does  possess,  he 
picks  up  when  bargaining  for  food  or  toys,  or  when  staking 
a  few  cash  for  sweetmeats  at  the  wayside  stall.  The 
ordinary  Celestial  is  content  to  get  through  life  with  as 
scanty  a  '  knowledge  of  addition,  subtraction,  multiplication, 
and  division  as  would  serve  an  English  youngster  of  six  or 
eight  years  of  age.'  A  very  little  goes  a  long  way  with 
him,  but  nearly  every  man  can  finger  the  abacus  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  extent ;  and  those  who  have  much  to  do 
with  accounts  get  very  dexterous  in  the  use  of  it,  going 
through  the  calculations  most  rapidly.  We  once  had  the 
curiosity  to  time  a  Chinese  accountant  from  a  native 
shipping  office  when  turning  different  items  expressed  in 
taels  and  their  decimals — items  of  four,  five,  and  six  figures 

i  A 


Things  Chinese 

— into  dollars  and  cents,  and  we  found  he  worked  these 
sums  out  in  from  ten  to  fifteen  seconds. 

The  modus  operandi  is  as  follows  : — Putting  his  abacus 
down  on  the  table  before  him,  and  his  books  a  trifle  more 
to  the  left,  the  accountant  commences  his  calculations,  using 
the  thumb  and    forefinger  of  his  right  hand  to  flick  the 
little  balls  up  or  down  as  he  requires,  only  using  his  other 
three  fingers,  when,  his  sum  done,  he  sweeps  the  upper 
balls  to  the  top  of  the  board,  and  the  lower  ones  down  to 
the  bottom — the  positions  they  occupy  when  not  in  actual 
use.     The  principle  is  simply  that   of  the   framework   of 
wires  with  coloured  beads  used  in  England  for  teaching 
children  to  count  With  the  Chinese,  however,  the  counting- 
board  is   an  oblong  tray  with  bars  running  from  top  to 
bottom,  and  a  transverse  partition  running  from  one  side 
to  the  other,  dividing  the  board  into  two  unequal  divisions. 
On  each  bar  are  seven  balls,  two  in  the  upper  division  and 
five  in  the  lower ;  each  of  those  below  stands  for  one,  each 
of  those  above,  for  five ;  so,  if  one  is  to  be  represented,  one 
of  the  lower  ones  is  pushed  up  against  the  cross-bar,  or  if 
two,  two  are  placed  in  the  same  position,  and  so  on  till 
four,  after  which  all  the  lower  balls  are  pushed  back  again, 
and  one  of  the  upper  ones  is  brought  down  to  the  middle 
partition  to  stand  for  five.     If  six  is  to  be  represented,  one 
of  the  lower  balls  is  pushed  up  to  the  cross-bar,  on  the 
other  side  of  which  is  the  upper  ball,  for  five  and  one  make 
six.     The  other  lower  balls  are  added  one  after  the  other 
to  represent  seven,  eight,  and  nine  respectively,  while  for 
ten,  one  on  the  next  bar  to  the  left  is  used,  the  calculation 
going  on  in  the  same  way  as  before.     The  operator  fixing 
then  on  one  of  the  upright  bars  as  representing  units,  the 
next   bar   to   the  left  stands  for  tens,  the  next   one   for 
hundreds,  the  next  for  thousands,  and  so  on,  while  in  the 
opposite  direction,  to  the  right  hand,  the  decimals — tenths, 
hundredths,  thousandths,  and  so  on,  are  represented  on  the 
consecutive  bars. 

The   great   defect   of    the   abacus   is,   that    it    simply 
represents  the  process  of  calculation  as  it  proceeds,  for, 

2 


Abatement 

as  can  readily  be  understood,  each  step  in  the  calculation 
calls  new  combinations  of  balls  into  play,  and  has  the  effect 
of  obliterating  the  previous  step ;  so  that,  if  a  mistake  has 
been  made,  the  whole  process  has  to  be  gone  over  again. 
The  abacus  is  simply  used,  therefore,  to  record  the  results 
of  the  mental  calculations  as  they  proceed.  The  processes 
by  which  these  results  are  produced  are  not  shown,  and, 
while  each  new  operation  is  being  recorded  on  the  board; 
it  naturally  follows  that — the  balls  which  have  been  used 
for  the  last  answer  being  taken  as  the  reckoning  goes  on  to 
show  the  new  answer — as  each  computation  is  gradually,  or 
quickly,  set  down  as  it  goes  on,  so,  as  it  proceeds,  part 
passu,  the  preceding  answer  is  as  gradually,  or  as  quickly, 
as  the  case  may  be,  effaced. 

The  Chinese  merchants  or  traders  so  habituate  them- 
selves to  the  use  of  the  abacus  that  they  become  quite 
dependent  on  it,  and  it  is  amusing  to  see  the  utter  help- 
lessness they  often  display  in  trying  to  add  two  simple 
numbers  together  without  an  abacus. 

When,  at  daylight,  the  shutters  are  taken  down  from 
the  shop-fronts  in  Canton,  the  shopman  ensures,  as  he 
thinks,  good  luck  for  the  day  by  shaking  the  balls  of  the 
abacus  to  and  fro  ;  at  first  slowly,  but  gradually  increasing 
in  speed  until  finally  a  continuous  sharp  clicking  sound  is 
produced. 

ABATEMENT. — Nearly  every  Chinese  tradesman,  or 
merchant,  states  the  price  of  his  goods  with  a  view  to  an 
abatement  being  made.  The  only  exceptions  amongst 
purely  native  establishments  are  tea,  cake,  and  druggists' 
shops,  for  at  such  places  there  is  no  need  to  haggle. 
Exception  must  also  be  made  in  favour  of  the  shops 
dealing  almost  exclusively  with  Europeans,  where  many 
are  beginning  to  conform  to  foreign  customs  and  have  a 
fixed  price. 

A  Chinese  will  take  as  much  as  he  can  get,  but  as  a 
general  rule  it  is  quite  safe  to  suppose  that  he  is  asking  a 
quarter  or  a  third  more  than  he  expects  to  receive  ;  conse- 

3 


Things  Chinese 

quently  offer  him  half  of  what  he  asks,  then,  while  he 
gradually  falls  in  his  price,  as  gradually  rise  in  the  offer 
made  to  him  until  neutral  ground  is  reached,  when  split 
the  difference  and  he  will  probably  be  glad  to  take  what 
you  give  him.  But  this  must  all  be  done  with  a  perfect 
nonchalance ;  no  eagerness  to  obtain  the  object  must  be 
shown  ;  no  words  of  praise  must  fall  from  your  lips ;  any 
little  defects  in  it  must  be  pointed  out: — '  It  is  naught,  it 
is  naught,  saith  the  buyer :  but  when  he  is  gone  his  way 
then  he  boasteth.' 

When  in  doubt  as  to  the  value  of  anything,  a  very  good 
plan  is  to  go  about  beating  down  the  price  in  several 
different  shops.  A  pretty  shrewd  guess  may  then  be  made 
as  to  what  is  a  fair  value  for  the  article  ;  for  when  a  shop- 
man sees  a  customer  on  the  point  of  leaving  his  shop,  he 
will  come  down  to  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  low  a  figure  as  he 
is  prepared  to  accept. 

A  Chinaman  dearly  loves  a  bargain,  and  he  finds  a 
positive  pleasure  in  chaffering  over  the  price,  which  the 
foreigner  (to  whom  time  is  money)  can  scarcely  ap- 
preciate. Looked  at  from  a  Western  standpoint,  it  is 
simply  appalling  to  think  of  the  hours,  days,  weeks, 
months,  and  years,  which  must  be  wasted  in  the  aggregate 
in  China  over  the  carrying  out  of  this  Eastern  trait  of 
character. 

There  is  an  amusing  skit,  translated  by  Giles  in  his 
'  Historic  China  and  other  Sketches,'  which  is  an  admirable 
parody  on  the  language  of  the  market  and  the  shop,  and 
holds  up  this  custom  of  the  Chinese  to  ridicule.  It  is 
styled  '  The  Country  of  Gentlemen,'  and  represents  an 
ideal  state  of  society  where  the  tables  are  turned — the 
buyer  cracking  up  the  goods  he  is  purchasing,  and  offering, 
and  insisting  on  the  seller  taking,  a  higher  price  than  is  de- 
manded for  them,  while  the  latter  depreciates  his  wares, 
asking  far  too  little  for  them,  the  two  haggling  over  the 
price  at  great  length — as  in  the  every-day  world  in  China 
— the  only  difference  being  that  buyer  and  seller  have 
changed  places. 

4 


Aboriginal  Tribes 

ABORIGINAL  TRIBES.  — The  present  race  of 
Chinese  is  supposed  to  have  come  into  the  country  some 
four  thousand  years  ago.  They  were  not  the  first  occu- 
piers of  the  soil,  however,  and  it  has  been  only  very 
gradually  that  they  have  succeeded  in  driving  out  the 
aborigines,  for  large  tracts  of  country  in  the  south  and 
south-west  of  the  eighteen  provinces  are  still  possessed  by 
the  former  inhabitants,  who  hold  their  own  against  the 
Chinese,  and  are  reported  in  some  parts  to  even  have 
thousands  of  the  latter  as  slaves  in  their  inaccessible  fast- 
nesses, thus  retaliating  on  their  aggressors,  who  some 
centuries  since  exposed  them  to  the  same  treatment. 

The  provinces  in  which  these  representatives  of  former 
races  are  found,  are  Kwei-chau,  Sz-chuen,  Yun-nan,  Kwang- 
tung,  and  Kwang-si,  and  the  island  of  Hai-nan. 

In  Sz-chuen  a  considerable  portion  of  the  west  and 
south-west  of  the  province  is  sparsely  inhabited  by  some 
forty  or  fifty  native  tribes,  of  whom  little  is  known :  some 
are  very  warlike,  and  constant  depredations  are  committed 
by  them.  They  have  their  own  chiefs,  languages,  customs 
and  manners.  The  late  Mr.  Colborne  Babsr,  of  the  Consular 
Service,  obtained  a  specimen  of  the  written  language  of  the 
Lolos — one  of  these  tribes.  It  is  a  most  peculiar  sort  of 
caligraphy,  and  presents  no  point  of  resemblance  to  the 
Chinese  language  or  any  other  that  one  is  familiar  with. 
Dr.  Henry,  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  Service,  has 
gathered  together  an  immense  amount  of  information 
about  these  people,  hitherto  so  little  known,  and  intends 
to  publish  the  results  of  his  researches  and  long-continued 
inquiries. 

In  Kwei-chau  they  appear  to  be  scattered  all  over  the 
province ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Yun-nan,  where 
about  two-thirds  of  the  '  inhabitants  consist  of  various  tribes 
of  Lo-lo,  Li-su,  Mu-su,  Man-tzu,  and  Miao-tzu.'  In  Kwang- 
tung  they  are  located  in  the  north-west  of  the  province,  and 
in  Kwang-si  in  the  north-east. 

In  the  island  of  Hai-nan,  the  aboriginal  Le  tribes  have 
maintained  their  independence  against  the  Chinese  for 

5 


Things  Chinese 

nearly  two  thousand  years,  having  been  driven  from  the 
coast  into  the  mountains  in  the  interior.  They  are  divided 
into  civilised  and  uncivilised  Les,  and  are  physically  strong 
and  well  developed.  They  have  the  art  of  writing,  which 
is  described  by  the  Chinese  as  '  like  the  wriggling  of  worms.' 
There  is  so  great  a  difference  in  some  of  the  languages 
spoken  by  the  different  tribes,  that  they  converse  with  each 
other  in  Chinese.  The  women  are  tattooed  and  wear  skirts. 
There  are  also  some  of  the  Miao-tsz  amongst  them  ;  these 
Miao-tsz  being  found  largely  in  other  parts  of  China. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  they  occupy  large  districts  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  especially  in  the  mountainous 
and  hilly  regions  of  some  of  the  provinces.  As  has  been 
already  said,  in  some  portions  of  the  empire  the  aborigines 
retain  their  former  possessions,  but  from  other  tracts  they 
have  been  driven  to  upland  fastnesses,  as  the  ancient 
Britons  were  forced  to  retire  to  Wales. 

To  show  the  number  and  extent  of  these  remnants  of  a 
former  race  and  civilisation  in  China,  it  may  be  pointed  out 
that  in  the  provinces  of  Hu-nan,  Kwei-chau,  Kwang-si, 
Yun-nan,  and  Sz-chuen,  the  aboriginal  tribes — Miau-tsz 
and  others — occupy  an  area  of  country  equal  to  that  of 
France,  and  are  some  millions  in  number,  representing 
numerous  tribes  ;  as  many  as  one  hundred  and  eighty 
being  mentioned,  though  perhaps  not  so  many  are  in 
existence  now.  They  are  supposed  to  have  come  through 
Burmah  into  China.  As  is  the  case  with  most  of  these 
aboriginal  inhabitants  of  China,  the  dress  of  the  women  is 
more  distinctive  than  that  of  the  men. 

Out  of  the  11,000,000  inhabitants  of  the  province  of 
Yun-nan,  two-thirds  are  '  cultivated  savages,'  i.e.  Lo-lo, 
Li-su,  Mu-su,  Man-tzu,  and  Miao-tzu. 

In  the  Lin-chau  prefecture  of  the  Kwang-tung  province, 
and  the  south  of  the  Hu-nan  province  are  to  be  found  the 
lu  tribes,  who  were  brought  in  the  twelfth  century  from  the 
Kwang-si  province,  and  settled  on  the  mountains.  Their 
hair  is  worn  long,  they  are  short  in  stature,  and  have  scanty 
beards.  They,  as  well  as  other  aboriginal  tribes,  wear  cloths 

6 


Acupuncture 

bound  round  their  legs  from  the  knee  to  the  ankle.  No 
foreigner  is  allowed  by  the  Chinese  to  penetrate  into  their 
haunts,  which  are  now  restricted  in  extent  from  what  they 
were  originally,  for  the  more  civilised  Chinese  have  con- 
fined them  within  recent  times  to  the  high  and  inaccessible 
mountains.  They  have  no  written  language,  and  their 
speech  is  quite  distinct  from  the  Chinese.  Their  number 
is  perhaps  50,000. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  Japanese  arc  descendants 
of  the  Man  or  Miau  tribes,  who  crossed  over  from  the  south 
of  China  to  their  future  island  home.  At  the  time  of  their 
emigration  they  were  the  only  inhabitants  of  the  south  of 
China. 

So  little  is  known  about  many  of  these  communities  of 
primitive  man  scattered  here  and  there  throughout  China, 
their  mountain  homes  are  so  inaccessible,  the  accounts  of 
their  curious  customs,  simplicity,  origin,  and  peculiarly 
written  languages — when  they  have  such, — the  harsh  and 
cruel  treatment  they  have  received  from  the  Chinese,  their 
patriotic  stand  for  hearth  and  home  against  these  invaders  : 
such,  and  many  other  reasons,  all  combine  to  make  these 
people  objects  of  interest  to  the  man  of  science,  the 
traveller,  the  philanthropist,  and  the  missionary. 

Books  recommended. — 'Travels  and  Researches  in  Western  China,'  by 
E.  Colborne  Baber,  chapters  4  and  5.  'Ling Nam,'  by  B.  C.  Henry,  chapters 
9,  20-25,  contain  interesting  notices  of  them.  Several  articles  have  also  ap- 
peared in  the  China  Review,  and  Essays  in  the  '  Records  of  the  Missionary 
Conference  held  at  Shanghai,  1890.'  In  a  paper  in  the  Chinese  Repository, 
republished  in  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  Repository  for  October  1883,  a 
number  of  tribes  and  customs  are  noticed.  A  very  interesting  work  is 
extant  in  manuscript  in  Chinese,  profusely  illustrated  with  coloured  pictures 
showing  the  costumes,  etc. 

ACUPUNCTURE. — Acupuncture  is  one  of  the  nine 
branches  of  practice  recognised  in  medical  science  among 
the  Chinese,  and  is  of  most  ancient  origin,  having  been  in 
use  from  time  immemorial.  If  we  are  to  believe  tradition, 
the  Emperor  Hwang-ti  was  the  originator  of  it.  In  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,  Pien  Ts'iao  was  skilled  in  its  applica- 
tion ;  and  there  is  extant  to  this  day  a  work,  written  in  the 

7 


Things  Chinese 

third  or  fourth  century  B.C.,  which  treats  of  it.  Some  six 
hundred  or  more  years  ago,  i.e.,  during  the  time  of  the 
Sung  dynasty,  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  '  reduced  to  a 
science ;  for  one  of  two  copper  figures  of  the  human  body, 
made  in  1027  A.D.  by  order  of  the  then  ruling  Emperor, 
with  markings  to  illustrate  its  principles,  still  exists.' 
There  are  367  of  these  markings,  every  square  inch  on  the 
surface  having  its  own  name  'and  being  assigned  some 
relationship,  purely  imaginary,  with  the  internal  parts.' 
Acupuncture  is  extensively  treated  of  in  the  medical  works 
of  the  Chinese,  and  is  a  very  common  remedy.  Many 
directions  are  given  as  to  the  manner  of  its  use,  and  the 
user  is  cautioned  against  wounding  the  arteries,  for  which 
purpose  he  should  know  the  position  of  the  blood-vessels. 
'  The  operator  has  a  manikin  full  of  holes,  and  by  close 
study  of  this  he  learns  where  to  drive  his  needle,'  the  latter 
being  inserted  '  in  parts  of  the  body  which  may  be  pierced 
without  fatal  results.'  '  Sometimes  heat  is  applied  to  the 
outer  end  of  the  needle,  and  this  is  called  hot  acupuncture ; ' 
but  it  '  is  never  heated  before  insertion.'  In  some  cases  the 
needle  has  been  known  to  break  in  the  body  of  the  patient, 
and  has  had  to  remain  there  till  extracted  by  the  skill  of 
the  Western  practitioner. 

The  needle  used  looks  '  very  much  like  a  sewing-machine  needle, 
but  is  longer  and  coarser  than  that.  Some  of  the  Chinese  doctors 
have  needles  two  feet  long,  and  are  supposed  by  ardent  admirers  to  be 
able  to  drive  these  instruments  entirely  through  the  patient's  body  ; 
but  the  great  size  of  the  needles  is  in  reality  intended  to  represent  the 
greatness  of  the  owner's  skill  and  reputation.  The  needles  used  are  of 
nine  forms  as  follows  : — The  arrow-headed,  blunt,  puncturing,  spear- 
pointed,  ensiform,  round,  capillary,  long,  and  great.  The  point  of 
insertion,  the  depth,  and  the  direction  are  all  important  .  .  .  and  the 
method  is  usually  to  drive  them  through  the  distended  skin  by  a  blow 
from  a  light  mallet.  They  are  frequently  made  red-hot,  and  occasion- 
ally are  left  in  the  flesh  for  days  together.' 

It  is  considered  to  be  a  universal  panacea.  It  was 
carried  over  '  from  China  to  Japan  before  the  dawn  of 
history  ' ;  scarification  and  acupuncture  being  the  peculiar 
forte  of  these  two  nations.  Dr  Lockhart  says  that 
acupuncture  '  is  very  dexterously  performed  by  the 

8 


Adoption 

Chinese.  It  is  largely  resorted  to  tor  rheumatism,  deep- 
seated  pains  of  all  kinds,  sprains,  swelling  of  the  joints, 
etc.'  It  was  introduced  into  Europe  from  China  by  a  Dutch 
surgeon  named  Ten-Rhyne  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Books  recommended. — A  long  account  is  given  of  the  practice  in 
R^musat's  '  Nouveaux  Melanges  Asiatiques,'  Tome  I.,  pp.  358-380.  On 
page  229  of  'The  Chinese  As  They  Arc,' by  Tradcsoant  Lay,  woodcuts  are 
given  of  the  instruments  used  for  this  purpose  by  the  Chinese.  Lock  hart's 
'Medical  Missionary  in  China.'  See  also  a  paper  in  the  China  Medical 
Missionary  Journal  for  December  1892,  by  Dr  J.  C.  Thomson,  entitled 
'  Surgery  in  China. ' 

ADOPTION. — It  is  a  matter  of  the  first  importance 
that  a  man  should  have  a  son  to  offer  sacrifices  at  the 
Ancestral  Hall  and  to  worship  at  his  tomb.  The  cry  with 
a  Chinese  is  not  '  Give  me  children,  or  else  I  die,'  but 
'  Give  me  a  son,  or  I  cannot  die  in  peace,'  and,  failing  a 
son  of  his  own,  he  adopts  one.  It  is  impossible,  with  our 
ideas  on  the  subject,  to  understand  what  a  matter  of  prime 
importance  this  is  with  a  Chinese.  To  show  how  it  enters 
into  the  very  essence  of  family  life  in  China,  we  quote  from 
the  learned  and  interesting  brochure  by  Parker  on  '  Com- 
parative Chinese  Family  Law,'  as  follows : — 

'The  Chinese  adoption  of  agnates  is  ...  not  a  matter  of 
choice  .  .  .  ,  but  of  compulsion.  The  brother,  when  living,  may 
demand  a  nephew,  and,  when  dead,  a  nephew  is  given  to  him  unasked. 
It  is  not  only  in  his  interest,  but  in  that  of  the  whole  family,  that  the 
succession  should  be  continued.  So  unfortunate  are  those  considered 
who  have  no  heirs,  that  in  each  town  there  is  a  public  lararium 
dedicated  to  orbate  persons  deceased,  and  the  officials  sacrifice 
periodically  to  their  manes! 

'  Again,  there  is  absolutely  no  distinction  between  such  adopted 
son  and  a  natural-born  son.  He  cannot  be  disinherited,  at  least  for 
any  reason  not  equally  applicable  to  a  natural  son  ;  he  mourns  for  his 
adoptive  father  as  a  natural  son  would  mourn,  and  for  his  natural 
father  as  a  nephew.'  Once  adopted,  he  cannot  be  adopted  by  another. 
'It  is  a  family  arrangement,  and  needs  no  magisterial  authority.' 
What  seems  a  curious  feature  in  it,  to  our  ideas,  is,  that  'it  may  be 
made  without  the  knowledge  of  the  deceased  adopter,  whether  he  is 
married  or  not  (provided  he  is  over  sixteen  years  of  age1)  and  even 
after  his  death.' 

But    this   curious    feature    is   explained    when   we   re- 
member  that   the  adoption  does  not  take  place  for  the 
1  A  Chinese  is  of  age  at  sixteen. 

9 


Things  Chinese 

individual  adopter  in  China,  but  for  the  benefit  of  the 
family — the  family  being  the  unit  of  society,  and  the 
individual  no  one,  except  a  fractional  part  of  the  smallest 
integer  of  society — the  family. 

'In  treating  of  adoption  in  China,  it  is  important  to  distinguish 
between  the  adoption  of  persons  bearing  the  same  surname  and  those 
bearing  a  different  surname.  If  a  Chinese  has  no  son,  he  adopts,  if 
possible,  a  nephew,  who  is  the  son  of  one  of  his  brothers.  If  there 
are  no  nephews,  then  he  adopts  the  grandson  of  one  of  his  uncles,  or 
the  great-grandson  of  one  of  his  grand-uncles.  In  other  words,  he 
endeavours  to  obtain  a  pure  agnate.  If  there  are  no  agnates  of  a 
suitable  generation,  or  if  there  are  agnates  of  a  suitable  generation, 
but  not  of  a  suitable  age,  he  next  looks  to  the  children  of  his  sisters,  or 
the  grandchildren  of  his  aunts.  It  is  generally  only  when  neither 
agnates  nor  cognates  of  suitable  age  and  generation  are  accessible 
that  he  adopts  a  perfect  stranger,  and,  even  then,  he  endeavours  to 
find  one  of  the  same  surname.  .  .  .  Adoption  of  an  agnate  is  generally 
effected  during  the  lifetime  of  the  adopter,  who  is  considered  entitled 
to  choose  any  nephew  (except  the  eldest  son  of  the  next  brother), 
before  an  assembly  of  agnates,  and  an  entry  is  made  in  the  genealogical 
register  of  the  family.  A  rich  man,  of  course,  in  practice,  finds  it 
easier  to  obtain  the  object  of  his  choice  than  a  poor  one,  and  the 
handsome  son  of  a  rich  brother  is  similarly  less  easy  to  secure  as  an 
heir  than  the  plain  son  of  a  poor  brother.  .  .  .  Each  elder  brother  can 
continue  to  adopt  the  sons  of  his  younger  brethren  until  he  finds  an 
heir  who  will  live  ;  and  elder  brothers  are  in  duty  bound  to  give  a  son 
in  posthumous  adoption  to  a  younger  brother  who  has  died  childless. 
.  .  .  An  adopted  agnate  or  cognate  takes  his  place  before  natural  sons 
subsequently  born  to  the  same  father.  An  adopted  stranger  is  liable 
...  to  exclusion  by  the  agnates  of  his  deceased  adoptive  father.' 

About  five  per  cent,  of  Chinese  families,  it  is  considered, 
adopt  children;  seventy  per  cent,  of  them  being  males.  In 
some  provinces  and  districts  strangers  are  frequently 
adopted,  and  in  Amoy  the  traders  have  a  peculiar  custom 
of  adopting  a  son  to  act  for  them  as  a  commercial  agent 
abroad.  In  adopting  strangers,  the  child  is  generally 
purchased  from  parents  too  poor  to  keep  their  own  off- 
spring, while  sometimes  kidnappers  make  a  profit  by  the 
sale  of  the  poor  innocent  victims  they  have  inveigled  into 
their  toils. 

There  is  a  secondary  species  of  what  might  be  termed 
pseudo-adoption.  As  true  adoption  amongst  the  Chinese 
is  generally  due  to  a  certain  amount  of  superstition  con- 
nected with  ancestral  worship,  so  the  spurious  adoption, 

10 


Adoption 

as  a  rule,  is  even  more  dependent  upon  the  superstitious 
beliefs  of  this  credulous  people.  There  are  different 
varieties  of  this,  the  parties  to  one  kind  being  sometimes 
called  godparents  and  godchildren  by  Europeans. 

The  custom  has  its  foundation  in  the  superstition  that 
it  is  possible  to  cheat  the  malignant  spirits  to  whose  evil 
machinations  are  due  the  death  or  illness  of  children.  If 
the  parents,  then,  are  afraid  that  they  will  not  be  able  to 
bring  up  a  child,  or  that,  falling  short  of  that,  disease  may 
attack  it,  or  ill-luck  fall  to  its  lot,  they  hit  upon  the  ex- 
pedient— sometimes  suggested  by  the  fortune-teller — of 
this  semi -adoption.  Presents  are  made  by  the  child's 
parents  to  the  so-called  adopter,  and  return  presents  are 
received.  The  adoptive  parent  takes  a  considerable 
interest  in  his  or  her  adopted  child,  presents  and  visits 
being  made  by  both  sides  on  the  respective  birthdays 
of  the  primarily  interested  parties,  and  at  feasts,  etc.;  but, 
beyond  this,  there  are  no  definite  duties  incumbent  on  the 
so-called  godparent.  The  child  still  remains  in  its  natural 
parents'  house,  and,  in  the  event  of  its  parents  dying,  the 
so-called  godparent  is  not  bound  to  take  the  child  into  his, 
or  her,  keeping,  even  if  left  destitute.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  child,  if  its  so-called  godparent  dies,  is  bound  to  wear 
mourning,  not  deep,  as  in  the  case  of  its  own  parents,  but 
only  half-mourning.  It  is  supposed  that  the  spirits  will  be 
deceived  into  the  belief  that  the  child  has  really  been 
adopted  into  the  new  family,  and  the  disease,  death, 
disaster,  or  ill-luck,  that  would  otherwise  ensue,  are 
effectually  prevented,  while  at  the  same  time  the  boy's  or 
girl's  family  retain  their  child,  and,  if  an  eldest  son,  will 
have  an  heir  to  sacrifice  to  them  after  death. 

Sometimes  this  spurious  adoption  takes  place  between 
families  that  are  friendly,  merely  with  the  object  of  draw- 
ing them  nearer  to  each  other,  but  it  is  oftener  the  result 
of  the  superstitious  belief  already  mentioned. 

This  superstition  gives  rise  to  other  varieties  of  false 
adoption,  such  as  giving  a  child  in  adoption  to  a  banyan 
tree,  or  a  bamboo,  or  to  a  bridge,  or  an  idol,  or  a  stone 

ii 


Things  Chinese 

lion  in  front  of  a  temple.  (These  stone  lions  are  objects  of 
worship  by  barren  women  in  the  hopes  of  obtaining  off- 
spring.) In  all  these  cases  it  is  believed  that  the  spirits 
inhabiting  these  several  objects — their  guardian  deities — 
will  take  the  child  under  their  protection  and  insure  it 
immunity  from  the  '  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.'  On  a  small 
piece  of  red  paper  is  written  :  '  Given  in  adoption,'  then 
follows  the  word  '  male '  or  '  female,'  and  the  surname 
and  name  of  the  child.  This  is  pasted  upon  the  object 
which  is  selected,  and  three  incense  sticks,  joss  paper,  wine, 
pork,  chicken,  and  cooked  rice  are  offered  ;  offerings  are 
also  made  at  the  end  of  the  year  for  protection  rendered, 
as  well  as  at  the  New  Year,  and,  in  the  case  of  idols,  on 
their  birthdays.  The  piece  of  red  paper  once  put  up  is 
not  renewed,  as  the  spirit  is  thus  supposed  to  be  sufficiently 
informed  by  the  one  notice.  The  mother  of  the  child,  or 
sometimes  a  '  praying  woman/  as  she  is  called,  performs 
the  ceremony,  offering  up  a  prayer,  informing  the  spirit 
that  the  child  is  placed  under  its  protection.  These  pro- 
ceedings are  sometimes  undertaken  at  the  instigation  of 
the  fortune-teller. 

When  an  idol  is  selected,  it  is  generally  that  of  some 
favourite  god,  or  goddess,  such  as  Kwun  Yam — The 
Goddess  of  Mercy,  or  Kwan  Tai — The  God  of  War,  or 
T'fn  Hau — The  Goddess  of  Heaven,  or  Man  Ch'ong — 
The  God  of  Literature,  or  even  the  Tutelary  Spirit 
(Lares)  of  the  Bridge,  or  the  Tutelary  Spirits  placed  at 
the  two  entrances  to  a  village,  but  not  those  of  the  house. 
In  the  case  of  a  god  being  selected,  part  of  his  name  (i.e., 
one  of  the  characters  forming  his  title  or  designation)  is 
combined  with  that  of  the  child,  forming  a  new  name  for 
the  latter,  which  is,  however,  only  used  by  the  parents. 
The  god  selected  is  worshipped  on  his  birthday,  and  styled 
'  the  adopted  father.' 

The  bamboo  is  preferred  to  other  trees,  as  it  is  a  prince 
amongst  trees  (the  Chinese  do  not  know  the  bamboo  as  a 
grass),  and  is  so  useful.  Were  no  other  proof  available  of 
the  slight  esteem  in  which  girls  are  held  by  the  Chinese, 

12 


Agriculture 

it  would  be  shown  by  the  difference  in  the  estimated  per- 
centage of  those  of  each  sex  who  are  the  subjects  of  this 
false  adoption  ;  for  in  the  extreme  south  of  China  it  is 
believed  that  50  per  cent,  of  boys  are  thus  subjected  to 
adoption,  and  only  10  per  cent,  of  the  girls. 

AGAR-AGAR. — Amongst  curious  objects  mentioned 
in  books  on  China  appears  Agar-agar. 

It  is  'the  Malay  name  for  a  species  of  marine  alga,  the  Fucus 
saccharinits  of  botanists  ;  growing  on  the  rocky  shores  of  many  of  the 
Malayan  islands,  and  forming  a  considerable  article  of  export  to 
China.  ...  It  is  esculent  when  boiled  to  a  jelly,  and  is  also  used  by 
the  Chinese  as  a  vegetable  glue.'  '  Of  late  years  it  has  been  largely 
adopted  in  the  European  cuisine  as  a  substitute  for  isinglass  with 
which  to  make  jellies,  etc.,  though  wanting  somewhat  in  delicacy  and 
taste.  The  principal  place  of  production  is  Pulo  Pangkor  Laut 
(Dindings)  opposite  Perak.'  The  Chinese  name  for  it  is  Shek  f;i  ts'of. 

AGRICULTURE.—'  The  glory  of  the  farmer  is  that, 
in  the  division  of  labours,  it  is  his  part  to  create.  All  trade 
rests  at  last  on  his  primitive  activity.'  Thus  Emerson  be- 
gins his '  Essay  on  Farming,'  and  it  might  have  been  written 
by  a  Chinese ;  for  it  is  with  a  feeling  of  this  nature  that  the 
Chinese  have  classed  the  tillers  of  the  ground  as  next  to 
the  scholar,  and  before  the  merchant  and  the  artisan : 
these  being  the  four  estates  into  which  the  people  are 
divided  by  them.  '  From  the  earliest  dawn  of  legendary 
history,  agriculture  has  been  regarded '  by  the  Chinese  '  as 
a  high  and  ennobling  calling.'  This  all,  of  course,  from  a 
theoretical  point  of  view — on  paper,  in  books,  documents, 
proclamations,  precepts,  and  exhortations — while  in  actual 
everyday  life,  the  boor  (in  the  original  meaning  of  the 
word),  i.e.,  the  rustic,  clownish  countryman,  sinks  to  a 
subordinate  position  as  compared  with  that  of  the  relatively 
more  cultivated  town  resident,  the  wealthy  citizen  and 
merchant,  who  elbow  the  farmer  from  the  van,  and  relegate 
him  to  an  inferior  position  ;  the  official,  being  the  apotheosis 
of  the  scholar,  takes,  of  course,  the  first  position.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  this,  a  high  idealistic  position  for  the 
cultivator  of  the  soil  is  fostered  by  not  a  few  of  the  institu- 
tions and  habits  peculiar  to  the  Chinese.  As  an  instance 

13 


Things  Chinese 

of  this,  there  is  the  example  set  by  each  Chinese  Emperor 
of  ploughing  in  the  Temple  of  Agriculture  in  Peking  at 
the  Spring  Equinox  every  year,  thus  inaugurating  the 
commencement  of  the  farming  season.  The  Emperor 
takes  the  field,  not  as  a  warrior,  but  as  a  farmer,  and,  as  an 
example  to  his  subjects,  he  walks  behind  the  plough,  and 
thus  dignifies  the  toil  of  his  meanest  field-labourer,  or 
rather  the  public  ennobling  of  agriculture  in  this  manner 
adds  dignity  to  the  office  of  this  great  ruler  of  mankind. 
The  viceroys  or  governors  of  the  different  provinces  per- 
form the  same  ceremony  annually.  The  following  short 
account  of  the  performance  of  these  acts  by  Li  Hung-chang 
in  Canton  in  1900,  when  Viceroy  of  the  Two  Kwang  pro- 
vinces, will  give  some  idea  of  what  is  done  on  such  occa- 
sions : — 

'On  the  9th  ultimo,  between  8  and  9  A.M.,  H.E.  the  Viceroy 
Li  Hung-chang  and  all  the  principal  Chinese  officials  went  in  court 
dress  by  chair  to  the  Temple  of  Shen  Nung  beyond  the  East  Gate, 
and  worshipped  the  patron  saint  of  agriculture,  and  the  spirits  of  land 
and  grain,  after  which  they  proceeded  on  to  a  bamboo  stage,  lined  with 
flags  on  two  sides,  and  seated  themselves.  Then  came  an  old  man 
leading  an  ox  to  the  front  of  the  stage,  followed  by  two  husbandmen 
carrying  a  pair  of  hoes  and  two  sets  of  harrows,  and  twelve  boys 
representing  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac.  The  Provincial  Governor,  the 
Tartar  General,  the  Judge,  and  the  Magistrates  descended  from  the 
stage,  and  assisted  at  the  ceremony  of  tilling  and  harrowing  by 
handling  the  hoes  and  harrows,  and  scattering  seeds,  while  the  twelve 
boys  sang  songs  to  the  accompaniment  of  music.  This  ceremony  of 
agriculture  is  performed  once  a  year  by  the  officials  three  days  after 
the  tomb  festival.' 

An  object  lesson  is  thus  given  to  the  people  throughout 
the  empire  and  a  '  deep  sense  of  the  importance  of  agricul- 
ture to  the  public  welfare'  typified.  Important  it  is  in  a 
threefold  sense  : — Firstly,  because  of  its  regular  supply  both 
of  food  and  labour  to  the  people ;  secondly,  the  needs  of 
the  Government  are  met  by  moderate  taxes,  although, 
unfortunately,  owing  to  faulty  administration  and  probably 
to  the  rapacity  of  the  officials,  they  are  frequently  increased 
to  six  times  the  nominal  assessment ;  thirdly,  an  agricul- 
tural population,  it  has  been  found,  is  governed  with  greater 
ease  than  a  purely  mercantile  or  warlike  community. 


Agriculture 

Not  only  does  the  Son  of  Heaven  show  an  example  to 
the  meanest  agricultural  labourer  by  guiding  the  plough 
with  his  royal  hands ;  but  the  Chinese  Government  poses 
as  a  benefactor  of  the  humble  farmer,  and  to  a  great 
extent  carries  into  benevolent  action  the  fostering  of  this 
most  important  branch  of  labour.  With  this  end  in  view, 
the  taxes  imposed  are  in  relative  value  to  the  productive- 
ness of  the  soil  under  cultivation  ;  the  reclamation  of  fields 
on  the  river  banks  or  the  sea-shore  is  easily  effected,  '  the 
terms  not  being  onerous ' ;  and  waste  land,  whether  on  the 
hill-sides  or  level  ground  (if  poverty  of  soil  requires  a 
lengthened  time  for  the  recouping  of  the  industrious 
farmer  for  capital  expended),  is  untaxed  until  ample  time 
has  elapsed  for  his  labours  to  prove  remunerative  with  an 
assessment  superimposed,  five  harvests  being  allowed  to 
the  farmer  who  thus  '  reclaims  from  a  state  of  nature.' 
And  yet  with  all  this  encouragement  to  tillage  many  tracts 
of  country  still  lie  waste,  some  of  it  the  most  fertile  in  the 
country  ;  partly  because  the  people  have  not  the  skill  and 
capital  to  drain  and  render  it  productive,  partly  because 
they  have  not  sufficient  prospect  of  remuneration  to 
encourage  them  to  make  the  necessary  outlay,  and  some- 
times from  the  outrages  of  local  banditti  making  it  unsafe 
to  live  in  secluded  districts. 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  Chinese  accounts,  agriculture 
was  the  invention  of  Shin-nung,  the  Divine  Husbandman, 
for  he  it  is  who  is  credited  not  only  with  the  invention  but 
also  with  the  introduction  of  husbandry  amongst  the  Chinese. 
This  mythical  or  semi-mythical  monarch  reigned  B.C.  2700. 

Professor  Rein  commences  his  magnificent  work  on 
'  The  Industries  of  Japan,'  as  follows  : — 

'  In  contrast  with  the  nomadic  races  of  Central  Asia,  the  in- 
habitants of  the  monsoon  region  have  for  thousands  of  years  been 
tied  to  the  soil.  They  are  intensely  devoted  to  agriculture,  especially 
in  China  and  Japan.  Little  opportunity  is  left  in  these  countries  for 
cattle  raising  ;  and  since  meadows  and  pastures  are  wanting,  milk, 
butter,  and  cheese — the  principal  food  of  the  nomadic  Mongolian 
peoples — were  unknown  to  the  Chinese  and  Japanese.  Eggs,  and  the 
products  of  fishing  and  the  chase,  play  a  far  more  important  role 
than  the  flesh  of  domestic  animals.  .  .  .  Since  sheep  were  but  seldom 

15 


Things  Chinese 

found  in  China  .  .  .  wool  was  formerly  of  small  consideration  in  the 
matter  of  clothing.  Hemp  and  cotton  goods,  and  silk  among  the 
rich,  especially  in  the  winter,  are  the  stufis  with  which  the  population 
is  clothed.' 

As  would  naturally  be  expected,  the  diverse  climatic 
conditions  of  such  a  vast  empire — extending  from  the 
plains  of  Manchuria  to  the  mephitic  vales  of  Yun-nan,  and 
from  the  sea-coast  provinces  to  the  high  mountains  and 
great  table-lands  of  Tibet — result  in  various  and  dissimilar 
products  from  the  different  regions  embraced  under  the 
name  of  China  ;  but  diverse  as  these  productions  are,  the 
large  proportion  of  them  are  cultivated  for  food  purposes. 
Cotton,  hemp,  indigo,  and  mulberry  for  silk  are  almost  the 
only  important  plants  which  are  grown  that  are  not  alimen- 
tary. The  basin  of  the  Yang-tsz  forms  the  great  cotton 
region  ;  '  Hemp  is  largely  cultivated  north  of  the  Mei-ling, 
and  it  also  grows  in  Fuh-kien ' ;  the  southern  provinces 
produce  in  large  quantities  the  rice  which  forms  the  staple 
of  food  for  millions  of  Chinese  ;  while  the  northern,  colder 
regions  are  more  suited  to  the  maturing  of  millet  and  corn. 
Again  the  tea  plant  is  unknown  in  the  northern  provinces, 
the  sunshine  and  the  moist  temperature  to  be  found  between 
the  twenty-third  and  thirty-fifth  degrees  of  latitude  suiting 
it  better ;  the  sugar-cane  is  only  to  be  seen  growing  in  the 
south  and  south-eastern  parts  of  China ;  and  the  poppy  is 
unfortunately  fast  extending  its  area  of  cultivation  through 
different  provinces — east,  west,  north,  and  south,  and 
actually  constituting  a  third  of  the  whole  cultivation  of 
the  province  of  Yun-nan. 

The  memorable  sentence  of  Arthur  Young's,  so  often 
quoted  in  the  West  in  favour  of  small  farms  and  peasant 
proprietors — '  Give  a  man  the  secure  possession  of  a  rock, 
and  he  will  turn  it  into  a  garden,'  is  equally  applicable  to 
the  Chinese  farmer. 

The  never -tiring  industry  of  the  Chinese  is  fully 
exemplified  in  the  unremitting  toil  of  the  farmer  :  in  the 
sweat  of  his  brow  does  he  earn  his  daily  bread  ;  '  week  in, 
week  out,  from  morn  till  night,'  is  he  to  be  found — now  with 

16 


Agriculture 

his  primitive  plough  upturning  the  soil,  now  with  unsavoury 
concoctions  of  manure  assisting  the  growth  of  the  plant, 
(for  Chinese  manuring  is  applied  more  to  the  growing 
plant  itself  than  to  the  soil) ;  now  with  the  assistance  of 
his  son  working  the  tread-mill  waterwheel  to  fill  his  arti- 
ficial water-channels,  or  with  quick  step,  or  half  trot,  wend- 
ing his  way  with  water  buckets  (gigantic  watering-pots) 
between  his  rows  of  vegetables,  and  supplying  artificial 
rain  to  his  crops.  Nor  do  his  ingenious  contrivances 
for  irrigation  stop  here  ;  for  natural  brooklets  are  deflected 
from  their  wanton  course  and  trained  here  and  there  down 
the  hill-sides,  reviving  the  thirsty  terraced  fields  as  they  go, 
artificial  channels  being  formed,  first  large,  then  smaller 
ones,  leading  to  every  little  plot — tiny  rills  carrying  moisture 
to  every  bit  of  parched  ground  ;  large  wheels  with  buckets 
fixed  to  them  turn  slowly  and  raise  some  hundreds  of  tons 
of  water  each  day  from  the  streams,  which,  while  giving  the 
motion  to  these  wheels,  are  thus  assisting  in  each  revolution 
to  rob  themselves  of  their  watery  treasures  ;  well-sweeps 
(the  shddftfoi  Egypt)  ladle  out  the  contents  of  pools  con- 
structed for  the  gathering  of  rain-water  ;  and  even  a  pail 
or  shallow  vessel,  with  ropes  attached  to  each  side,  is  used 
to  scoop  up  the  precious  fluid  from  the  running  brook,  a 
man  standing  on  each  bank  and  with  a  swinging  motion 
skimming  the  vessel  just  enough  under  the  surface  to  take 
up  sufficient  water,  when  it  is  raised  and  with  a  jerking 
motion  emptied,  this  all  being  done  with  a  remarkable 
rapidity  and  smoothness  of  motion.  Thus  a  perfect  net- 
work of  minute  streamlets  and  water-courses  penetrate 
to  each  lilliputian  field,  to  be  turned  off  or  on  at  the 
will  of  the  Chinese  farmer,  who,  when  the  ground  has 
had  enough  moisture,  closes  the  little  aqueduct  with  a 
lump  of  mud.  Man's  labour  is  thus  utilised  and  supple- 
mented in  various  ways  by  different  contrivances ;  even 
the  cattle  are  sometimes  employed  to  turn  the  water- 
wheel,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  the  stream  itself  is  yoked 
into  the  same  service.  All  this  obtains  in  the  southern 
provinces. 

I7  B 


Things  Chinese 

1  In  the  north  of  the  country,  where  wheat,  millet,  and  other 
grains  are  largely  grown,  the  rain  supply  in  summer  and  the  snow 
in  winter  furnish  all  the  moisture  which  the  farmers  require  in 
ordinary  years.' 

Few,  if  any,  carts  are  to  be  seen  in  the  farmyard  in 
the  southern  or  eastern  provinces  of  China ;  man  is 
essentially  the  beast  of  burden,  aided,  of  course,  by  woman, 
though  in  some  districts,  women  are  not  employed  in 
field-labour  at  all. 

The  convenient  carrying-pole  with  a  bucket,  or  pail,  or 
basket,  or  bamboo  loop,  as  the  exigencies  of  the  case  may 
require,  suspended  from  each  end,  serves  all  purposes  of 
porterage,  and  is  amply  sufficient  for  conveying  root-crops, 
grass,  water,  manure,  and  anything  else  that  may  require 
to  be  transported  short  or  long  distances.  To  such  an 
extent  does  man  perform  labour,  which  is  relegated  to  the 
horse  or  ox  in  other  lands,  that  the  Chinese  farmer  may 
even  be  seen  carrying  his  plough  off  from,  or  on  to,  the 
field,  though  the  buffalo  (water-buffalo)  is  yoked  to  it  when 
it  is  used  to  scrape  the  soil ;  the  same  animal  pulls  the 
harrow  in  its  course  over  the  surface  of  the  ground  or  as  it 
stirs  up  the  miry  bottom  of  the  semi-aquatic  rice-field. 
These  uncouth,  unwieldy-looking  animals  are  driven  to 
and  from  their  work,  as  well  as  guided  in  it,  by  boys,  and 
it  is  interesting  to  see  the  complete  control  which  these 
tiny  youths  have  over  these  huge,  ungainly,  and  stupid- 
looking  beasts. 

Primitive,  indeed,  as  well  as  ingenious,  are  the  tools  of 
the  Chinese  farmer :  content  he  has  been  to  follow  in  the 
wake  of  the  first  inventive  genius  amongst  his  progenitors, 
who  used  the  ubiquitous  bamboo,  spraying  out  its  end  as 
a  rake,  or  who,  sticking  a  piece  of  iron  on  a  pointed  stick, 
was  satisfied  with  the  achievement,  and  yoked  his  bullock 
to  this  rudimentary  plough — a  coulter  serving  to  turn  over 
only  a  few  inches  of  soil ;  for  the  agricultural  implements  of 
the  Chinese  are  few  in  number  as  well  as  of  simple  con- 
struction. In  all  probability,  if  not  invented  by  the  re- 
doubtable Shin-nung  himself,  these  tools  of  the  farmer 

18 


Agriculture 

have  been  in  use  for  centuries  with  no  alteration  or  im- 
provement effected  in  them.  One  writer  thus  describes 
the  Chinese  plough  and  harrow  : — 

'The  plough  is  made  of  wood,  except  the  iron-edged  share, 
which  lies  flat  and  penetrates  the  soil  about  five  inches.  The  whole 
invention  is  so  simple  and  rude  that  one  would  think  the  inventor 
of  it  was  a  labourer,  who,  tired  of  the  toil  of  spading,  called  the  ox 
to  his  aid  and  tied  his  shovel  to  a  rail ; — fastening  the  animal  at  one 
end  and  guiding  the  other,  he  was  so  pleased  with  the  relief,  that  he 
never  thought  of  improving  it  much  further  than  to  sharpen  the  spade 
to  a  coulter  and  bend  the  rail  to  a  beam  and  handle.  The  harrow  is 
a  heavy  stick  armed  with  a  single  row  of  stout  wooden  teeth,  and 
furnished  with  a  framework  to  guide  it ;  or  a  triangular  machine, 
with  rows  of  iron  teeth,  on  which  the  driver  rides  to  sink  it  in  the 
ooze.' 

These  two  instruments  are  employed  in  rice  cultiva- 
tion. A  broad  hoe  is  used  in  the  dry  fields  and  soft 
lands,  the  impetus  of  the  blow  being  increased  by  the 
weight  of  its  large  wooden  blade  edged  with  iron,  or  by 
a  blade  made  entirely  of  iron.  The  spade  is  but  sparingly 
had  recourse  to,  as  compared  with  its  constant  employment 
in  Western  lands.  As  the  seed  is  not  sown  broadcast,  the 
farmer  is  able  with  busy  hoe  to  loosen  the  soil  and  keep 
his  fields  beautifully  clear  of  weeds.  No  machinery,  except 
such  as  has  already  been  named,  is  found  in  the  farm-yard. 
Besides  the  above  there  are  mattocks,  rakes  made  of 
bamboo,  bill-hooks  which  do  duty  for  scythes,  pruning 
knives,  and  sickles.  Flails  are  used  on  thrashing  floors 
(made  of  chunam  and  containing  a  few  square  feet  each) 
for  thrashing  rice,  peas,  mustard,  turnips,  and  other  seeds 
from  the  stalks,  or  unshod  oxen  are  employed  for  the  same 
purpose.  Winnowing  machines  are  also  used,  which,  it  is 
said,  have  been  copied  in  the  West.  A  small  wheel,  hand- 
turned  and  within  the  machine,  separates  the  chaff  from 
the  grain  by  creating  a  strong  wind,  which  meets  the  grain 
as  it  falls  from  the  hopper  into  which  it  is  fed,  and  blows 
the  light  husks  away  from  the  heavier  seeds. 

The  Chinese  farmer,  as  a  general  rule,  is  more  a  peasant 
proprietor,  or,  if  not  that,  a  peasant  farmer  rather  than 
a  farmer  in  our  sense  of  the  term,  though  here  and  there 

19 


Things  Chinese 

large  farms  are  to  be  met  with  on  the  frontier  provinces 
and  up  north.  So  minute  are  the  sub-divisions,  that  at 
times  a  ridge  or  two  of  potatoes,  or  vegetables,  in  a  field 
will  belong  to  one  person  and  the  rest  of  the  field  will  be 
parcelled  out  in  equally  small  portions.  In  this  connection, 
the  following  extract  from  a  report  on  Agriculture  in 
China,  published  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  at 
Washington,  will  be  of  interest : — 

'  Thus  in  Kwong  Tung  .  .  .  one-sixth  of  an  acre  will  support  one 
person,  and  the  proprietor  of  two  acres  of  good  land,  having  a  family 
of  five,  can  live  without  work  on  the  produce  of  his  little  property. 
Seven  acres  constitute  wealth,  as  it  is  reckoned  in  China,  and  few 
landowners  have  a  hundred  acres.'  Emigration  'and  infanticide 
.  .  .  alone  prevent  such  overcrowding  as  would  render  existence  on 
the  land  impossible  for  the  population  as  a  whole.  In  the  north, 
where  the  soil  is  less  fertile,  the  holdings  are  larger,  and  the  standard 
of  comfort  among  the  people  is  higher.  In  Manchuria,  farms  of  500 
acres  are  not  uncommon,  and  there  are  some  much  larger  estates  ; 
but  the  great  farms  are  cultivated  in  common  by  families,  some  of 
which  consist  of  two  hundred  members.  Even  in  the  north,  it  is 
said  that  a  family  of  six  or  seven  persons  can  live  on  three  acres  of 
land,  and  that  five  acres  constitute  comfort,  or  what  is  so  considered 
among  people  satisfied  with  the  bare  necessities  of  existence.' 

The  authority  for  the  statement  as  to  the  Kwong-tung 
province  seems  to  be  an  account  by  Miss  Fielde  of  farming 
matters  in  the  Swatow  district,  and  this  same  authoress 
also  says : — 

'At  this  rate  of  production  and  consumption,  the  arable  land  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  with  a  reduction  of  one-half  its  returns  on 
account  of  its  more  northern  latitude,  would  support  the  total 
population  of  the  United  States  at  the  present  time  ;  and  the  occupied 
arable  land  of  the  United  States,  with  its  producing  power  diminished, 
on  account  of  climate,  to  one-half  that  of  land  at  Swatow,  would  feed 
a  population  equal  to  that  of  the  whole  world,  or  over  1,400,000,000.' 

Another  author  says  : — 

'  The  Chinese  are  rather  market  gardeners  than  farmers,  if 
regard  be  had  to  the  small  size  of  their  grounds.  They  are  ignorant, 
too,  of  many  of  those  operations  whereby  soils  naturally  unfruitful 
are  made  fertile,  and  the  natural  fertility  sustained  at  the  cheapest 
rate  by  proper  manuring  and  rotation  of  crops  ;  but  they  make  up  for 
the  disadvantages  of  poor  implements  by  hard  work.' 

The  hill-sides  are  often  terraced  for  rice,  and  places 
which  would  otherwise  only  be  waste  land  are  utilised  for 

20 


Agriculture 

the  production  of  this  useful  cereal  as  well  as  other  plants  ; 
but  it  is  erroneous  to  suppose  that  the  whole  of  China  is  a 
vast  garden,  or  that  every  hill  is  cut  into  a  succession  of 
steps  from  base  to  summit,  Rice,  being  the  staple  of  food 
in  the  South,  is  largely  cultivated,  the  fields  lying  under 
water  for  a  considerable  portion  of  the  year  on  that  account. 
Little  footpaths,  only  wide  enough  for  one  pedestrian  at  a 
time,  divide  these  rice-fields  from  one  another.  The  flat 
low  grounds  formed  from  the  alluvial  deposits  of  rivers  are 
a  favourite  and  suitable  situation  for  such  fields,  large 
retaining  banks  protecting  the  chess-board  mass  of  fields 
from  the  incursions  of  the  river.  Another  footpath  (wider 
than  those  in  the  centre  of  the  fields)  runs  along  the  tops 
of  these  banks,  and  the  sloping  sides  are  utilised  for  the 
cultivation  of  fruit-trees,  such  as  plantains,  lychees,  wham- 
pees,  etc.  Two  or  three  crops  of  rice  are  produced  in  one 
year,  as  well  as  a  crop  or  two  of  fish,  which  latter,  introduced 
in  a  young  stage  into  the  enclosed  water  lying  on  the 
fields,  are  grown  to  a  size  fit  for  food  in  a  short  time.  In 
some  districts  of  country,  pea-nuts,  sugar-cane,  and  native 
tobacco  are  cultivated.  A  numerous  variety  of  vegetables 
is  also  to  be  seen.  These  are  mostly  of  a  poorer  quality 
than  European  vegetables,  and  are  often  of  a  kind  unknown 
to  the  Western  world.  Much  of  Chinese  agriculture  consists 
in  rearing  them.  The  sweet  potato,  the  yam,  taro,  beans, 
cucumbers,  pumpkins,  squashes,  water-melons,  vegetable 
marrows,  brinjals,  etc.,  all  engage  the  attention  of  the 
Chinese  agriculturist,  and  provide  him  and  many  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  a  relish  to  take  with  their  plain-boiled 
rice  ;  a  small  modicum  of  salt,  or  fresh  fish,  or  meat  some- 
times, giving  a  little  additional  savouriness  to  their  daily 
fare.  For  on  such  frugal  diet,  or  on  even  a  scantier  one, 
do  the  Chinese  farmers  and  millions  of  the  labouring 
classes  perform  their  daily  tasks. 

The  patient  care  and  unremitting  toil,  so  characteristic 
of  the  Chinese,  reveal  themselves  no  less  in  the  open  field 
than  in  the  narrow  limits  of  the  city  shop  where,  for 
instance,  the  workman  produces  those  marvels  of  carving, 

21 


Things  Chinese 

the  wonder  and  admiration  of  all  beholders.  'The 
cultivation  of  the  soil  is  marked  by  extreme  care  and 
attention  to  details.'  The  fields  are  clean  and  well  kept. 
The  labourer  is  at  his  task  from  early  morn  till  dewy  eve, 
or  at  all  events  till  the  hour  for  the  evening  meal.  Nothing 
is  wasted  ;  nothing  lost  in  China.  '  Fertilising  materials 
are  collected  from  all  conceivable  sources  .  .  .  and  thus 
the  productiveness  of  the  soil  is  maintained,  while  its 
condition  is  kept  up  to  the  mark  by  the  most  laborious 
industry.'  Continuous  manuring  while  the  plants  are 
growing  (supplied  in  a  liquid  form)  would  seem  to  obviate 
the  necessity  for  a  constant  rotation  of  crops  in  the  eyes 
of  the  Chinese  ;  for  they  are  adepts  at  manuring,  and  keep 
up  the  character  of  the  soil  in  this  way,  though  a 
rotation  of  crops  is  also  said  to  be  always  practised  in 
some  parts  of  China.  The  night-soil  of  the  cities — nay,  of 
every  little  hamlet  even,  and  the  contents  of  the  primitive 
wayside  urinals,  are  carefully  husbanded  and  utilised,  to 
the  disgust  of  the  olfactory  nerves  of  those  unaccustomed 
to  such  an  ancient  mode.  Pots  and  pans  and  crocks  and 
broken  sherds  are  placed  at  every  convenient,  as  well  as 
every  inconvenient,  spot  for  the  collection  of  this  liquid 
manure,  at  times  regardless  of  all  Western  ideas  of  decency. 
This  is  deluged  with  water  and  poured  on  the  growing 
plants  with  a  ladle  from  buckets  in  the  morning  and 
evening  hours.  Other  materials  are  gathered  for  the  same 
purpose,  the  motto  in  China  being  to  waste  nothing,  and 
nothing  almost  seems  to  come  amiss :  mud  from  the  rivers, 
canals,  and  tanks — a  splendid  fertiliser  in  a  country  like 
this,  where  the  rivers  act  as  main  sewers  and  dust-bins, 
and  their  tributaries  feed  the  main  channels  with  sufficient 
material  pilfered  from  the  crumbling  banks  to  form  rich 
alluvial  deposits — the  sweepings  from  the  streets,  hair  from 
the  barbers'  shops,  the  refuse  paper,  etc.,  from  fire-crackers 
after  being  exploded,  lime  and  plaster  with  years  of  wood 
soot  impregnating  it,  gathered  from  kitchens  and  old 
buildings,  soot  itself,  old  bones,  the  refuse  of  fish  and 
animals,  castings  from  animals  and  fowls — all  are  eagerly 

22 


Agriculture 

gathered  from  every  spot  and  made  use  of;  and  so  also  is 
vegetable  rubbish  which  is  charred  under  turf,  '  the  residue 
is  a  rich  black  earth,  which  is  laid  upon  the  seeds  them- 
selves when  planted  ;  the  refuse  left  after  expressing  the 
oil  from  ground-nuts,  beans,  vegetables,  tallow,  tea,  and 
cabbage  seeds,  etc.,  is  likewise  mixed  with  earth  and  made 
into  cakes,  to  be  sold  to  farmers.' 

Captain  Gill,  though  considering  that  Chinese  agri- 
culture had  been  overestimated,  yet  says  that  in  one 
respect  it  is  'peculiar,  namely  in  the  care  which  is  taken 
with  ground  once  under  cultivation  to  see  that  nothing  is 
lost.'  The  economy  of  the  minute  is  exemplified  in  farm- 
ing in  China  as  in  most  other  callings  in  that  great  land, 
so  made  up  of  the  savings  of  what  would  be  despised  as 
trifles  in  other  lands  of  smaller  size. 

Agriculture  in  China  is  a  petit  culture. 

To  one  accustomed  to  fields  laid  down  in  grass  and 
clover,  it  is  curious  to  notice  the  absence  of  these  features 
so  common  amongst  us  ;  what  might  be  pasture  or  meadow 
lands,  such  as  the  bottom  of  valleys  and  flat  land,  are  used 
for  rice  and  other  crops. 

The  spring  and  summer  in  the  South  are  characterised 
by  a  relatively  high  temperature,  light  winds,  dampness, 
and  frequent  rains  alternating  with  dry  spells,  but  the 
early  winter  is  the  dry  season  in  which  for  several  months 
clear  skies  prevail,  accompanied  by  a  cold  temperature 
which  increases  as  the  winter  progresses  and  the  new  year 
comes  in,  till  in  January,  February,  and  March,  the 
temperature  is  keen,  and  is  rendered  intensely  disagreeable 
by  the  dampness  which  is  apt  to  be  present  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  in  the  shape  of  rain,  mists,  and  fogs.  The 
typhoons  which  bring  torrents  of  rain  in  their  train  are 
often  frequent  visitants  in  the  summer  months  when  the 
south-west  monsoon  is  blowing,  the  north-east  monsoon 
being  the  winter  wind.  Vegetation  and  agriculture,  of 
course,  depend  largely  upon  these  climatic  conditions,  the 
copious  rains,  bright  sunshine,  and  mountain  mists,  all  have 
their  share  in  producing  the  rapid  growth  of  the  plant  ; 

23 


Things  Chinese 

but  Nature  tends  her  own  products  with  a  careful  hand, 
for  fogs  and  mists,  followed  by  April  showers,  commence 
the  irrigation  of  the  land,  parched  and  dried  with  the 
moistureless  year-end  ;  these  lighter  showers  are  succeeded, 
as  the  hardened  earth  is  gradually  moistened,  and  better 
able  to  drink  in  the  heaven-sent  floods,  by  heavier  thunder- 
storms and  drenching  rains,  to  be  again  succeeded  by  the 
torrential  downpours,  following  in  the  wake  of  the  dreaded 
cyclonic  typhoon.  No  frosts  of  any  appreciable  influence, 
as  a  rule,  occur  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hongkong  and 
Canton  ;  but  the  case  is  different  further  north  in  higher 
latitudes. 

The  cost  and  difficulty  of  transport  no  doubt  exerts  a 
deterrent  effect  on  the  development  of  Chinese  agriculture. 

The  Chinese  farm-house  is  not,  as  a  general  rule  in  the 
South,  to  be  found  in  the  centre  of  the  ground  which  the 
farmer  has  under  cultivation,  but  at  some  distance,  perhaps, 
from  the  fields,  forming  with  all  the  other  farm-houses  of 
the  neighbourhood  a  little  hamlet  or  village,  from  which 
the  men  issue  at  early  dawn  to  proceed  to  the  scene  of 
their  labours,  and  to  which  they  return  when  their  work  is 
over.  This  economises  space  and  affords  more  security  to 
the  denizens  of  the  little  communities  from  the  attacks  of 
robbers,  though  it  is  a  wonder  what  temptation  can  exist 
for  attacks  from  such,  when  the  farmers  are  so  little  re- 
moved themselves  from  the  abject  depths  of  poverty.  The 
small  holdings  and  farms  are  sometimes  rendered  still  more 
fractional  in  size  with  the  death  of  each  proprietor,  as  on  his 
demise  his  possessions  are  often  divided  amongst  his 
family,  such  being  the  general  outcome  of  the  law  of  succes- 
sion. Disputes  as  to  the  inheritance  of  land  give  rise  to 
many  feuds  and  crimes.  Such  family  quarrels  often  form 
the  principal  incident  on  which  the  stories  in  many  a 
Chinese  novelette  hinge. 

'  To  find  a  parallel  to  the  agricultural  condition  of  the  country,  we 
must  look  to  our  Colonial  Empire,  where  settlers  apply  for  uninhabited 
lands,  and  receive  the  rights  over  them  in  exchange  for  small  annual 
payments.  This  is  the  principle  on  which  lands  have  been  appro- 

24 


Almonds 

priated  in  times  past,  and  still  are  leased  out  to  farmers.  As  a  rule, 
the  land  so  let  is  taken  up  by  a  clan,  the  members  of  which  cultivate 
it  much  on  the  principle  of  the  village  communities.  .  .  .  Ten  families 
constitute,  as  a  rule,  a  village  holding,  each  family  farming  about  ten 
acres.  To  such  a  community  is  allotted  a  common  village  plot,  which  is 
cultivated  by  each  family  in  turn,  and  from  which  the  tribute  grain  is 
collected  and  paid.  The  surplus,  if  any,  is  divided  between  the 
families.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  a  meeting  is  held,  at  which  a 
division  of  the  profits  is  made  on  one  condition.  Any  farmer  who  is 
unable  to  produce  the  receipt  for  the  income-tax  on  his  farm  ceases  to 
be  entitled  to  any  benefit  arising  from  the  village  plot." 

The  following  appreciative  notice  of  Chinese  farming  is 
from  the  pen  of  Mrs.  Hales,  late  of  Amoy  :— 

'  It  is  doubtless  true,  as  asserted,  that  irrigation,  as  practised  in 
Japan  and  China  to-day,  is  crude  and  unsystematic,  but  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  assume  that  we  have  nothing  to  learn  from  those  countries 
in  these  matters.  People  who  have  depended  for  centuries  upon  arti- 
ficial methods  of  watering  a  large  part  of  their  artificial  lands  ought  to 
have  gained  some  valuable  experience,  and  it  is  our  business  to  profit 
by  studying  what  they  have  accomplished.  It  may  freely  be  admitted 
that  the  methods  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  are  not  modern,  and 
that  they  fail  to  avail  themselves  of  many  of  the  contrivances  by  which 
people  in  the  Western  world  would  carry  on  agricultural  pursuits  ;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  we  must  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the 
Chinese  accomplish  results  which  make  the  intensive  farming  of  the 
French  seem  slipshod  efforts  when  a  comparison  is  made.  Recent 
investigators  of  the  subject  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  if  the  same 
degree  of  skill  were  applied  to  make  the  soil  of  England  produce  farm 
products  that  is  expended  upon  the  land  of  China,  Great  Britain  would 
be  independent  of  foreign  nations  for  its  food  supplies,  and  could  sup- 
port a  larger  population  than  the  census  now  shows.  Or  a  still  more 
forcible  comparison  is  made  by  pointing  out  that  if  China  had  made 
no  better  use  of  her  soil  than  the  most  skilful  European  peoples  had 
made  of  theirs,  the  empire  would  not  be  able  to  support  one-half  its 
present  population.' 

Books  recommended. — Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  1-14. 
Douglas's  'Society  in  China,'  pp.  120-136.  Lay's  'The  Chinese  as  They 
Are,'  chap,  xii.,  'Husbandry  of  the  Chinese.'  'A  Corner  of  Cathay,'  by 
Miss  Fielde,  chapter  on  'Farm  Life  in  China.'  Jour.  Ch.  Br.  R.A.S. 
New  Series,  vol.  xxiii.,  No.  2,  1888.  See  Articles  in  this  book  on  Buffalo, 
Land  Tenure,  Silk,  Tea,  and  Rice.  For  an  account  of  the  Emperor  ploughing, 
see  the  Hongkong  daily  papers  for  the  24th  and  25th  of  April,  1893. 

ALMONDS. — The  Chinese  are  fond  of  almonds.  One 
of  the  chief  native  restaurants  in  Hongkong  is  known  by 
the  name  of  the  '  Almond  Blossom.'  Almonds  are  used 
in  cakes,  etc.,  and  in  the  preparation  of  what  is  known  as 
'  almond  tea,'  sold  in  the  streets  at  night,  and  considered 

25 


Things  Chinese 

good  for  coughs,  etc.  The  best  of  these  kernels  coming 
from  Chihli  and  Shansi,  the  supply  failed  during  the  last 
war  up  North  (1900-1901),  so  dinner  parties  amongst 
the  Chinese  in  Hongkong  had  perforce  to  do  without 
them,  being  at  first  reduced  to  one  or  two  a  guest, 
bought  at  exorbitant  rates.  The  Chinese  confound 
apricot  and  peach  kernels  with  the  almond,  and  they 
'are  found  promiscuously  supplied  under  the  common 
term  Jiung yun' 

Book  recommended. — 'Contributions  towards   the   Materia    Medica    and 
Natural  History  of  China,'  by  F.  Porter  Smith,  M.B. 

AMUSEMENTS.— The  Chinese,  though  a  hard-work- 
ing and  industrious  people,  are  not  behind  other  nations  in 
their  love  of  amusements,  and  enter  with  great  zest  and 
gusto  into  the  enjoyment  of  them,  most  heartily  assisting, 
in  the  French  sense  of  the  term,  at  shows,  processions,  etc. 
It  needs  but  a  saunter  through  the  crowded  and  busy 
streets  of  a  Chinese  city  to  see  that,  though  there  is  much 
bustle  and  unceasing  toil,  there  is,  on  the  other  hand,  an 
unfailing  provision  for  the  relaxation  of  the  tired  workers 
and  the  delectation  of  the  younger  members  of  society. 
Theatres  are  crowded,  though  the  performances  last  for 
long  weary  hours,  if  not  days.  The  various  birthdays  of 
the  gods,  or  religious  festivals,  are  hailed  with  delight,  for 
then  the  streets  are  matted  over  and  hung  with  puppets, 
gorgeously  dressed  in  mediaeval  costume,  representing 
historical  scenes  ;  while  glittering  chandeliers,  ablaze  with 
light,  shed  a  bright  radiance  on  the  erewhile  gloomy 
streets,  and  transform  them  into  a  dazzling  vision  of  light. 
All  these  illuminated  streets  converge  to  one  centre,  where, 
in  front  of  the  temple  in  honour  of  whose  god  the  exhibi- 
tion is  being  held,  a  grand  temporary  structure,  towering 
in  height  above  all  the  other  surrounding  buildings,  is 
erected,  gorgeous  with  painted  scenes  in  many-coloured 
hues,  brilliant  with  clusters  of  crystal  lights,  and  all  the 
magnificence  of  ceremonial,  gaudy  show,  and  paraphernalia 
of  heathen  worship.  Here  all  the  grandeur  is  centred, 

26 


Amusements 

radiating  out  through  all  the  surrounding  streets,  and 
here  it  is  that  the  crowd  is  at  its  thickest — a  compact 
mass,  open-mouthed,  gazing  to  their  hearts'  content, 
enjoying  to  the  full  all  the  entrancing  sights,  the  celestial 
music  of  clashing  cymbals,  twanging  guitars,  harsh  flageo- 
lets, and  shrill  flutes. 

The  annual  Regattas  of  the  Dragon  Boat  Feast  give  an 
outing  to  many  a  child  and  lady,  who,  attired  in  their 
holiday  best,  line  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  watch  the 
narrow  snake-like  boats  dashing  up  and  down  in  im- 
promptu races  and  spurts  with  their  rivals  from  neighbouring 
villages.  (See  Article  on  Dragon  Boats.) 

Another  great  outing  is  that  on  the  day  for  '  Ascending 
on  High ' ;  many,  who  can  afford  the  time,  go  to  the  summit 
of  some  high  mountain,  or  lofty  hill,  in  remembrance  of  the 
deliverance  of  a  family  in  olden  times  from  destruction  by 
a  similar  action.  (See  Article  on  Ascending  on  High.) 

The  Full  Moon  Festival  is  kept  gaily,  when  indigestible 
moon-cakes  are  seen  at  all  the  confectioners'  stalls  and 
shops.  Every  boat  hangs  out  one  or  more  tasteful  paper 
lanterns,  which,  suspended  from  bamboo  poles,  make  a 
general  illumination  over  the  dark  waters  of  the  deep  and 
murky  river,  and,  overhead,  the  full-orbed  moon  in  harvest 
splendour  shines  down  from  the  clear  sky  on  a  scene  of 
tropical,  Oriental  beauty.  The  faint  glimmer  of  the  tiny 
craft  is  eclipsed  anon  by  boats,  all  ablaze  with  one  glow  of 
light  from  innumerable  lamps.  These  larger  vessels  slowly 
float  down  the  stream  in  the  distance. 

Visits  to  flower-gardens  give  a  variety  to  the  monotony 
of  everyday  life,  and  even  the  sombre  worship  at  the 
tombs,  after  the  prescribed  ceremonials  are  through,  is 
transformed  into  pleasant  picnics  and  happy  family  re- 
unions. 

Besides  these  outdoor  entertainments,  there  are  dif- 
ferent games  of  cards,  dominoes,  chess,  etc.,  the  two  former 
being  almost  invariably  associated  with  gambling.  (See 
Article  on  Gambling.)  Numerous  other  games  are  played, 
whose  whole  end  and  object  is  gambling  pure  and  simple, 

27 


Things  Chinese 

amongst  which  may  be  noted  games  with  dice,  encounters 
of  fighting  crickets,  and  quail  matches.  The  jeunesse  doree 
of  a  literary  or  artistic  taste  also  amuse  themselves  and 
while  away  the  passing  hour  by  wine  parties,  at  which 
capping  of  verses  takes  place.  Their  leisure  moments  are 
sometimes  beguiled  by  making  pen-and-ink  sketches  on 
fans,  or  inscriptions  on  the  same  articles  of  necessity  for  a 
warm  climate,  or  by  the  composition  of  antithetical  sentences, 
which  are  inscribed  on  scrolls  and  presented  as  souvenirs 
to  friends. 

Outdoor  sports  are  not  in  vogue  with  the  Chinaman. 
When  one  sees  anything  approaching  the  kind  going  on, 
there  is  almost  always  sure  to  be  some  utilitarian  object  in 
view,  as  in  archery,  which  is  practised  for  the  military 
examinations.  (See  Article  on  Army,  and  Article  on 
Examinations.)  The  gymnastic  exercises  with  heavy 
weights  are  undertaken  with  the  same  object.  Very  rarely 
one  may  see  a  few  young  Celestial  swells,  paddling  together 
in  a  canoe,  but  this  is  uncommon  enough  not  to  be  a 
typical  sight. 

As  to  out-door  games,  the  most  violent  in  which 
adults  engage  is  shuttlecock.  (See  Article  on  Shuttlecock.) 
A  more  sedentary  pastime  is  that  of  flying  kites  (See 
Article  on  Kites)  in  which  grown-up  men  indulge,  while 
youngsters  stand  by  and  look  on.  Very  ingenious  are  the 
different  forms  and  shapes  of  kites  made,  and  some,  like 
birds,  are  so  well  manipulated,  when  in  the  air,  as  to 
deceive  one  at  first  sight 

Blind  singing  girls  perambulate  the  streets  at  night, 
ready  to  accompany  their  song  with  the  guitar  (p'e'i-p'a), 
itinerant  ballad-singers  of  the  other  sex  can  be  hired  by 
the  day.  Story-tellers  are  pretty  sure  to  get  a  good  crowd 
round  them  while  interesting  episodes  in  Chinese  history 
are  recounted  to  their  listeners.  In  any  open  space,  or 
lining  the  broader  streets,  are  peep-shows,  the  more  crude 
native  production  being  replaced  in  many  cases,  during 
the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years,  by  stereoscopic  views. 
Jugglers,  and  Punch  and  Judy  shows,  performing 

28 


Amusements 

monkeys,   as  well  as  gymnasts,  are  always   certain   of  a 
circle  of  admiring  spectators. 

The  ladies  join  in  a  few  of  these  amusements,  as  has 
already  been  pointed  out,  but  are  debarred  from  the  great 
majority  of  those  which  cannot  be  enjoyed  in  the  privacy 
of  their  dwellings.  They  kill  time  by  playing  cards  and 
dominoes,  occasionally  going  to  the  theatre,  gossiping,  and 
visiting — when  they  are  quickly  carried  in  closed  chairs 
through  the  narrow  streets,  invisible  to  every  one,  and 
every  one  and  everything  nearly  invisible  to  them. 

As  to  children's  toys  and  sports,  though  one  writer  in 
an  English  periodical  very  sapiently  (?)  remarks  that  there 
are  no  toys  in  China,  yet  it  needs  but  a  few  steps  in  a 
Chinese  city,  in  the  South  at  all  events,  to  show  the 
absurdity  of  the  statement.  Besides  taking  their  share  in 
the  enjoyments  of  their  elders,  they  have  more  especially 
for  their  benefit,  tops,  paper  lanterns  in  the  shape  of  fish, 
iron  marbles,  toy  cannon  and  weapons,  and  a  thousand  and 
one  different  games  and  toys  with  which  the  ingenuity  of 
the  caterers  for  their  amusement  fills  the  toyshops,  and 
covers  the  stalls  at  the  street  corners. 

As  yet  no  borrowing  of  modern  Western  outdoor  sports 
has  taken  place.  The  boys  who  congregate  round  the 
cricket-ground  in  Hongkong  may  be  seen  playing  a  street- 
boy's  game  of  cricket  where  any  stick  does  for  a  bat  and 
anything  round  for  a  ball ;  and  in  Singapore  a  few  Chinese 
have  begun  to  play  this  essentially  English  game,  many  of 
them  being  babas,  i.e.,  Straits-born  Chinese  :  but  it  will 
probably  be  many  a  long  day  before  English  sports  and 
games  are  introduced  into  China  itself  to  any  appreciable 
extent  among  the  natives.  They  are  too  violent  for  respect- 
able Chinese  to  engage  in,  and  consequently  not  dignified 
enough  in  their  character,  looked  at  from  an  Oriental 
standpoint.  The  Chinese  school-boy  is  not  brought  up  in 
an  atmosphere  of  athletics  and  physical  education  as 
English  youths  are.  If  with  us  such  a  training  is  some- 
times carried  to  an  excess,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Chinese  err  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  motto  drummed 

29 


Things  Chinese 

into  the  Chinese  youngster  is  that — '  Play  is  of  no  benefit 
at  all.' 

ANCESTRAL  WORSHIP.  —  Ancestral    worship   is 
filial  piety  gone  mad.     True  to  their  practice  of  retaining 
customs    and    habits    for   centuries    and    milleniums,   the 
Chinese  nation  has  not  given  up  this  most  ancient  form 
of  worship ;    and  the   original  worship   of  ancestors,  like 
the  older  formation  of  rocks  on  the  earth's  surface,  is  strong 
as  the  everlasting  hills,  and,  though  overlaid  by  other  cults, 
as  the  primary  rocks  are   by  other  strata,  is  still  at  the 
foundation  ;  nearly  all  the  other  methods  of  worship  being 
later    additions     and     accretions.  '   The    worshipping    of 
ancestors  thus  underlies  most  of  their  religion,  and  many 
of  their  everyday  acts  and  deeds.     '  Social  customs,  judi- 
cial decisions,  appointments  to  the  office  of  prime  minister, 
and  even  the  succession  to  the  throne  are  influenced  by  it.' 
A  magistrate,  for  instance,  will  pass  a  much  lighter  sentence 
on  a  criminal  if  he  is  the  eldest  or  only  son,  in  case  one  or 
both  of  his  parents  have  recently  died,  than  he  otherwise 
would,  for  fear  of  preventing  him  sacrificing  to  the  dead. 
An  Emperor  on  accession  to  the  throne  must  be  younger 
than  his  predecessor,  in  order  to  worship  him.     Ancestral 
worship  has  been  defined  as  including  'not  only  the  direct 
worship  of  the  dead,  but  also  whatever  is  done  directly  or 
indirectly  for  their  comfort ;  also  all  that  is  done  to  avert 
the  calamities  which  the  spirits  of  the  departed  are  sup- 
posed to  be  able  to  inflict  upon  the  living,  as  a  punishment 
for  inattention  to  their  necessities.'     Under  such  a  descrip- 
tion as  this,  the  actions  which  it  gives  rise  to  will  be  found 
to  permeate  nearly  every  phase  of  Chinese  life  : — concubin- 
age,  adoption,  house-building  (both   of  private  dwellings 
and   clubs),  the  institution  of  the  Tung-wa  Hospital,  the 
laying  out  of  streets,  modes  of  revenge,  and  methods  of 
capital  punishment,  all  are  partly  due  to  the  same  cause. 
The  consuming  desire  to  have  sons,  and  the  despising  of 
daughters  centre  in  this,  and  many  of  their  superstitions 
and  beliefs  take  their  motive  force  from  it.     This  worship  is 

30 


Ancestral  Worship 

the  only  one  that  is  entitled  to  the  name  of  the  National 
Religion  of  China,  as  the  dead  are  the  objects  of  worship 
of  poor  and  rich,  young  and  old,  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  this  immense  empire.  The  Chinese  are  willing 
to  relinquish  every  other  form  of  worship  and  religion, 
but  this  is  so  interwoven  into  the  texture  and  fabric  of 
their  everyday  life,  and  has  such  a  firm  hold  on  them,  that 
scarcely  anything,  short  of  the  miraculous,  forces  them  to 
give  it  up,  with  such  tenacity  of  purpose  do  they  cling  to 
it.  The  Roman  Catholics,  with  more  worldly  wisdom  than 
piety,  allowed  their  converts  at  one  time  to  retain  this 
worship — though  not  now ;  the  Protestant  missionaries 
find  it  the  most  formidable  obstacle  to  the  introduction  of 
Christianity;  the  Mohammedans  in  China  do  not  allow  it  ; 
and  it  is  one  of  the  strongholds  of  opposition  to  all  Western 
progress  and  science. 

Believing  that  the  spirits  in  the  next  world  stand  in 
need  of  the  same  comforts  and  necessities  as  the  inhabitants 
of  this  world,  they  hold  it  is  consequently  the  bounden 
duty  of  friends  and  relatives  of  the  deceased  to  forward 
these  to  them  ;  but  with  that  curious  trait  of  the  Chinese 
mind  which  believes  in  large  promises,  but  small  fulfil- 
ments— in  great  show  and  little  reality — the  articles  sent 
into  the  spirit  world  for  the  use  of  their  departed  relatives, 
instead  of  being  the  veritable  articles  used  in  this  stage  of 
existence,  are,  like  so  many  things  Chinese,  shams.  For 
houses,  boats,  clothes,  sedan-chairs,  bills  of  exchange,  mock- 
silver  dollars,  and  every  conceivable  object  of  use  in  this 
mundane  sphere  of  existence,  have  paper  and  bamboo 
models  made  of  them.  Expense,  of  course,  is  not  spared 
in  the  production  of  these  objects,  but  still  it  will  readily 
be  understood  that  articles  made  of  such  flimsy  materials 
cannot  be  worth  a  tenth,  or  a  hundredth,  nor  even  some- 
times a  thousandth  part  of  the  genuine  article.  These  are 
forwarded  into  the  next  world  by  being  burned.  They 
proceed  even  further,  for  they  send  supplies  to  the  beggar 
spirits,  who  may  have  been  neglected  by  living  relatives,  or 
who  may  have  no  relatives  living,  and  to  the  spirits  of 

31 


Things  Chinese 

those  who  have  died  at  sea,  in  war,  of  starvation,  or  abroad. 
'  They  believe  that  nearly  all  the  ills  to  which  flesh  is  heir, 
such  as  sickness,  calamity,  and  death  are  inflicted  by  these 
unfortunate  and  demoniacal  spirits.' 

The  usual,  if  not  universal,  belief  with  the  Chinese,  is 
that  a  man  possesses  three  souls.  After  death  one  goes 
into  the  Ancestral  Tablet  prepared  for  it,  where  it  receives 
the  worship  of  the  man's  descendants  at  proper  and  stated 
times ;  at  such  times  also,  worship  is  paid  at  the  grave  to 
another  soul ;  while  the  third  goes  into  the  nether  world  to 
receive  the  rewards  or  punishments  of  the  deeds  done  in 
this,  finally  to  return  to  the  upper  world  again  as  a  god,  a 
man,  a  beast,  a  bird,  or  a  reptile,  according  to  his  merits. 
This  third  soul  can  also  be  worshipped  at  the  City  Temple, 
the  god  of  which  is  the  ruler  of  departed  spirits,  and  has 
an  entourage  of  officials,  lictors,  and  attendants,  like  the 
Governor  of  a  Chinese  City.  Bribery  and  corruption  reign 
rampant  there  amongst  the  spirits,  just  as  in  the  venal 
world  of  China. 

The  Ancestral  Tablet  is  generally  a  plain,  oblong  piece 
of  hard  wood,  split  nearly  the  whole  way  up,  and  stuck 
into  a  small  transverse  block  of  wood.  On  one  of  the 
inner  surfaces  and  on  the  front  outer  surface,  are  written 
the  name  and  age  of  the  deceased  with  other  particulars. 
Incense  is  burnt  night  and  morning  before  the  tablet,  and 
the  near  relatives  prostrate  themselves  before  it  for  forty- 
nine  days. 

The  following  is  the  story  of  the  origin  of  the  custom  : — 

'The  custom  of  erecting  a  tablet  to  the  dead  is  said  to  have 
originated  during  the  Chau  dynasty  (B.C.  350)  when  one  Ka"i  Tsz-chui, 
attendant  on  the  sovereign  of  Tsin,  cut  out  a  piece  of  his  thigh  and 
caused  it  to  be  dressed  for  His  Majesty,  who  was  fainting  with  hunger. 
Kai  Tsz-chui,  not  being  able  to  continue  his  march  from  the  pain  he 
suffered,  concealed  himself  in  a  wood.  This  prince  on  his  arrival  at 
the  state  of  Tsi  sent  soldiers  to  take  care  of  him,  but  they,  being 
unable  to  discover  him,  set  fire  to  the  wood,  where  he  was  burnt  to 
death.  The  prince,  on  discovering  the  corpse,  erected  a  tablet  to  his 
manes,  which  he  begged  to  accompany  home,  and  there  caused 
incense  to  be  offered  to  him  daily.' 

The  tablets  used  by  the  boat  people  in  Canton  are 

32 


Ancestral  Worship 

smaller,  and  differ  in  other  respects  also  from  those  used 
on  shore.  Immediately  after  death,  plain  ones  are  in 
vogue  amongst  the  floating  population,  but  after  three 
years  or  so  they  are  ornamented  and  painted.  A  very 
curious  custom  also  prevails  amongst  this  tdn-kd  people  in 
connection  with  this  matter.  Images  are  made  of  deceased 
members  of  the  family,  and,  what  is  still  more  curious, 
there  are  images  of  the  children  who  have  died — curious, 
because  children  are  not  ancestors,  and  the  Chinese  do 
not  erect  tablets  to  anyone  under  twenty  years  of  age  who 
has  not  been  married.  The  boys  are  usually  represented 
in  these  cases  as  riding  on  lions  or  white  horses,  and  the 
girls  on  white  storks. 

The  Man-tsz  Aborigines,  in  Western  Sz-Chuen,  take  an 
unburnt  piece  of  wood  from  the  funeral  pyre;  on  the  smooth 
surface  they  picture  a  rude  likeness  of  the  head  of  the 
family  who  has  been  there  cremated,  and  place  this  in 
the  house  as  the  Ancestral  Tablet. 

'  It  is  computed  that  the  public  worship  of  ancestors 
costs  the  Empire  ,£6,000,000  annually;  and  the  private 
worship  £24,000,000. ' 

When  a  Chinese  directs  in  his  will  that  a  certain 
portion  of  his  estate  is  to  be  reserved  for  the  carrying  out 
of  ceremonies  at  his  grave,  in  accordance  with  the 
principles  of  ancestral  worship,  English  Courts  of  Law,  in 
the  cases  that  have  come  before  them,  have  decided  that 
such  a  bequest  is  void,  as  tending  to  a  perpetuity  ;  for 
money  cannot  be  bound  up  for  an  indefinite  period,  which 
is  not  intended  for  a  charitable  purpose.  (See  cases  of 
Yip  Cheng  Neo  v.  Ong  Cheng  Neo,  L.  R.  6  P.  C,  Appeals 
381  ;  also  Hoare  v.  Osborne,  L.  R.  I  Eq.  585.  The  latest 
decision  is,  '  In  the  matter  of  the  estate  of  Tso  Wing  Yung 
(Judgt.},'  reported  in  China  Mail  of  6th  May  1891.) 

'Ancestral  land  is  land  that  has  been  originally  set  apart  for 
ancestral  worship,  and  is  increased  by  purchase  from  time  to  time  in 
the  name  of  the  deceased  ancestor,  in  whose  name  also  the  Govern- 
ment taxes  are  paid.  The  rent  of  ancestral  lands  is  devoted  to  the 
upkeep  of  the  ancestral  temple,  to  the  education  of  the  members  of 
the  clan,  to  the  worship  of  ancestors,  to  the  relief  of  poor  members  of 

33  c 


Things  Chinese 

the  clan,  to  the  marriage  expenses  of  those  who  require  assistance, 
and  to  the  funeral  expenses  of  those  whose  relatives  are  poor.  Such 
land  is  always  held  in  the  name  of  the  ancestor  who  bequeathed  the 
property,  the  land  being  nearly  always  leased  to  members  of  the  clan, 
who  cultivate  it  and  pay  a  yearly  rent.  Sometimes  the  different 
branches  of  a  clan  cultivate  the  land  in  rotation,  the  branch  in 
occupation  of  the  land  being  held  responsible  for  the  payment  of  the 
expenses  incurred  on  account  of  the  objects  for  which  the  land  was 
originally  transmitted.  Clan  land  cannot  be  alienated  without  the 
consent  of  the  representatives  and  elders  of  the  whole  clan.  The 
rent  roll  is  kept  by  a  committee  of  the  clan.' 

Hooks  recommended. — 'An  Essay  on  Ancestral  Worship, '  by  Rev.  M.  T. 
Yates,  D.D. ,  dealing  with  it  generally,  and  another,  'The  Attitude  of 
Christianity  toward  Ancestral  Worship,'  dealing  with  it  historically. 

ANTIQUITIES. — There  are  far  fewer  antiquities  in 
this  venerable  land  of  such  a  hoary  age  than  at  first  would 
be  supposed.  Some  inscriptions  are  to  be  found  here  or 
there  on  boulders  ;  but  these  are  mostly  of  a  modern  date, 
according  to  Chinese  ideas. 

The  houses  and  temples  are  built  of  such  perishable 
materials,  and  the  climate,  typhoons,  and  insect  life  all 
militate  against  their  preservation  for  more  than  two  or 
three  centuries,  without  extensive  repairs  which  often 
constitute  a  virtual  rebuilding.  A  stone  dwelling  of 
ancient  times  has  been  discovered  in  the  North  ;  and  were 
an  archaeological  society  in  existence  and  conditions  of  life 
in  China  somewhat  different  from  what  they  are  at  present, 
more  of  such  remains  of  antiquity  might  be  unearthed. 

The  old  stone  drums  of  the  Chow  dynasty  are  amongst 
some  of  the  most  venerable  relics  of  antiquity  handed 
down  to  the  present  time.  Finds  of  ancient  coins  buried 
in  the  earth  or  as  heirlooms,  passed  on  from  generation  to 
generation,  reward  every  now  and  then  the  enthusiastic 
numismatist,  as  well  as  curios  of  one  sort  or  another,  the 
general  collector  ;  but  on  the  whole,  barring  such  instances, 
the  study  of  antiquities  in  China  is  disappointing. 

'  Bricks  and  tiles  of  the  Tsing  and  Han  dynasties  have  always 
been  highly  prized  and  considered  as  relics.  In  the  neighbourhood 
of  a  small  hamlet,  a  little  west  of  Kiang-ying,  a  rare  discovery  was 
made  of  this  kind  of  bricks,  manufactured  centuries  ago,  at  an  ancient 
grave.  Exposure  to  the  weather  had  somehow  caused  a  part  of  the 
mound  to  slide  down  and  thus  lay  bare  the  inner  casement  of  the 

34 


Architecture 

tomb  built  up  of  this  kind  of  bricks.  There  are  over  two  thousand 
bricks  in  all.  In  size  they  are  a  little  larger  than  the  ordinary  bricks, 
but  on  the  four  corners  of  each  there  are  impressions  of  old  coins. 
Besides  the  bricks  a  vase  was  also  unearthed.  As  to  the  date  of  these 
relics  only  experts  and  antiquarians  can  determine.' 

Books  recommended.— Sec  Articles  on  Primitive  Man  and  Porcelain. 

APPLES. — The  apple  and  pear  tree  'grew  wild  in 
Europe  and  Asia  in  prehistoric  times.'  The  apple-tree 
now  grows  in  North  China,  the  climate  in  the  South  is 
too  hot  for  it.  Judging  from  the  specimens  that  reach 
Canton,  the  fruit  is  inferior  to  that  produced  in  Europe. 

ARCHITECTURE.  — The  Chinese  have  made  but 
small  advances  in  architecture:  they  have  not  proceeded 
beyond  the  first  steps  of  architectural  construction.  The 
first  principle  which  they  have  acted  upon  appears  to 
be  that  of  raising  two  side-walls  to  support  the  beams 
of  the  roof.  The  length  of  these  beams,  in  buildings  of  any 
size,  necessitates  the  adoption  of  rows  of  pillars  to  support 
them.  To  obviate  the  too  great  multiplicity  of  these 
pillars,  what  has  been  described  as  '  a  very  pretty  system 
of  "king"  and  "queen"  posts  have  been  contrived,  by  which 
the  pressure  of  several  beams  is  transmitted  to  a  single 
pillar.'  These  are  often  beautifully  carved,  and  there  is 
much  scope  for  variety.  Tradescant  Lay,  from  whom  we 
have  already  quoted,  further  says  :— 

'A  lack  of  science  and  of  conception  is  seen,  .  .  .  but  fancy  seems 
to  have  free  license  to  gambol  at  pleasure,  and  what  the  architect 
wants  in  developing  a  scheme,  he  makes  up  by  a  redundancy  of 
imagination.'  Williams  says  : — 'In  lighter  edifices,  in  pavilions,  rest- 
houses,  kiosks,  and  arbours,  there  is,  however,  a  degree  of  taste  and 
adaptation  that  is  unusual  in  other  buildings,  and  quite  in  keeping 
with  their  fondness  for  tinsel  and  gilding  rather  than  solidity  and 
grandeur.'  Another  sinologue  says: — 'Their  ornamentation  is  often 
beautiful.  But,  even  in  their  ornamentation,  the  Chinese  rarely,  if 
ever,  exhibit  congruity  of  detail.  The  details  are  often  perfect,  but 
they  are  seldom  in  such  full  harmony  with  other  details  as  to 
present  to  the  spectator  the  pleasing  aspect  of  a  harmonious  work 
of  art.' 

Their  construction  is  bad  ;  very  little  regard  is  paid  to 
outline,  except  in  pagodas,  roofs  of  temples,  and  bridges, 

35 


Things  Chinese 

but  the  ornamentation  is  the  pleasantest  feature,  on  which 
the  greatest  care  is  bestowed. 

We  have  often  heard  from  an  old  resident  in  China  a 
description  of  the  impressions  produced  by  the  first  sight 
of  Canton.  Before  reaching  China,  accounts  had  been 
received  of  the  destruction  by  fire  of  a  Chinese  theatre, 
and  the  loss  of  life  of  thousands  of  natives.  Arrived  in 
front  of  the  city,  a  remembrance  of  the  frightful  catastrophe 
led  the  newcomer  to  suppose  that  the  torn-down  look  of 
the  houses  and  sheds  was  the  result  of  the  destructive 
element ;  the  idea  never  occurring  that  the  usual  habita- 
tions of  the  citizens  of  an  enormous  city  like  this  were  such 
as  these.  The  magnificent  churches  and  cathedrals,  the 
stately  edifices,  the  superb  mansions,  are  all  wanting  in  a 
Chinese  city  ;  instead  of  the  broad  streets,  spacious  avenues, 
and  large  squares — congeries  of  narrow  lanes,  a  maze  of 
alleys  (scarcely  one  entitled  to  the  name  of  a  street, 
according  to  our  acceptation  of  the  term) ;  and  the  few 
open  spaces  in  front  of  the  temples — not  worthy  to  be 
dignified  with  the  title  of  squares.  Lining  both  sides  of 
the  way,  if  in  a  family  street,  the  walls  are  formed  of 
bluish-grey  bricks,  neatly  pointed  in  mortar  with  granite 
foundations,  reaching  several  feet  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  Two  or  three  long  steps  of  granite,  extending 
from  wall  to  wall  of  the  house,  lead  up  to  the  front,  which, 
with  the  exception  of  the  door  in  the  centre,  presents  a 
blank  wall  to  the  passer-by.  There  are  no  windows,  only 
a  plain,  massive,  double-leaved  door  of  thick  planks  fastened 
by  two  wooden  bolts.  These  doors  are  often  left  open 
during  the  day,  and  the  privacy  of  the  inmates  ensured  by 
two  outer,  lighter  constructed  doors,  also  of  wood,  only 
reaching  a  little  more  than  half-way  up  the  doorway.  The 
side-walls  of  the  house  project  a  couple  of  feet  or  so,  and 
support  the  eaves,  which  are  carried  out  a  corresponding 
distance,  and  shelter  the  few  feet  in  front  of  the  entrance. 
The  walls  are  generally  the  thickness  of  the  length  of  a 
brick,  and  after  eight  or  ten  courses,  a  course  of  bonders  is 
laid.  The  door  once  entered,  over  the  high  wooden 

36 


Architecture 

threshold,  one  finds  one's  self  under  a  small  introductory 
roof,  which  shelters  the  porter's  room,  and  facing  one  is  a 
row  of  large  doors,  made  of  boards,  in  sets  of  three  pairs  or 
so,  reaching  from  wall  to  wall ;  beyond  these  is  a  small  court, 
open  in  the  centre  to  the  sky,  where  some  green  glazed  pots  of 
ornamental  flowers,  or  plants,  are  standing  on  similar  flower- 
stands.  The  whole  house  is  now  before  one,  the  separate 
apartments  being  under  different  roofs,  the  foremost  being 
the  reception  hall  ;  for  a  Chinese  residence  is  a  collection 
of  small  buildings,  except  amongst  the  poorest  classes. 

A  ground  floor  is  all  that  many  houses  can  boast  of, 
and  this  is  generally  tiled  with  red  flooring-tiles,  a  foot 
square  and  an  inch  in  thickness.  Marble  tiles  are  occasion- 
ally laid  on  the  ground,  but  they  are  not  highly  polished. 
If  there  are  first  floors,  they  are  usually  under  one  or  more 
of  the  inner  roofs. 

In  some  of  the  houses  (more  especially  in  the  hongs 
and  godowns  fronting  the  river  in  Canton)  there  are  as 
many  as  six,  eight,  ten,  or  twelve  separate  roofs,  one 
behind  another,  all  in  a  row,  with  courtyards  between 
each,  and  covered  passages  on  each  side  of  these  open 
spaces  ;  the  latter  serve  the  double  purpose  of  giving  light 
and  ventilation,  taking  the  place  of  windows,  which  are 
mostly  confined  to  the  interior  of  the  houses,  where  they 
open  on  the  courtyard. 

The  tent,  it  has  very  generally  been  thought,  has 
furnished  the  model  for  the  construction  of  the  roof  in 
kiosks  and  other  buildings  ;  but  one  or  two  writers  have 
lately  dissented  from  this  opinion. 

Ceilings  are  but  seldom  seen  in  Chinese  houses,  nor  are 
the  walls  plastered  or  papered.  The  roof-tiles  are  laid  in 
alternate  rows  of  roll  and  pantile  (or  small  semi-cylindrical, 
and  broad,  slightly  concave  ones),  the  traces,  it  has  been 
pointed  out,  of  early,  split-bamboo  roofing,  and  not  of  the 
tent  structure.  In  good  roofs,  a  second  layer  of  these  is 
put  on  above  the  other,  or  even  a  third  on  the  top  of  all. 

The  habitations  of  the  poor  are  often  the  merest  hovels, 
and  many  workmen,  as  well  as  the  poorest  classes,  live  in 

37 


Things  Chinese 

matsheds,  the  framework  of  which  is  made  of  bamboo,  and 
the  walls  and  roofs  of  oblongs  formed  of  bamboo  leaves 
fastened  together.  These  matsheds,  built  of  the  'attap,' 
as  it  is  called  by  the  Malays,  are  very  convenient,  since 
they  are  easily  and  quickly  put  up  without  a  single  nail, 
the  bamboo  poles  being  tied  together  with  long  strings  of 
split  rattan,  and  even  more  easily  taken  down  when  done 
with,  for  the  fastenings  are  cut  instead  of  being  untied. 
They  are  largely  used  as  temporary  structures  for  religious 
festivals  and  for  many  other  objects,  one  of  the  most  curious 
being  the  construction  of  one  over  a  house  in  the  course  of 
erection  to  protect  it,  and  the  workmen,  from  the  heavy 
tropical  rains. 

Along  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  over  the  mud-flats,  are 
found  many  of  the  poorest  sheds  and  shanties,  of  a  non- 
descript character — old  boats  often  forming  the  foundation, 
and  the  superstructure  made  of  anything  and  everything, 
reminding  one  of  Mr  Peggotty's  famous  ark,  as  described  in 
'  David  Copperfield.' 

The  houses  of  the  better  classes  have  much  ornamenta- 
tion about  them.     Stucco-work,  representing  human  figures, 
birds,  animals,  and  flowers,  is  often  found  over  the  front  of 
a  house,  as  on  a  frieze,  and  below  the  projecting  roof;  or 
the  same  kind  of  decoration  is  found  on  inner  walls,  and 
affords  a  pleasant  relief  to  the  plain  monotony  of  the  other- 
wise bare,  brick  walls.     In  Swatow,  the  whole  front  wall  is 
often  adorned  by  six  or  seven  large  medallion-like  pictures 
which  lend  a  brightness  to  the  otherwise  plain  surface.     In 
fact,  ordinary  buildings  are  more  highly  ornamented  up  the 
coast  than  is  the  case  further  south.     Variety  is  also  given 
by   the   octagonal,   circular,   and    pear  -  shaped   doorways, 
which  pierce  the  walls  in  the  suites  of  apartments,  and  in 
gardens,  and  rockeries  of  the  superior  class  of  houses ;  a 
quaint  picturesqueness  is  added  to  the  general  effect  by 
the  geometrical   patterns  of  the  combination  of  door  and 
window  in  one,  the  rows  of  which   serve   as   screens   or 
partitions    between    the   different    rooms,   as   well    as   by 
the  fixed  open-work  partitions  of  like  construction.     Carv- 

38 


Architecture 

ings  of  fruit  and  flowers   and  gaudy  paint-work  also  add 
their  bizarre  attractiveness  to  the  toute  ensemble. 

The  roofs  of  shops  are  built  like  those  of  private  houses, 
the  shape  being  that  of  a  V  turned  upside  down  ;  but  in- 
stead of  sheltering  themselves  behind  a  plain,  brick  wall,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  dwelling-houses,  they  are  quite  open  to 
the  street,  and  often  have  an  upper  storey  supported  in  the 
front  by  a  broad  breastsummer.  The  whole  shop  is  open 
to  the  street,  and  is  closed  up  at  night  by  shutter-doors. 
(In  Swatow  the  shutters  over  the  counter  are  transverse  and 
not  upright  ;  they  fold  up  from  the  counter  and  down  from 
the  roof,  meeting  in  the  space  in  the  centre.)  A  granite 
counter  occupies  a  portion  of  the  space  in  front,  and  a  hard- 
wood counter  runs  at  right  angles  to  it  back  into  the  shop. 
Behind  the  shop  proper  is  the  counting-room.  The  sign- 
boards, though  not  strictly  speaking  an  architectural  feature 
of  the  buildings  themselves,  add  much,  by  the  brilliancy  of 
their  reds  and  greens  and  gilding,  to  the  picturesqueness  of 
the  business  streets,  and  relieve  the  sameness  which  would 
otherwise  result  from  the  want  of  architectural  decoration. 
The  largest  ones  are  ten — or  even  more — feet  in  length, 
and  are  suspended  at  each  side  of  the  shop  front ;  some 
are  set  in  stone  bases,  others  hang  over  the  entrances  or  in 
the  shop  itself.  A  glance  down  a  street  full  of  shops  with 
its  scores  or  hundreds  of  many-coloured  signboards  is 
quite  kaleidoscopic,  as  the  glare  of  the  tropical  sun  flashes 
on  their  variegated  hues  ;  while  in  the  softer  shades  of  the 
covered-over  streets  they  serve  to  lighten  up  the  semi- 
religious  gloom. 

In  the  construction  of  the  temples  and  public  buildings 
where  space  is  not  so  restricted,  the  main  structures — two  or 
three  in  number — stand  isolated,  with  stone-paved  paths  and 
steps  leading  up  to  terraces  of  the  same  material  on  which 
they  are  built,  venerable  trees  shading  the  otherwise  open 
spaces.  The  dwellings  of  the  abbots  and  monks,  or  the 
subsidiary  buildings,  are  at  the  sides  or  behind,  with 
numerous  corridors  leading  to  the  apartments  or  suites  of 
rooms.  Most  of  what  has  been  written  above  applies  to 

39 


Things  Chinese 

Canton  and  its  neighbourhood,  for  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
various  provinces  (sometimes  even  of  districts)  of  China,  it 
may  be  said  with  truth,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent,  '  hi 
omnes  lingua,  institutis,  .  .  .  inter  se  differuntj  and 
their  dwellings,  though  in  the  main  constructed  on  the  same 
general  outlines,  have  peculiarities  of  their  own  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  ;  for  instance  in  Amoy,  many  of  the 
houses  have  an  upward  curve  at  each  end  of  the  top  of  the 
roof,  quite  foreign  to  the  extreme  south  of  China. 

4  There  is  nothing  more  incomprehensible  to  a  foreigner  than  an 
official  residence,  with  its  gates,  folding  doors,  halls,  side-rooms, 
balconies,  carved  and  frescoed  pillars,  lattices,  and  matted  ceilings. 
.  .  .  The  frescoes  are  gaudy,  and  represent  every  conceivable 
subject,  from  genii  walking  among  clouds  to  a  moth  upon  a  peach. 
The  roof  is  a  tangled  mass  of  Asiatic  glory.  The  Sz-chuanese  nouses 
excel  in  their  exterior  decorations  ;  the  ridges,  gateways,  and  corners, 
are  beautifully  trimmed  with  broken  bits  of  blue  and  white  porcelain, 
which,  at  a  distance,  have  a  most  pleasing  effect.  .  .  .  The  houses, 
except  in  the  large  cities,  are  flimsy  affairs,  with  walls  of  pounded 
earth,  and  roofs  thatched  with  straw.' 

The  principal  material  for  house  construction  in  Swatow 
and  its  neighbourhood  is  earth,  or  river  sand,  or  decomposed 
granite,  mixed  with  lime  in  the  proportion  of  seven  parts  of 
the  former  to  three  of  the  latter.  This  is  rammed  in  be- 
tween boards,  hardens,  and  appears  to  be  most  durable. 

The  roof  has  been  considered  the  chief  feature  of  Chinese 
architecture  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  a  great  amount  of 
decorative  art  is  expended  on  the  massive  roofs  of  the 
larger  and  finer  temples  and  public  buildings.  '  The  light- 
ness and  grace  of  the  curve  of  these  heavy  roofs  is  worthy 
of  all  praise  ; '  they  are  sometimes  constructed  double,  or  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  give  the  appearance  of  two  roofs. 
The  object  of  '  this  is  to  lend  an  air  of  greater  richness  and 
dignity.'  The  roof,  it  will  thus  be  seen,  does  not  occupy,  in 
public  buildings  and  temples,  the  subsidiary  position  that 
such  a  part  of  the  structure  takes  in  the  West :  it  is  the 
most  striking  object  in  this  class  of  buildings,  and  with  the 
numerous  varnished  timbers  and  posts,  the  green-glazed  tiles 
and  glazed  dragons,  pearls,  etc.,  and  unhidden  by  plastered 
ceilings,  it  looks  most  picturesque.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
roofs  of  private  dwellings  are  simply  for  use.  The  im- 

40 


Architecture 

portance  of  the  roof  to  the  Chinese  is  shown  by 
the  curious  practice,  often  seen,  of  putting  up  the  ridge- 
pole before  the  rest  of  the  house  is  built.  It  is  then 
supported  on  a  framework  of  poles,  a  promise  of  the 
building  that  is  to  rise  to  its  height  in  the  future. 

It  would  naturally  be  expected  that  in  such  an  ancient 
land  as  China,  the  whole  land  would  be  full  of  old  ruins. 
Such  is,  however,  not  the  case ;  even  the  Great  Wall  has 
been  reconstructed  once  or  twice.  There  are  some 
structures  still  standing  that  have  stood  for  more  than  a 
thousand  years ;  but  to  find  older  ones  than  this,  it  is 
necessary  to  excavate  the  mounds — the  tombs  of  ancient 
cities — where  a  few  stone  buildings  may  be  found  :  one, 
built  seventeen  centuries  ago,  was  recently  discovered. 
Cave  and  rock  dwellings  are  also  to  be  seen  in  some 
parts.  The  great  majority  of  buildings  are  modern,  in  the 
sense  that  that  word  has  when  applied  to  anything  in 
China ;  for  many  things  that  are  classed  under  that 
category  would  be  considered  to  be  mediaeval  or  ancient 
in  the  West.  The  reason  for  this  paucity  of  relics  of 
antiquity  is  not  far  to  seek :  much  of  the  material 
employed  is  not  fitted  to  withstand  the  ravages  of  ages, 
and,  when  it  is,  the  flimsy  style  of  construction  does  not 
ensure  that  durability  which  it  might  otherwise  hope  to 
attain  ;  added  to  which  the  humidity  of  the  climate,  and  the 
insidious  attacks  of  insects,  all  militate  against  handing 
down  to  posterity  the  works  of  its  forefathers  ;  furthermore, 
the  glance  of  the  Chinese  has  always  been  a  retrospective 
one — back  to  the  hoary  ages — and  the  tendency  has  not 
been  to  build  for  future  times.  A  very  curious  feature  in 
Chinese  building-construction  is  that  so  little  stone  has  been 
employed.  The  streets  are  paved  with  it ;  the  city  walls  are 
partially  built  of  it ;  the  foundations  of  houses  are  con- 
structed of  it ;  so  are  the  end-counters  in  shops,  as  well  as 
some  of  the  outer  columns  in  temples  ;  but  otherwise  it  is  a 
rare  thing  to  find  it  entirely  used  in  the  building  of  any 
structure,  except  commemorative  arches  and  bridges.  '  The 
Chinese  have  been  acquainted  with  the  arch  from  very 

41 


Things  Chinese 

early  times,  though  they  make  comparatively  little  use  of 
it.'  Many  elegant  bridges  have  been  constructed  in 
different  parts  of  the  empire,  some  of  great  length. 

Commemorative  arches,  as  these  peculiar  quaint 
portals  may  be  styled,  are  generally  put  up  by  imperial 
command  or  permission,  to  commemorate  the  virtuous  and 
brave.  They  consist  of  a  large  centre  and  two  smaller  side 
gateways,  the  material  employed  in  the  south  of  China 
being  generally  granite,  and,  in  the  West,  soft,  grey  sand- 
stone. There  is  a  considerable  amount  of  ornamentation 
about  them,  usually  in  the  way  of  carving,  etc. ;  '  in  the 
west  of  China  the  flowers  and  figures  carved  in  relief  are 
of  marble,  delicately  fitted  and  highly  polished.'  In  the 
streets  over  which  they  are  erected,  they  at  all  times  form  a 
pleasant  contrast  to  the  otherwise  common  lack  of 
architectural  adornment.  They  are  embellished  with 
inscriptions,  setting  forth  the  virtues  of  the  individuals 
whose  deeds  are  immortalised  by  their  erection.  The 
pagoda  is  one  of  the  most  graceful  specimens  of  Chinese 
architecture.  (See  Article  on  Pagodas.) 

The  cupola  or  dome  is  almost  entirely  unknown. 
Mohammedan  architecture  deserves  some  mention,  and  it 
is  possible  that  the  superiority  of  the  Ming  architecture 
may  be  traced  to  it. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Chinese  As  They  Are'  liy  Tradescant  Lay. 
Chap,  on 'Architecture.'  Jour.  C.  Br.  R.  A.S.  New  Series,  vol.  xxiv., 
No.  3.  Article  on  '  Chinese  Architecture '  by  Dr.  Edkins,  and  Article 
in  the  same  number,  by  S.  R.  von  Fries  on  '  The  Tent  Theory  of  Chinese 
Architecture,'  and  the  Report  of  the  Discussions  on  the  two  Papers  in  the 
same  number.  '  L'Art  Chinois,'  heading  of  '  Architecture  '  by  M.  Palelogue. 
iSame  subject  in  Williams's  '  Middle  Kingdom'  and  in  most  text-books  on  China. 
An  account  of  Cave  Dwellings  is  found  in  Williamson's '  Travels  in  North  China. ' 

ARMS. — To  find  a  counterpart  to  the  arms  which  the 
Chinese  have  used  in  the  past,  and  which  are  still  not 
obsolete  amongst  them,  one  must  turn  to  some  of  the 
weapons  employed  by  us  in  the  West  in  the  times,  for 
instance,  of  the  Tudors,  the  Stuarts,  and  the  Common- 
wealth ;  for  the  antiquated  spears,  pikes,  and  halberds,  like 
those  of  mediaeval  Europe,  are  still  modern  instruments  of 

42 


Arms 

warfare  amongst  this  ancient  people,  and,  though  fast  being 
superseded,  they  have  not  yet  been  entirely  laid  aside. 

Of  spears,  there  are  a  number  of  varieties  ;  among  which 
may  be  noticed  one  similar  to  the  partisan  of  the  time  of 
James  I.,  called  a  kik  ;  another  is  like  the  pike  of  the  time 
of  Cromwell,  called  a  /'///  /  and  yet  another,  somewhat  like 
a  voulge  or  boulge,  of  the  time  of  Henry  VII. 

Of  halberds,  there  are  several  different  kinds,  known 
as  tin  fa  fit ;  some  of  which  resemble  the  halberds  of  the 
times  of  Henry  VIII.,  Charles  II.,  and  the  double-axed 
halberd  of  the  period  of  Charles  I.;  while  another  variety, 
known  as  the  piin  yiit  fit,  from  the  crescent  on  one 
side,  resembles  one  of  the  time  of  Henry  VII.;  another, 
also  called  a  kik,  is  like  one  used  during  the  reign  of 
William  III. 

All  these  halberds  and  spears,  with  the  exception  of 
the  voulge  and  the  pike,  are  also  ancient  weapons  amongst 
the  Chinese.  It  seems  curious  that  there  should  be  such 
a  similarity  between  the  ancient  weapons  of  nations  so 
widely  separated  by  distance  from  one  another.  A  trident, 
a  formidable  weapon,  is  also  amongst  the  arms  of  the 
Chinese. 

Swords  and  daggers  are  thus  distinguished  in  China :  a 
sword  (klnt)  is  two-edged  ;  a  dagger  (to)  has  only  one  edge. 
Further,  swords  are  always  single,  while  daggers  may  be 
single  or  in  pairs  ;  in  the  latter  case,  one  side  of  each 
dagger  is  flat,  so  that  the  two  may  lie  close  together  and 
fit  into  one  scabbard  or  sheath  ;  thus  occasionally  a  Chinese 
dagger  would,  by  us,  be  termed  a  sword.  The  common 
Chinese  sword  is  like  that  of  the  Roman  soldier,  but 
probably  a  little  longer.  At  one  time  the  Chinese  officers 
carried  swords,  while  the  men  were  armed  with  daggers. 
A  second  kind  of  sword,  but  coming  under  the  category  of 
daggers,  has  a  flat  belly,  or  blade,  which  tapers  away  to  a 
sharp  point.  The  sword  would  seem  to  be  guardless, 
having  a  transverse  bar  simply,  the  hand,  grasping  the  short 
hilt  above  it,  being  entirely  unprotected,  while  in  the  flat- 
bellied  sword  mentioned  above,  and  in  many  daggers,  a 

43 


Things  Chinese 

guard  runs  from  the  bar  at  the  hilt,  forming  a  semi-circle 
with  the  rest  of  the  handle  ;  this  cross  piece  being  only  on 
the  edge  side. 

Bows  and  arrows  also  form  part  of  the  equipment  of 
those  soldiers  who  are  not  armed  with  Western  weapons  of 
precision,  though  it  is  said  that  in  modern  times  they  are 
more  for  show  at  examinations  than  for  use  in  battle.  The 
bows  are  made  of  horn  and  bamboo.  Cross-bows  have 
also  been  employed  by  the  Chinese  in  warfare. 

Dr.  Williams  thus  describes  the  matchlock  and 
cannon  : — 

'The  matchlock  is  of  wrought  iron  and  plain  bore  ;  it  has  a  longer 
barrel  than  the  musket,  so  long  that  a  rest  is  sometimes  attached  to 
the  stock  for  greater  ease  in  firing  ;  the  match  is  a  cord  of  hemp  or 
coir,  and  the  pan  must  be  uncovered  with  the  hand  before  it  can  be 
fired,  which  necessarily  interferes  with,  and  almost  prevents,  its  use 
in  wet  or  windy  weather.  The  cannon  are  cast,  and,  although  not 
of  very  uniform  calibre  from  the  mode  of  manufacture,  are  serviceable 
for  salutes.' 

The  cannon  in  use  before  recent  years  were  all  muzzle- 
loaders,  some  on  the  city  walls  in  Canton  being  more  than 
two  hundred  years  old.  Of  late,  breech-loaders  and  rifles 
of  modern  European  construction  have  been  coming  into 
use,  as  portions  of  the  Chinese  army  are  being  provided 
with  them  (See  Article  on  Army) ;  but  many  of  the 
Chinese  mandarins  are  wedded  to  their  old  style,  and  when 
reverses  occurred  in  the  recent  war  with  Japan,  believing 
that  they  were  due  to  the  use  by  their  own  soldiers  of  rifles 
and  modern  arms,  they  proceeded  to  cast  thousands  of 
gingals,  so  as  to  provide  their  army  with  them  and  ensure 
victory.  Gingals,  or  jingals,  are  long  tapering  guns,  six  to 
fourteen  feet  in  length,  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  two  men 
and  fired  by  a  third.  They  have  a  stand,  or  tripod,  remind- 
ing one  of  a  telescope.  By  means  of  a  single  support,  they 
are  set  in  the  bulwarks  of  boats,  when  employed  in  naval 
warfare,  or  for  the  protection  of  peaceful  merchantmen, 
and  being  less  liable  to  burst  than  cannon,  they  form  the 
most  effective  gun  the  Chinese  possess. 

Two-men  jingals  'are  a  little  over  ten  Chinese  feet  long,  and  are 
of  large  bore.     When  ready  to  be  fired,  the  front-rank  man  grasps 

44 


Army 

hold  of  the  middle  of  the  barrel  as  it  rests  in  the  hollow  of  his  right 
shoulder,  while  the  rear  man  takes  aim  and  draws  the  trigger. 
Formerly  the  flash- pan  was  used,  but  with  the  introduction  of 
percussion  caps,  the  jingals  have  been  fitted  with  nipples.  These 
weapons  are  claimed  to  have  conquered  China,  being  introduced  by 
the  Manchus  when  they  invaded  the  empire  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  and 
with  jingals,  Chinese  Turkestan  was  conquered  by  the  Emperor  Chicn- 
lung's  armies  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  ordinary  charge  for 
a  jingal  of  this  sort  is  a  good  handful  of  gunpowder,  with  a  two-and- 
a-half  ounce  bullet.  Sometimes  on  the  battlefield,  the  jingals  are 
loaded  with  an  extra  allowance  of  gunpowder,  and  three  bullets — 
often  four— are  rammed  in  to  create  as  much  destruction  as  possible.' 

Another  weapon  of  attack  used  in  naval  warfare,  and 
especially  by  pirates,  is  what  is  known  amongst  English- 
speaking  people  as  the  stink-pot : — 

'  This  unsavoury  name  conveys  a  wrong  impression,  as  the  article 
so  described  bears  but  little  resemblance,  in  shape  or  material,  to  its 
namesake  used  some  centuries  ago  by  pirates  on  the  Atlantic  side. 
The  proper  name  for  them  is  "  hand-bomb,"  or  "  hand-grenade." 
They  are  simply  earthen  pots,  large  enough  to  contain  from  two  to 
three  pounds  of  powder  ;  the  opening  at  the  top  is  very  small,  and 
after  they  are  filled  with  gunpowder,  the  lids  are  cemented  on  with 
chunam,  which  renders  the  whole  air-tight  and  impervious  to  damp- 
ness. Around  the  pot,  and  on  the  lid  of  it,  a  lot  of  slow  match  is 
attached.  The  man  who  throws  the  "  hand-bomb,"  stands  on  the 
yard  of  the  foresail,  at  the  foremast  head,  in  the  same  way  as  a 
leadsman  does  with  a  hand  lead  when  taking  soundings.  At  the  right 
moment  he  lets  it  go,  so  that  it  will  fall  amongst  the  men  on  the 
opposing  vessel.  The  concussion,  when  it  strikes,  causes  it  to  break, 
when  the  powder  comes  into  contact  with  the  burning  match  and  ex- 
plodes. Junks  defend  themselves  against  these  "hand-bombs"  by 
spreading  a  fishing-net  or  something  similar,  tightly  drawn  about  seven 
feet  above  the  deck.  When  the  "hand-bombs"  strike  the  net,  its 
elasticity  causes  them  to  rebound, and  fall  overboard  before  they  explode. 
The  only  smell  observable  in  the  explosion  of  these  "  hand-bombs"  is 
that  of  ordinary  gunpowder.  The  powder  used  contains  more  charcoal 
and  less  saltpetre  than  ordinary  powder, hence  it  explodes  with  less  force 
and  rapidity.  The  special  virtue  of  these  "  hand-bombs"  in  defence  and 
attack,  is  that  in  exploding,  they  throw  the  pieces  of  the  pot  about  with 
great  force,  the  hot  fragments  inflicting  severe  wounds  and  burns  on 
anyone  within  range.  They  are  a  mild  kind  of  bombshell,  being  much 
slower  in  operation  and  less  deadly  in  effect  than  the  ordinary  shell. 
The  deadly  smell  supposed  to  be  connected  with  them  is  all  a 
fiction.' 

Books  recommended. — See  next  Article. 


ARMY. — The  military  elements,  which  ma}'  be  grouped 
together  under  the  general  term  of  th'e  Chinese  army,  are 

45 


Things  Chinese 

various  in  number  and  different  in  composition.     It  has 
been  well  said  that — 

'The  enormous  and  complicated  military  power  of  the  Chinese 
Empire  is  of  a  nature  to  defy  any  detailed  description  on  a  brief  scale. 
The  ramifications  of  the  various  systems  relating  to  its  origin,  constitu- 
tion, and  control,  have  no  cohesion  with  each  other.  Each  province  of 
the  Empire  has  a  separate  force  at  the  disposal  of  its  Governor.' 

The  three  main,  but  quite  distinct,  divisions  are : — 

(1)  The  eight  banners,  comprising  '  all  living  Manchus 

and  descendants  of  the  Mongolian  and  Chinese 
soldiery  of  the  conquest'  (A.D.  1644.)  These 
furnish  guards  for  the  palace  and  garrisons  in 
various  chief  cities  and  other  places. 

They     are      described     as     '  untrained,     ill- 
disciplined,  and  cowardly.' 

(2)  The  Chinese  provincial  army  of  the '  Green  Standard,' 

comprising  the  land  and  marine  forces.  The 
former  numbers  400,000  or  500,000  and  is  '  an 
effete  organisation  discharging  the  duties  of 
sedentary  garrisons,  and  local  constabulary.' 
Orders  were  issued  by  the  Central  Government 
at  Peking  to  disband  this  force  in  1898,  and  use 
the  funds  thus  saved  for  soldiers  trained  in 
European  methods  ;  but  these  commands  were 
disobeyed  by  the  Viceroys. 

(3)  The  braves  or  irregulars,  enlisted  or  disbanded  as 

required,  and  used  for  actual  warfare.  No 
approximate  guess  can  be  made  of  their  numbers. 
Of  late  years  a  fourth  division  should  be  added, 
in  which  should  be  classed  those  trained  on 
European  lines,  some  10,000  in  number.  After 
the  Japanese  War,  thirty-five  German  instructors, 
under  Captain  Reitzenstein,  were  engaged  to  drill 
these  troops. 

A  return  from  a  native  newspaper  gives  the  following 
as  the  troops  garrisoned  in  the  eighteen  provinces  of  China 
Proper,  not  counting  those  in  the  Manchurian  and  Mongolian 
provinces,  and  the  New  Dominion  ;  but  it  must  be  re- 

46 


Army 


membered  that  in  China,  returns  on  paper  as  to  numbers 
of  troops  in  existence  are  very  different  from  the  reality, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  soldiers  for  whom  pay  is  drawn  are 
considerably  more  in  number  than  those  who  actually 
receive  the  money,  for  here,  as  in  every  branch  of  the 
Chinese  service,  peculation  by  the  officials  is  to  be  found. 
We  give  the  numbers,  however,  for  what  they  are 
worth  : — 


Chih-li    . 
Shan-si    . 
Kiang-su 
Kiang-si 
Che-kiang 
Hu-nan    . 
Kan-su    . 
Kuang-tung 
Yun-nan 


42,532 

Shan-tung 

25.534 

Ho-nan    . 

50.134 

Ngan-hui 

13.832 

Fu-kien    . 

39,009 

Hu-peh    . 

35,590 

Shen-si    . 

55.8'9 

Sze-chuen 

69,052 

Kuang-si 

42,549 

Kwei-chow 

20,174 
13,835 
8,728 

63,304 
22,740 
42,260 

33,188 

23,408 
48,490 

Making  a  total  of     650,178 


We  learn  from  still  another  authority,  that  the  Chinese 
army  in  time  of  peace  is  supposed  to  number  300,000  men  ; 
that  there  are  500  in  a  camp,  and  that  from  three  to  fifteen 
camps  are  to  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  city  or 
village  with  generals  in  command.  A  later  authority  (1900) 
gives  the  Chinese  standing  army  as  680,000.  It  has  also 
been  stated  that  there  is  a  reserve  of  858,000  men. 

Bodies  of  the  troops  are  being  trained,  as  stated  above, 
in  the  European  style  of  warfare,  at  Peking  and  other  im- 
portant centres ;  the  bugle-call  is  now  heard  in  the  north 
at  Tientsin,  as  well  as  in  the  heart  of  the  empire  at  Hankow, 
and  in  the  south  it  is  also  making  itself  familiar  to  ears 
which,  a  few  years  since,  only  knew  the  sound  of  the  gong 
and  drum  ;  but  the  number  so  drilled  form,  as  yet,  but  a 
small  proportion  of  the  whole  armed  force  of  China.  Match- 
locks, gingals,  bows  and  arrows,  spears  and  lances,  are  still 
the  weapons  of  many.  Sometimes  foreign  arms  are  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  soldiers  without  proper  instruction, 
and  at  other  times  costly  weapons  rust  and  are  rendered 
'  completely  useless  from  neglect." 

It  is  said,  that  for  five  years  previous  to  1892,  50,000 

47 


Things  Chinese 

men  with  European  weapons  were  stationed  on  the  coast  of 
the  Gulf  of  Chihli,  and  that  part  of  the  number  were 
instructed  by  European  officers,  who  were  mostly  German. 

The  foreign  officers,  however,  are  not,  as  a  rule, 
employed  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  teach  the  soldiers 
their  drill  and  the  use  of  their  weapons  :  as  a  German  writer 
remarks,  '  kein  fremder  Offizier  erhalt  ein  Commando  oder 
die  Befugnisse  eines  Generalstabs-Offiziers  oder  Ad- 
jutanten.'  The  notable  exceptions  have  been  the  cases  of 
Generals  Gordon  and  Mesny. 

The  old-fashioned  native  forts  which  mostly  do  duty 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  and  which 
until  lately  were  the  only  fortifications  to  be  found,  are 
ridiculous,  looked  at  from  a  European  military  standpoint. 
Long  rambling  walls  of  brick  are  to  be  seen  climbing  up 
the  hill-sides  (as  at  the  old  Bogue  Forts  at  the  entrance  to 
the  Canton  River),  crenellated  for  the  muzzle-loading 
cannon,  a  few  specimens  of  which  perhaps  do  duty  in  time 
of  peace,  to  be  hastily  supplemented  in  time  of  war  by 
others  ;  or  at  other  places,  on  more  level  ground,  smaller 
square  forts  may  be  seen,  which  would  perhaps  have  done 
well  enough  in  the  mediaeval  ages  for  the  purposes  for 
which  they  were  built,  being  strong  enough,  doubtless,  for 
the  internal  well-being  of  the  country,  and  as  a  protection 
against  Chinese  rebels  armed  with  native  weapons.  On 
the  coast,  at  the  different  treaty  ports,  as  well  as  at  some 
other  places,  such,  for  one  example,  as  at  the  Bogue,  already 
mentioned,  fortifications  after  the  European  style  have 
been  constructed,  and  breech-loading  guns,  of  modern 
European  make,  have  been  provided.  Krupp  guns,  it  was 
stated  several  years  ago,  were  being  made  in  Yun-nan,  and 
as  time  goes  on  the  establishment  of  more  arsenals  will 
probably  be  of  use  in  meeting  the  present  wants  of  the 
Chinese  soldier  in  the  way  of  arms. 

'  The  Chinese  .  .  .  have  several  batteries  of  breech-loading  artillery 
attached  to  their  Manchu  forces  distributed  over  the  Empire.  Every 
province  has  a  contingent  of  foreign-drilled  troops,  who  have  been 
taught  by  native  instructors  who  learned  their  drill  from  German 
soldiers.' 

48 


Army 

A  late  account  credits  15,000  artillery  amongst  the 
Peking  field  force,  and  besides  these  there  were  said  to  be 
nearly  thirty-six  gun  field  batteries. 

There  is  unfortunately,  however,  but  little  hope,  for  the 
present,  of  military  reform  being  carried  out  in  China  on 
any  large  enough  scale,  at  all  events,  to  be  of  utility  in  the 
defence    of  the   country   against    wanton    attacks    in    the 
future.       Since   the   Japanese   war,   the   question    of    the 
reorganisation  of  the  army  has  naturally  been  supposed  to 
be  one  of  the  first  steps  that  would  be  taken.     That  there 
was  a  necessity  for  it  seemed  patent  to  every  eye.     After 
such  a  severe  blow  it  was   thought  by  many   that  China 
would  take  immediate  steps  to  bring  herself  into  line  with 
her  more  warlike  neighbour,  and  thus,  by  a  visible  readiness 
against  attack,  provide  against  such  a  contingency.     How- 
ever, no  effective  steps  would  appear  to  have  been  taken 
yet  with  this  end  in  view.     There  is  no  national  army  in 
China  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  term,  and  no  common 
arm  provided  for  the  various  provincial  forces,  nor  is  the 
training  uniform,  nor  their  organisation  on  the  same  basis. 
Decentralisation  is  the  order  of  the   day   with    regard    to 
those  small  forces  which  are  armed  with  modern  weapons 
of  precision.     A  few  of  the  Viceroys,  more  progressive  than 
the  old  school  of  Chinese  officials,  engage  officers  to  instruct 
small  bodies  of  men  ;  but  there  is  '  no  uniformity  of  purpose 
in  the  matter,  and  the  same  Viceroy  will  sometimes  engage 
instructors  from  different  countries  who,   of  course,   have 
been  trained  in  different  schools.'     As  to  their  troops,  there 
is  no  commissariat,  and  there  are  no  stores  of  ammunition 
or  other  necessaries. 

'  Until  soldiering  generally  is  more  respectable  and  more  respected 
in  China,  it  will  be  difficult  to  organise  a  practical  army,  and  almost 
impossible  to  form  a  corps  of  officers.' 

It  is  possible  that  there  is  more  hope  to  be  indulged 
for  a  late  scheme  (1901),  which  is  as  follows  : — 

The  different  provincial  armies  (one  for  each  province)  are  to  be 
'  entirely  organised,  drilled  and  modelled  after  the  best  foreign  methods.' 
It  is  the  intention  to  have  in  five  years  an  army  having  'a  grand 

49  D 


Things  Chinese 

aggregate  of  at  least  600,000  well-disciplined  and  well-armed  men  of 
all  arms,  led  by  experienced  and  educated  officers,  graduated  from 
the  military  academies  of  the  various  provinces/ 

And  again  (1902)  we  are  told  : — 

'  Viceroy  Yuan  Shih-k'ai  has  been  granted  Tls.  6,000,000  a  year 
to  train  a  new  army  of  100,000  men.  He  has  already  engaged 
several  Japanese  officers.' 

The  uniform  of  the  common  Chinese  soldier  consists  of 
a  loose  jacket  and  loose  trousers  :  the  former  brown,  yellow, 
or  blue,  with  a  wide  facing,  on  the  edge,  of  another  colour ; 
the  trousers  are  usually  blue.  In  a  big  circle,  on  both  front 
and  back  of  the  jacket,  are  Chinese  characters,  denoting 
the  branch  of  the  service  he  is  connected  with,  etc.  The 
common  cloth  shoes  and  a  conical,  small,  bamboo  hat  com- 
plete the  outfit. 

The  pay  of  the  soldiers  is  very  small :  insufficient  in  fact 
to  support  the  men,  and  they  are  forced,  in  order  to  provide 
the  necessaries  of  life,  to  engage  in  civil  employment  or 
private  work,  though  in  the  expenditure  of  the  empire  is 
put  the  sum  of  2 1 ,600,000  Taels,  being  the  pay  of  600,000 
infantry,  at  the  rate  of '  three  Taels  a  month,  half  in  money 
and  half  in  rations,'  and  11,616,000  Taels  for  the  pay  of 
242,000  cavalry  '  at  four  Taels  a  month  ; '  but,  with  all  the 
peculations  that  take  place  before  it  reaches  the  hand  of 
the  private  soldier,  and  the  months  of  pay  he  is  often  in 
arrears,  the  reality  does  not  come  up  to  the  statements  on 
paper.  There  does  not  appear  to  be  a  uniform  rate  of  pay, 
for  in  important  places  where  the  soldiers  are  under  foreign 
methods  of  instruction,  as  at  Tientsin,  Foochow,  and  the 
Bogue,  a  higher  rate  prevails,  ranging  from  $12  to  $20  a 
month,  and  it  is  more  regularly  given.  The  soldiers  in  the 
retinue  of  a  Viceroy  are  also  better  paid,  but  the  ordinary 
Chinese  private  gets  very  little.  A  dollar  may  be  given  to 
him  once  every  ten  days,  being  at  the  rate  of  ten  cents  a 
day,  while  another  ten  cents  is  held  over  by  the  Mandarin 
and  perhaps  given  to  him  in  a  lump  sum  at  New  Year's 
time,  or  at  the  different  festivals.  It  may  be  interesting  to 
compare  the  pay  of  the  Chinese  soldier  with  that  of  the 

So 


Army 

British  and  German  private  in  English  money.  The 
German  soldier  gets  4£d.  a  day;  the  British  soldier,  is.: 
and  the  Chinese,  when  he  gets  what  is  due  to  him,  as  above, 
say  about  3id.,  and  supposing  also  all  his  deferred  pay  to 
be  given  to  him,  often  a  most  unlikely  thing,  the  whole 
may  amount  to  the  rate  of  about  /d.  a  day.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  3^d.  a  day  supplies  him  with  all  the 
food  he  gets.  No  pension  nor  invalid  allowance  is  provided, 
nor  is  there  any  medical  staff  corps  nor  army  medical 
corps,  and  the  sufferings  the  Chinese  soldier  undergoes 
in  the  field,  not  only  from  the  horrors  of  war,  but  also 
from  malaria  and  disease,  are  dreadful  to  contemplate. 

In  imitation  of  the  Civil  Service  examinations  in  vogue 
in  China  there  has  been  introduced  during  the  present 
dynasty,  a  series  of  examinations  for  the  army.  A  grada- 
tion similar  to  those  for  the  literary  degree  has  been  estab- 
lished, the  successful  candidates  at  the  higher  of  which  are 
awarded  the  same  titles  of  Sii'i-ts'ai,  Kii-jin,  and  Tsin-ss ; 
the  highest  degree  is  also  competed  for  at  Peking.  (See 
Article  on  Examinations.)  No  knowledge  of  Letters  in 
general  is  required  of  the  candidates,  though  the  Literary 
Chancellor,  before  conferring  the  title  of  Sh'i-ts'ai  on  them, 
'  tests  them  on  their  literary  attainments.'  What  is  required 
for  a  successful  pass  is  muscle,  as  shown  in  the  lifting  of 
heavy  weights,  swordsmanship,  and  skill  in  archery.  The 
latter  is  shown  both  on  foot  and  on  horseback.  A  straight 
trench,  a  foot  or  two  in  depth  and  wide  enough  for  a  pony 
to  run  in  comfortably,  is  dug  in  the  parade  ground,  and, 
mounted  on  horseback,  the  aspirant  for  military  honours 
gallops  or  trots  at  a  brisk  pace  along  this.  As  the  pony 
has  simply  to  go  straight  along  the  trench,  the  horseman  is 
able  to  devote  his  whole  attention  to  his  archery.  Provided 
with  a  sufficient  number  of  arrows  he  thus  swiftly  passes  the 
targets,  three  in  number,  and  about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
distant  from  him  as  he  passes,  and  lets  fly  an  arrow  at  each, 
the  distance  between  them  being  so  fixed  as  to  give  him 
time  to  pull  an  arrow  from  his  quiver  and  fix  it  on  the 
string.  A  gong  is  beaten  at  each  target,  on  a  successful  hit 

51 


Things  Chinese 

being  made,  to  apprise  the  examiner  who  is  seated  in  a 
pavilion  at  the  end  of  the  course. 

Though  the  successful  candidates  are  rewarded  with  the 
same  degrees,  if  one  may  be  allowed  to  use  the  term,  as 
those  conferred  on  civilians,  yet,  as  it  is  merely  by  bodily 
strength  and  a  quick  eye  that  they  gain  them,  the  people, 
who  most  wisely  do  not  value  military  distinctions,  attach 
but  little  honour  to  such,  and  a  military  officer  is  considered 
to  be  of  a  much  inferior  grade  to  a  civil  one.  The  naval 
officers  are  selected  from  the  same  successful  candidates. 
As  one  writer  has  well  said  : — '  No  knowledge  of  tactics, 
gunnery,  engineering,  fortifications,  or  even  letters  in  general, 
seems  to  be  required  of  them ;  and  this  explains  the  in- 
efficiency of  the  army,  and  the  low  estimation  its  officers  are 
held  in.'  An  acquaintance  with  the  theories  of  Sun-tsz, 
Wu-tsz,  Sz-ma,  and  other  venerable  and  antique  authors,  is 
expected  of  candidates  for  a  military  degree.  '  These  are  a 
study  for  the  philosopher  and  disciplinarian  rather  than  for 
the  tactician.' 

The  Chinese  is  not  a  fighting  animal.  Pitted  against 
Europeans,  his  tactics  have  been  often  like  those  of  the 
native  dog — much  bluster,  but  little  done,  and  easily  driven 
off.  It  is  said  Chinese  soldiers  are  brave  in  flight,  for  the 
word  '  brave '  is  written  on  the  back  of  their  jackets  ;  but  it 
is  also  written  in  front,  and  when  properly  drilled,  armed,  and 
led,  they  are  not  wanting  in  courage,  as  the  Ever  Victorious 
Army,  under  General  Gordon,  gave  proof. 

'The  Chinese  army  of  1876-7,  which  reconquered  Eastern  Tur- 
kestan, acknowledged  to  have  been  a  most  brilliant  achievement,  was 
officered  and  led  by  Chinamen.  They  conquered  Kashgar  with  an 
army,  armed  with  European  weapons,  and  showed  considerable  science 
in  the  art  of  war.  Their  soldiers  were  drilled  according  to  foreign 
methods  and  inarched  in  obedience  to  officers  trained  in  European 
principles,  and  their  Generals  manoeuvred  their  troops  in  accordance 
with  the  teaching  of  the  most  advanced  military  authorities.' 

Besides,  their  history  is  as  full  of  brave  deeds  and 
desperate  valour  on  the  field  of  battle  as  that  of  any  other 
people.  The  Chinese  nation  possesses  the  raw  material  to 
turn  out  what  are  known  as  good  soldiers ;  but  they 

52 


Army 

possess  scarcely  any,  or  but  very  few,  native  officers 
capable  of  developing  this  raw  material  into  efficient 
warriors,  fit  to  stand  before  an  army  trained  in  Western 
warfare ;  and  further,  the  whole  Chinese  system,  or  rather 
want  of  system,  added  to  the  corruption  in  the  ranks  of 
those  who  pretend  to  lead  them,  militates  entirely  against 
the  Chinese  Tommy  Atkins  being  anything  but  a  coward 
before  the  Western  foe,  and  a  desperado  and  robber  in  the 
piping  times  of  peace  amongst  his  own  countrymen.  The 
quiet  and  peace-loving,  home-abiding  Chinaman,  may  well 
say, '  Defend  us  from  our  defenders.'  Martial  law  prevails 
in  the  Chinese  army,  and  very  summary  justice  is  dealt  out 
to  any  soldier  detected  in  any  flagrant  crime ;  for  he  has 
short  shrift,  his  superior  officers  having  the  power  of  life  and 
death  in  their  hands,  without  the  necessity  of  referring  to  the 
Emperor  for  confirmation  of  the  sentence.  The  Chinese 
soldier  thus  holds  his  life  in  his  hand  in  times  of  peace  as 
well  as  in  times  of  war. 

The  following  estimate  of  the  qualities  of  the  Chinese 
as  soldiers  may  prove  of  interest  in  this  connection  : — 

'  The  old  notion  is  pretty  well  got  rid  of,  that  they  are  a  cowardly 
people  when  properly  paid  and  efficiently  led  ;  while  the  regularity 
and  order  of  their  habits,  which  dispose  them  to  peace  in  ordinary 
times,  give  place  to  a  daring,  bordering  upon  recklessness,  in  times  of 
war.  Their  intelligence  and  capacity  for  remembering  facts  make 
them  well  fitted  for  use  in  modern  warfare,  as  do  also  the  coolness 
and  calmness  of  their  disposition.  Physically,  they  are  on  the  average 
not  so  strong  as  Europeans,  but  considerably  more  so  than  most  of 
the  other  races  of  the  East ;  and  on  a  cheap  diet  of  rice,  vegetables, 
salt-fish  and  pork,  they  can  go  through  a  vast  amount  of  fatigue, 
whether  in  a  temperate  climate  or  a  tropical  one,  where  Europeans 
are  ill-fitted  for  exertion.  Their  wants  are  few  ;  they  have  no  caste 
prejudices,  and  hardly  any  appetite  for  intoxicating  liquors.  Being 
of  a  lymphatic  or  lymphatic-bilious  temperament,  they  enjoy  a  re- 
markable immunity  from  inflammatory  disease,  and  the  tubercular 
diathesis  is  little  known  amongst  them.' 

The  unit  of  number  in  the  Chinese  army  is  the  '  ying,' 
or  battalion  of  500  infantry  or  250  cavalry.  These  are, 
however,  subdivided  into  two  or  three  companies. 

The  soldiers  are  often  employed  in  China  in  duties 
which  would  be  considered  by  Western  military  authorities 
as  outside  their  proper  functions.  Construction  of  the 

53 


Things  Chinese 

Government  railway  in  Formosa,  building  walls,  and  even 
scavenging,  may  be  given  as  examples  of  the  extra  military 
labours  which  they  are  called  upon  to  perform  at  times. 

'  Lastly,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  army  has  no  regular  trans- 
port, commissariat,  or  medical  service  whatsoever,  everything  of  this 
nature  being  left  entirely  to  chance.' 

'The  Chinese  arsenals  are  now  capable  of  manufacturing  their 
own  small-arm  ammunition,  including  a  smokeless  powder.' 

There  are  several  arsenals  in  different  parts  of  the 
empire. 

Books  recommended. — Mayer's  'Chinese  Government.'  'Account  of 
the  Army  of  the  Chinese  Empire,'  by  Sir  Thos.  Wade,  in  Chinese  Repository, 
vol.  xx.,  pp.  250,  300,  and  363.  '  Me"moires  sur  les  Chinois,'  Tom.  VII., 
gives  a  translation  into  French  of  the  Chinese  text-books  for  military 
candidates,  accompanied  by  remarks  upon  movements,  adorned  with 
numerous  engravings,  illustrating  both  arms  and  armed  array.  '  Die 
Chinesische  Armee,  von  Major  a.  D.  Pauli,  an  article  in  Schorer's 
Familieriblatt,  Heft  7,  1892.  'China,  von  einem  friiheren  Instructeur  in  der 
Chinesischen  Armee,'  Leipzig,  1892,  a  small  pamphlet,  containing  some  ten 
pages  on  the  Chinese  army.  The  China  Mail  of  22nd  July  1892,  contains 
an  account  of  scavenging  by  soldiers,  and  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press  of  llth 
October  1893,  notices  the  praying  to  the  spirits  to  direct  the  aim  of  the  guns. 
'The  Chinese  Soldier,  and  other  Sketches,'  by  A.  Cunningham.  (See  Article 
on  Arms.) 

ART. — Painting  is  still  in  a  backward  stage  in  China  : 
the  laws  of  perspective,  and  light  and  shade,  are  almost  un- 
known, though  the  former  is  occasionally  honoured  with  a 
slight  recognition.  Height  usually  represents  distance  in  a 
Chinese  painting,  that  is  to  say,  distant  objects  are  put  at 
the  top  of  the  picture,  and  nearer  ones  below  them,  while 
but  little  difference  is  made  in  the  size.  As  regards  light 
and  shade,  no  shading  is  put  into  many  Chinese  landscapes, 
though  M.  Paleologue  states  that  native  artists  have  some- 
times attained  to  the  expression  of  the  most  artistic  and 
delicate  effects  of  light  and  shade,  instancing  the  grand 
landscape  school  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  as  producing 
perfect  works  under  this  class.  The  arrangement  of  objects 
and  the  grouping  of  persons  in  natural  attitudes,  would 
appear  not  to  be  taught,  according  to  our  ideas  on  the 
subject.  Symmetry  is  the  object  aimed  at ;  the  subsidiary- 
parts  are  treated  with  as  much  care  as  the  principal ;  the 
smallest  details  are  elaborated  with  as  much  minuteness  as 

54 


Art 

the  most  important.  Figures  are  nearly  always  represented 
full-faced  ;  and  the  heads  are  often  stuck  on  at  a  forward 
angle  of  forty-five  degrees  to  the  rest  of  the  body  ;  this 
being  the  scholar's  habitual  attitude  and  one  indicative  of 
much  study.  What  the  Chinese  delineator  considers  of 
prime  importance  is  the  representation  of  the  status  occupied 
by  the  subject :  as  his  rank  in  the  official  service,  or  grade 
in  the  literary  corps,  or  social  position.  The  presentation 
of  a  living,  feeling  soul,  revealed  in  its  index,  the  face,  sinks 
into  utter  insignificance  in  comparison  with  the  exposition 
of  the  external  advantages  of  rank  and  fortune,  or  of  the 
tattered  rags  of  the  old  beggar  fluttering  in  the  breeze. 
Rough  outline  sketches,  in  ink,  of  figures  and  landscapes 
are  much  admired.  In  these,  impossible  mountains, 
chaotic  masses  of  rock,  flowers,  trees,  and  boats,  are  depicted 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  call  forth  but  little  enthusiasm  from 
the  Western  observer. 

'As  draughtsmen,  their  forte  lies  in  taking  the  portrait  of  some 
single  portion  of  Nature's  handiwork.  Many  of  these  they  have 
analysed  with  great  care,  and  so  well  studied  as  to  hit  off  a  likeness 
with  a  very  few  strokes  of  the  pencil.  .  .  .  There  is  a  peculiarity 
among  the  Chinese  which  has  risen  from  the  command  they  have 
over  the  pencil — they  hold  it  in  nearly  a  perpendicular  direction  to 
the  paper,  and  are  therefore  able,  from  the  delicacy  of  its  point,  to 
draw  lines  of  the  greatest  fineness,  and,  at  the  same  time,  from  the 
elastic  nature  of  the  hairs,  to  make  them  of  any  breadth  they  please. 
The  broad  strokes  for  the  eyelash  and  the  beard  are  alike  executed 
by  a  single  effort  of  the  pencil.' 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the  exigencies  of  Chinese 
writing  demand  an  education  of  the  eye  and  hand,  ana- 
logous to  that  required  in  designing.  The  handling  of  the 
hair  brush — the  Chinese  pen — every  day  gives  a  facility  and 
readiness  of  touch  and  expression. 

The  Chinese  artist  has  learned  a  lesson  which  has  only 
within  the  last  few  years  been  understood  by  us  in  our 
natural  history  museums — he  copies  all  the  parts  of  a  bird 
in  detail,  and  then,  it  has  been  aptly  said  : — 

'  He  studies  the  attitudes,  and  the  peculiar  passions  of  which  atti- 
tudes are  the  signs,  and  thus  represents  birds  as  they  are  in  real  life, 
.  .  .  though  they  may  be  rudely  executed  in  some  of  their  details. 
Nor  is  this  fidelity  confined  to  birds  alone,  neither  is  it  a  new  advance 

55 


Things  Chinese 

in  their  art,  as  we  find  it  recorded  of  Ts'ao  Fuh-hing,  a  famous  painter 
of  the  third  century,  that,  having  painted  a  screen  for  the  Sovereign, 
he  added  the  representation  of  a  fly  so  perfect  to  nature  that  the 
Emperor  raised  his  hand  to  brush  the  fly  off.' 

We  ourselves  have  seen  a  cat  go  up  to  examine  a  bird 
which  was  drawn  standing  on  a  spray  in  a  most  natural 
manner.     These  stories  point  out  one  of  the  most  striking 
characteristics   of   certain   Chinese    painting — its    graphic 
character — and   remind   us   of  Apelles's   horse  which   the 
living  horses  neighed  to,  as  well  as  the  other  famous  story 
of  a  horse  trying  to  eat  a  sheaf  of  corn  on   the  canvas. 
With   equally   minute   care   they  faithfully  copy   flowers, 
bamboos,  and  trees,  noting  carefully  the  minute  ramifica- 
tions of  branches,  as  well  as  the  action  of  each  particular 
kind  of  wind  on  the  objects  painted  ;  while,  however,  all 
these  points  are  being  attended  to  with  a  patience  worthy 
of  the   highest   commendation,  as  it   produces   a   sort  of 
fidelity  to  nature,  yet  at  the  same  time  '  the  whole  perchance 
is  vastly  deficient  in  correspondence  and  proportion.'     This 
entering   into  the  mysteries  of  nature  and  the  reproduc- 
tion of  some  of  them  with  an  approach  almost  to  photo- 
graphic fidelity,  scarcely  to  be  expected  from  them,  judging 
by  some   of  the  other  productions  of  their  pencils,  is  of 
interest  and  use  to  the  botanical  student,  since  the  illustra- 
tions  in    such   a  native   work,  for   instance,  as  the  great 
Materia  Medica,  the  Pen  Ts'ao,  give  a  far  better  idea  from 
their,  in  many  instances,  great  truthfulness,  than  the  mere 
letter-press  would  convey  to  the  foreign  student.      Their 
attempts  at  depicting  animal   life  result  in  rude,  uncouth 
forms,  but  the  conventionality  of  the  attitudes  of  the  human 
figure  frequently  lends  a  charm  which  does  not  attach  to 
many  of  their  products.     The  proportion  and  grouping  to- 
gether of  the  component  parts  of  a  picture  are  defined   by 
a  conventional  canon,  to  the  rigid  adherence  of  which  is  due 
much  of  the  unreality  so  conspicuous  in  their  attempts  at 
portraying  the  human  passions,  and  they  have  remained  at 
the  same  imperfect  development  of  this  branch  of  their  art 
for  many  centuries  (this  stage  has  been  compared  to  that  of 
Italian  painting  in  the  time  of  Giotto  and  Simone  Memmi) ; 

56 


Art 

added  to  which  is  their  entire  ignorance  of  anatomy,  the 
result  of  this  ignorance  being  often  a  caricature  of  the 
human  body.  At  the  same  time  all  praise  must  be  given 
to  the  delicacy  of  their  colouring,  which,  without  any 
scientific  laws  to  guide  them,  they  seem  intuitively  to  know 
how  to  apply.  They  are  very  fond  of  their  works  of  art, 
and  the  mansions  of  the  wealthy  are  hung  with  scrolls, 
depicting  landscapes  and  sprays  of  flowers,  with  birds,  and 
insect  life,  etc.  Even  the  poorer  classes  adorn  their 
humbler  dwellings  with  cheaper  specimens  of  pictorial  art, 
and  scarcely  a  boat  of  any  pretensions  on  the  Canton 
River  but  is  ornamented  with  a  few  pictures,  while  the 
sellers  of  sketches  in  black  and  white  find  a  ready  sale 
for  their  wares  in  the  streets. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  remember  that  our  commen- 
dation is  awarded  to  purely  native  art,  the  bastard  produc- 
tions of  those  daubers  who  seem  to  thrive  in  Hongkong  and 
some  of  the  Treaty  Ports  being  altogether  beneath  contempt. 

The  Chinese,  in  some  localities,  are  clever  at  fresco  or 
encaustic  painting,  which  they  employ  upon  their  temples 
and  better-class  houses  in  the  form  of  panels  and  friezes 
both  inwardly  and  externally.  (See  Article  on  Archi- 
tecture.) Never,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  have  they  made 
any  use  of  oil  as  a  medium  for  their  pigments  ;  '  but  it  must, 
of  course,  be  remembered  that  the  latter  addition  to  the 
painter's  resources  was  equally  unknown  in  Europe  down 
to  the  fifteenth  century.' 

The  native  pigments  are  very  primitive,  and  their 
cakes,  or  sticks,  of  water-colour  are  on  a  par  with  the  very 
cheapest  toy  outfits  of  an  English  juvenile.  Their  Chinese 
ink,  however,  is  admirable  and  superior  to  any  other  in  the 
world.  Their  pencils  and  brushes,  also,  leave  little  to  be 
desired,  being  exactly  adapted  to  their  manner  of  work.  It 
would  be  impossible,  however,  for  an  English  water- 
colourist  to  produce  his  effects  with  such  tools,  and  it  would 
be  idle  to  expect  the  Celestial  to  make  any  advance  in  art 
until  he  throws  over  his  conservatism  and  adopts  the  paper, 
colours,  and  brushes  of  modern  Europe. 

57 


Things  Chinese 

Religion,  nature,  history,  and  literature,  have  all  inspired 
the  Chinese  artist  with  a  more  or  less  varying  degree  of 
success. 

If  implicit  credence  were  to  be  given  to  the  accounts  of 
the  Chinese  themselves,  painting  was  -first  practised  B.C 
2600,  but  the  art  in  China  has  quite  a  venerable  enough 
antiquity  without  ascribing  to  it  such  a  hoary  one.  Mural 
decoration  appears  to  have  been  the  first  application  of  it, 
and  the  Chinese  Emperors  frequently  had  the  walls  of  their 
palaces  so  adorned.  In  the  third  century  before  the 
Christian  era,  paintings  were  made  on  bamboo  and  silk, 
whether  pen  and  ink  sketches,  or  in  colour,  it  is  difficult  to 
say  ;  but  a  great  impetus  was  given  to  the  art  when,  in  the 
first  century  of  our  era,  paper  was  invented. 

'  The  first  painter  of  whose  labours  we  possess  any 
definite  record,'  belongs  to  the  third  century  of  the 
Christian  era,  '  over  six  hundred  years  after  the  period 
of  Zeuxis,'  though  Dr.  Anderson,  from  whom  we  quote,  in- 
forms us,  that  '  a  passing  allusion  to  a  portrait  is  found  in 
the  works  of  Confucius.'  The  same  authority  says  that 
the  Chinese  must  have  attained  to  some  proficiency  in  the 
art  of  drawing  before  the  Buddhist  era  :  '  it  is  probable  that 
the  higher  development  of  painting  in  China  was  due  to  the 
influence  exercised  by  specimens  of  Indian  and  Greek  art 
introduced  with  the  Buddhist  religion.'  At  the  head  of  the 
list  of  Chinese  painters  stands  then  the  name  of  Ts'ao  Fuh- 
hing  (the  memory  of  those  who  preceded  him  having  been 
lost),  a  retainer  of  the  Emperor  Wii  Sun  K'iian  (A.D.  240- 
251).  He  was  '  famous  for  Buddhist  pictures  and  sketches  of 
Dragons,'  and  he  is  the  hero  of  the  marvellous  story  of  the 
fly.  Another  story  is  that  of  a  dragon  which  was  painted  by 
him  and  preserved  until  the  Sung  dynasty,  when  it  pro- 
duced rain  in  a  time  of  drought.  The  second  artist  whose 
name  has  been  preserved  is  that  of  Chang  Sang-yfu.  He 
painted  Buddhist  pictures  for  the  '  devout  monarch  Wu  Tf ' 
(A.D.  502-549).  Anderson  thus  writes  concerning  him  :— 

'  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  of  his  works  are  now  in  existence,  but 
his  style  has  been  handed  down  by  followers,  amongst  whom  are 

58 


Art 

numbered  many  famous  masters  of  the  brush.'  Another  wonderful 
dragon  story  is  narrated  of  him.  It 'credits  him  with  the  delineation 
of  a  dragon  of  such  miraculous  semblance  to  "  nature"  that  with  the 
final  touches  the  pictured  monster  became  suddenly  inspired  with  life, 
and  in  the  midst  of  sable  clouds  and  deafening  peals  of  thunder,  burst 
through  the  walls  to  vanish  into  space.' 

The  second  epoch  commences  some  time  after  the  intro- 
duction of  Buddhism  into  China.  This  religion  exerted  a 
beneficent  effect  on  the  stagnant  state  of  ancient  art  with 
the  new  vistas  it  opened  out,  and  the  new  fields  for  fresh 
achievements.  Buddhism  was  vigorous  in  those  days,  and 
Buddhist  monasteries  were  multiplied  to  such  an 
enormous  extent,  that  in  A.D.  845  there  were  more  than 
four  millions  of  them.  They  were  schools  of  literature  and 
art,  and  many  paintings  were  executed  on  long  rolls  of  silk 
illustrative  of  the  life  and  death  of  the  founder  of  Buddhism 
and  Buddhistic  subjects. 

Other  schools  arose  which  also  devoted  themselves  to 
religious,  as  well  as  other  kinds  of  art.  Between  A.D.  265 
and  A.D.  618,  Chinese  authors  mention  about  five  hundred 
painters  of  celebrity,  in  addition  to  those  of  the  religious 
school.  Besides  the  subjects  belonging  more  especially  to 
the  latter,  the  delineation  of  the  human  face,  of  the  animal 
creation,  and  of  landscape,  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
artist.  One  example  alone  may  be  mentioned  as  an  in- 
stance of  the  high  position  which  art  held  at  that  period  : 
One  of  the  members  of  Mo  Ti's  (A.D.  502-550)  Privy 
Council  was  appointed  to  adorn  the  Imperial  Temples  with 
paintings. 

When  we  come  to  the  seventh  century,  we  find  two 
brothers,  famous  painters,  named  Yen  Li'-teh  and  Yen  Li- 
pun,  '  the  latter  of  whom  is  especially  remembered  for  a 
series  of  historical  portrait-studies  of  ancient  paragons  of 
loyalty  and  learning.' 

Wii  Tao-tsz  is  the  name  which  merits  most  attention  in 
the  eighth  century.  He  attracted  the  notice  of  the 
Emperor  Ming  Hwang,  '  with  whom  he  remained  in  high 
favour  till  his  death.  His  style  is  said  to  have  been  formed 
upon  that  of  Chang  Sang-yfu,  whose  spirit  was  believed  to 

59 


Things  Chinese 

have  reappeared  upon  earth  in  the  person  of  his  follower." 
His  chief  renown  was  won  in  religious  art,  '  but  his  land- 
scapes were  remarkable  for  picturesque  feeling  and  strength 
of  design,  and  of  his  lifelike  portraitures  of  animals.' 

Also  worthy  of  mention,  though  not  of  such  renown,  are 
the  names  of  Wang  Wei,  a  landscape  painter  holding  high 
rank  in  court  (A.D.  713-742),  and  Han  Kan,  a  protege"  of 
the  last,  remembered  chiefly  for  his  painting  of  horses. 
Amongst  other  names,  famous  during  the  T'ang  dynasty  as 
painters,  may  be  mentioned  Li'  Tsien  and  his  son  Li  Chung- 
ho,  '  noted  for  drawings  of  figures  and  horses  ; '  Yuen  Ying, 
'  best  known  for  his  minutely  drawn  representations  of  insect 
life  ; '  Kiang  Tao-yin  and  Li  Cheng,  landscape  painters. 

'  The  artistic  appreciation  of  natural  scenery  existed  in 
China  many  centuries  before  landscape  played  a  higher 
part  in  the  European  picture  than  that  of  an  accessory.' 

The  third  epoch  of  Chinese  art  commences  with  the 
T'ang  dynasty  (A.D.  618-960)  and  ends  with  that  of  the 
Sung.  At  the  beginning  of  this  period,  Chinese  painting 
divides  itself  into  the  northern  and  southern  schools,  so 
named  from  the  respective  parts  of  the  country  in  which 
those  belonging  to  them  resided,  the  chief  distinction  be- 
tween the  two  being  that  the  southern  was  less  trammelled 
by  the  canons  of  art  to  which  the  northern  school  rigidly 
adhered.  To  the  former  belonged  Ouan  Mo-kie,  described 
as  one  of  the  most  original  artists  of  China.  Like  many  of 
China's  artists,  he  was  not  painter  alone,  but  poet  and 
musician  too,  for  the  beauties  of  the  landscapes,  which 
were  his  special  forte,  were  not  only  interpreted  by  his  brush, 
but  sung  by  his  muse  as  well.  He  reduced  his  methods  to 
writing,  and  for  two  centuries  afterwards,  viz.,  the  eighth 
and  ninth,  they  led  the  artistic  world  to  go  direct  to  Nature 
as  their  mistress  and  model.  '  The  most  brilliant  painter  of 
this  epoch  is  Au  To-huan.'  Mountains  with  pagodas,  con- 
vents, and  Buddhistic  scenes  were  what  he  delighted  to  paint. 
During  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  the  painting,  in  all 
their  various  movements,  of  animals  and  flowers,  occupied 
the  attention  of  all  the  artists,  but  at  the  same  time  the 

60 


Art 

Buddhist  school  still  pursued  its  course  and  produced  works 
of  great  merit.  In  the  tenth  century,  two  artists  of  the 
first  rank  deserve  mention — King  Hao  and  Hoang  Tsuan. 
There  are  two  specimens  of  the  latter's  style  in  the  British 
Museum. 

The  fourth  epoch  is  that  of  the  Sung  dynasty,  and  is 
marked  by  a  rejuvenescence  of  literature  and  art  after  the 
troubled  periods  which  immediately  preceded  it ;  but 
owing  to  the  disfavour  under  which  Buddhism  fell,  the 
religious  school  of  art  also  lapsed  into  a  state  of  decadence 
in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  though  a  few  artists 
of  great  ability  are  still  to  be  found  in  this  branch.  The 
Sung  dynasty  '  was  rich  in  famous  artists.'  We  may  call 
attention  to  Muh  Ki,  Liang  Chi,  Kwoh  Hi,  the  Emperor 
Hwei  Tsung,  Li  Lung-yen,  Ma  Yuen,  Hia  Kwei,  Yuh  Kien, 
Hwui  Su,  and  Mih  Yuen-chang.  '  Ngan  Hwui,  who  lived 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  is  usually  associated  with  the 
great  painters  of  the  Sung  dynasty.'  The  school  of  land- 
scape artists,  started  on  the  right  track  under  the  former 
epoch,  rose  to  the  '  highest  point  of  art.'  The  beauties  of 
springtime  with  its  joyous  bursting  of  bud,  leaf,  and  flower  ; 
the  sweets  of  summer ;  the  sadder  traits  of  autumn,  and 
the  snow-clad  beauties  of  winter,  all  engaged  their  brushes. 
Amongst  the  masters  of  this  style  may  be  mentioned  the 
two  Li  Cheng,  one  the  chief  of  the  northern  school,  and 
the  other  belonging  to  the  southern ;  the  former  was 
followed  by  numerous  artists  during  the  eleventh,  twelfth, 
and  part  of  the  thirteenth  centuries,  but  unfortunately,  in 
the  devotion  to  their  master,  they  began  to  copy  the  style  of 
the  man  rather  than  to  follow  him  in  his  sincere  admiration 
of  Nature  herself.  In  conjunction  with  '  a  new  tendency,' 
which  '  manifested  itself,  each  school,  each  studio,'  took  as  a 
speciality  the  production  of  a  certain  'picturesque  detail, 
and  ceased  to  see  landscape  in  its  whole.'  As  examples  of 
this  tendency  may  be  instanced  the  two  brothers,  Ma 
Yuen  and  Ma  K'on,  who  confined  themselves  to  '  pines, 
cypresses,  cedars,  and  steep  rocks  ' ;  another  only  cared  to 
reproduce  'the  effects  of  snow';  others  confined  their 

61 


Things  Chinese 

attention  to  the  feathery  bamboo  with  its  stiff  stems,  tender 
green  leaves,  and  the  graceful  curves  of  the  topmost 
boughs ;  another  speciality  was  '  clusters  of  flowers  in  the 
spaces  between  glazed  tiles  on  a  roof,' — surely  a  singular 
taste  ;  '  bullfinches,  bamboos,  and  rocks '  are  named  as  the 
objects  on  which  Lf  Ti  exercised  his  brush  ;  snow-laden 
pines  and  clumps  of  trees  were  what  another  artist  loved  to 
reproduce  ;  while  '  plum-trees  and  flowers  '  were  what  Chong 
Jen  singled  out  as  worthy  of  his  skill  ;  other  painters  had  the 
good  sense  not  to  confine  themselves  to  one  speciality. 
Some  wonderful  productions  of  birds,  lifelike  and  natural, 
were  painted  during  this  period. 

The  fifth  epoch  is  that  of  the  Yuan,  or  Mongol  dynasty. 
The  Mongol  conquest  of  China  stirred  up  the  comparatively 
stagnant  pool  of  Chinese  native  life,  and  introduced  a  stream 
of  vivifying  influence  from  the  more  Western  nations. 
Other  styles  of  art  were  introduced  to  the  Chinese,  who  had 
for  some  centuries  seen  but  little  from  outer  lands  to  inspire 
their  genius,  or  spur  on  their  adaptive  efforts.  These 
influences  from  abroad,  more  felt  in  other  branches  of  art, 
did  not  make  such  an  impression  on  painting  as  one  might 
suppose,  though  some  traces  of  such  influence  are  to  be 
found.  Coupled  with  this,  there  was  also  a  renaissance  of 
Buddhism,  which  the  tide  of  Mongol  rule  brought  in  with  it, 
and  which  made  itself  felt  in  the  artistic  world,  as 
well  as  elsewhere.  The  divisions,  which  we  have  noted 
in  the  Sung  period,  still  continued.  The  characteristic  of  the 
painters  under  the  Yuan  dynasty  is  '  the  taste  for  bright  and 
brilliant  colours.'  A  tiger  and  cubs,  executed  by  one  of  the 
artists  of  this  dynasty,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  sixth  epoch  is  that  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (A.D. 
1368-1643).  Painting  benefited  in  the  first  years  of  this 
dynasty  by  the  improvements  in  technical  art  which  took 
place,  though  again  not  to  such  an  extent  as  in  some  of  the 
other  branches  of  art,  and  it,  during  this  period,  began  to 
decline  from  about  the  middle  of  the  dynasty.  Conse- 
quently, it  is  convenient  to  divide  this  epoch  into  two 
portions,  lasting  respectively  from  A.D.  1368  to  1488,  and 

62 


Art 

from  1488  to  1643.  The  style  of  this  first  period  of  Ming 
dynasty  art  may  be  characterised  as  without  much 
originality,  but  with  other  characteristics  of  first  import- 
ance :  a  style  of  art  '  without  great  eminence,  but  without 
decay.' 

'  There  were,  however,  as  late  as  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
many  painters  of  great  merit  ;  but  the  best  of  these,  including  Lin 
Liang  and  Lii  Ki,  were  avowed  imitators  of  the  older  masters.  The 
one  exception  to  the  general  decay  in  later  centuries  was  a  style  which, 
so  far  as  we  are  aware,  numbered  only  two  important  followers — 
Ch'eng  Chung-fu  and  Lf-kin  Kii-sze.  .  .  .  These  artists,  seeking 
better  results  in  the  painting  of  portraits,  than  had  been  found  attain- 
able by  pursuing  the  caligraphic  ideal,  ventured  to  represent  the 
outlines  and  shadows  of  the  face  as  they  saw  them.' 

In  the  second  period  of  this  epoch  'begins  the  decline 
of  Chinese  painting.'  The  causes  of  this  decadence 
commenced  centuries  previously,  when,  for  a  study  them- 
selves at  first  hand,  was  substituted  a  servile  imitation 
of  some  master-hand,  whose  inspiration  was  derived  from 
the  faithful  communion  with  Nature  herself,  which  his 
disciples  neglected.  That  snare  of  the  Chinese  in  so 
many  branches  of  their  learning  and  knowledge,  the  blind 
following  of  set  rules  and  canons,  again  showed  itself  in 
their  reproduction  of  the  phases  and  aspects  of  Nature  in 
her  revelations  to  man,  for  instead  of  lifting  up  their  eyes 
and  seeing  the  fields  ripe  for  a  harvest,  ready  for  those  who 
would  reap  it,  they  contented  themselves  with  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  past,  and  let  the  golden  opportunities 
slip. 

The  difference  between  these  two  periods  (the  first  and 
second  halves  of  the  Ming  dynasty)  is  marked,  and  the 
beginning  of  a  new  style  is  seen,  which  prevailed  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 

The  seventh  epoch  is  that  of  the  present  dynasty,  and 
under  it  the  decadence,  previously  foreshadowed  and  com- 
menced in  the  preceding  dynasty  becomes  tin  fait  accompli. 
The  absence  of  inspiration  is  seen  and  for  it  is  substituted 
the  use  of  certain  illustrated  works,  which  serve  as  diction- 
aries for  the  aspirant  to  fame  from  which  the  painter 

63 


Things  Chinese 

copies  the  different  figures  or  objects,  already  prepared  for 
his  use  in  all  possible  situations  of  ordinary  Chinese  life  ; 
he  has  degenerated  into  a  copyist,  for  it  only  remains  for 
him  to  group  them.  Under  the  third  Emperor,  Yung 
Ching  (A.D.  1723-1736),  there  was  a  tendency  towards 
improvement,  but  the  bounds  of  tradition  were  not  burst : 
it  stopped  short  of  a  renovation  of  the  whole  art.  The 
Jesuit  missionaries  at  Peking  attempted  to  introduce  the 
principles  of  Western  art  as  applied  to  painting,  but,  though 
they  executed  numerous  works,  the  Chinese  were  not  far 
enough  advanced  to  adopt  such  a  complete  reversal  of  all 
their  preconceived  ideas  and  canons  of  art.  In  the  South, 
George  Chinnery,  an  English  artist,  who  painted  many 
scenes  of  Chinese  life,  exerted,  in  the  first  half  of  the 
present  century,  some  influence  on  the  painters  patronised 
by  the  foreign  residents  of  Canton  and  Macao ;  and  the 
copying  by  these  of  foreign  portraits  has  doubtless  modified 
their  modes  of  expression  and  improved  their  style  to 
some  extent,  but  the  body  of  Chinese  painters  has  not 
been  affected  thereby. 

In  conclusion,  to  sum  up  the  whole  matter,  we  perhaps 
cannot  do  better  than  supplement  the  quotations  we  have 
already  made  from  Anderson  by  another  one  : — 

'  There  is,  perhaps,  no  section  of  art  that  has  been  so  completely 
misapprehended  in  Europe  as  the  pictorial  art  of  China.  For  us  the 
Chinese  painter,  past  or  present,  is  but  a  copyist  who  imitates  with 
laborious  and  indiscriminating  exactness  whatever  is  laid  before  him, 
rejoices  in  the  display  of  as  many  and  as  brilliant  colours  as  his 
subject  and  remuneration  will  permit,  and  is  original  only  in  the 
creation  of  monstrosities.  Nothing  could  be  more  contrary  to  fact 
than  this  impression,  if  we  omit  from  consideration  the  work  executed 
for  the  foreign  market — work  which  every  educated  Chinese  would 
disown.  The  old  masters  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  who,  as  a  body, 
united  grandeur  of  conception  with  immense  power  of  execution, 
cared  little  for  elaboration  of  detail,  and,  except  in  Buddhist  pictures, 
sought  their  best  effects  in  the  simplicity  of  black  and  white,  or  in 
the  most  subdued  of  chromatic  harmonies.  Their  art  was  defective, 
but  not  more  so  than  that  of  Europe  down  to  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Technically,  they  did  not  go  beyond  the  use  of  water- 
colours,  but  in  range  and  quality  of  pigments,  as  in  mechanical 
command  of  pencil,  they  had  no  reason  to  fear  comparison  with  their 
contemporaries.  They  had  caught  only  a  glimpse  of  the  laws  of 
chiaroscuro  and  perspective,  but  the  want  of  science  was  counterpoised 
by  more  essential  elements  of  artistic  excellence. 

64 


Art 

'  In  motives  they  lacked  neither  variety  nor  elevation.  As  land- 
scape painters  they  anticipated  their  European  brethren  by  over  a 
score  of  generations,  and  created  transcripts  of  scenery  that  for 
breadth,  atmosphere,  and  picturesque  beauty  can  scarcely  be 
surpassed.  In  their  studies  of  the  human  figure,  although  their 
work  was  often  rich  in  vigour  and  expression,  they  certainly  fell 
immeasurably  below  the  Greeks  ;  but  to  counterbalance  this  defect, 
no  other  artists,  except  those  of  Japan,  have  ever  infused  into  the 
delineations  of  bird  life  one  tithe  of  the  vitality  and  action  to  be  seen 
in  the  Chinese  portraitures  of  the  crow,  the  sparrow,  the  crane,  and 
a  hundred  other  varieties  of  the  feathered  race.  In  flowers  the 
Chinese  were  less  successful,  owing  to  the  absence  of  true  chiaroscuro, 
but  they  were  able  to  evolve  a  better  picture  out  of  a  single  spray  of 
blossom  than  many  a  Western  painter  from  all  the  treasures  of  a 
conservatory. 

'  If  we  endeavour  to  compare  the  pictorial  art  of  China  with 
that  of  Europe,  we  must  carry  ourselves  back  to  the  days  when  the 
former  was  in  its  greatness.  Of  the  art  that  preceded  the  T'ang 
dynasty  we  can  say  nothing.  Like  that  of  Polygnotus,  Zeuxis,  and 
Apelles,  it  is  now  represented  only  by  traditions,  which,  if  less  precise 
in  the  former  than  in  the  latter  case,  are  not  less  laudatory  ;  but  it 
may  be  asserted  that  nothing  produced  by  the  painters  of  Europe 
between  the  seventh  and  thirteenth  centuries  of  the  Christian  era 
approaches  within  any  measurable  distance  of  the  great  Chinese 
masters  who  gave  lustre  to  the  T'ang,  Sung,  and  Yuen  dynasties, 
nor — to  draw  a  little  nearer  to  modern  times — is  there  anything  in 
the  religious  art  of  Cimabue  that  would  not  appear  tame  and  graceless 
by  the  side  of  the  Buddhistic  compositions  of  Wu  Tao-tsz,  Li  Lung- 
yen  and  Ngan  Hwui.  Down  to  the  end  of  the  Southern  Empire  in 
1279  A.D.,  the  Chinese  were  at  the  head  of  the  world  in  the  art  of 
painting,  as  in  many  things  besides,  and  their  nearest  rivals  were 
their  own  pupils,  the  Japanese.  .  .  .  Japanese  culture  has  lent 
many  elements  of  poetry  and  grace  to  the  parent  art  [/>.,  in  Japan 
itself,  not  in  China],  in  the  Shi-jo  school  it  added  something  in  touch  ; 
and  chiefly  through  the  Yamato  and  U  Kiyo-ye  schools  it  contributed 
numberless  original  features  in  motive  ;  but  in  strength  the  palm 
must  still  rest  with  the  Middle  Kingdom,  and  China  may  claim  as  its 
own  ever)'  main  artistic  principle  that  guided  the  brushes  of  Kanaoka, 
Meicho,  and  Motonobu.  It  is,  indeed,  often  difficult  for  any  but  an 
expert  to  distinguish  a  work  of  the  earliest  Japanese  leaders  of  the 
"Chinese  school"  from  a  Chinese  picture,  and  many  a  design  that 
adorns  the  modern  porcelain  and  lacquer  of  Japan  is  to  be  traced 
almost  line  for  line  to  a  Chinese  original  of  eight  or  nine  centuries 
ago.  ...  In  the  last  hundred  years,  while  the  Chinese  have 
been  content  to  rest  upon  the  achievements  of  their  forefathers — 
who  would  despise  them  for  it  could  they  live  again — the  energy  of 
their  quondam  pupils  has  brought  Japan  before  the  world  as  the 
sole  heir  to  almost  all  that  is  most  beautiful  in  the  art  of  the  great 
Turanian  race.' 

Books  recommended.  —  The  Chapter  on  Art  in  Tradescant  Lay's 
'The  Chinese  As  They  Are.'  Most  of  the  text-books  contain  articles  more 
or  less  meritorious,  but  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  appreciative  accounts 
is  to  be  found  in  'L'Art  Chinois,'  by  M.  Paleologue,  to  which  we  are 

65  E 


Things  Chinese 

indebted  for  much  of  the  information  given  above.  A  moat  interesting 
monograph  on  Chinese  Art  is  to  be  found  in  the  magnificent  volume 
entitled  'The  Pictorial  Arts  of  Japan  '  by  W.  Anderson,  F.R.C.S. 

ASCENDING  ON  HIGH.— This  half-feast,  half-holi- 
day brings  itself  more  prominently  into  the  notice  of  the 
foreign  resident  in  Hongkong  than  is  the  case  with  some 
of  the  other  semi-religious  observances  of  the  Chinese. 
Ages  ago,  a  Chinese  received  a  warning  that  a  dreadful 
catastrophe  would  happen  to  him  and  his  family.  To  avert 
it  he  escaped  to  the  heights  ;  and  in  commemoration  of 
this  event,  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  ninth  moon,  many 
Chinese  take  a  holiday,  or  an  excursion  of  a  few  hours,  to 
some  neighbouring  hill,  or  mountain.  The  Peak  tramway 
in  Hongkong,  providing  a  convenient  mode  of  reaching  a 
summit,  is  largely  availed  of,  to  the  wonderment  of  the 
English  traveller,  who  is  at  a  loss  to  understand  why  such 
an  exodus  of  natives  from  the  town  is  taking  place.  About 
3000  usually  take  advantage  of  this  convenient  mode  of 
ascent,  though  on  a  wet  day  (such  as  occurred  in  1894)  the 
number  may  be  reduced  to  one-half  of  that,  trams 
running  continuously  throughout  the  day  for  their 
accommodation.  Dressed  in  their  gala-day  best,  with  silks 
and  satins  galore,  and  with  happy  faces,  family  groups  may 
be  seen  wandering  along  the  mountain  roads,  while  troops 
of  friends  and  acquaintances  may  be  noticed  chatting  their 
loudest  and  enjoying  the  treat  of  a  whiff  of  fresh  air  after 
months  of  confinement  in  narrow  streets  and  close  shops. 
Up  at  the  Peak  itself,  the  base  of  the  flag-staff  is  black 
with  human  beings,  who,  from  the  distance,  look  like  ants 
on  a  lump  of  sugar ;  and  on  the  road  slowly  meandering 
their  zigzag  course  up  the  hill  are  clusters  of  pedestrians  ; 
other  black  specks  on  the  path  are  home-bound  wanderers 
wearily  wending  their  downward  course,  though  many 
patronise  the  tram  again  and  besiege  the  empty  cars,  like 
excursionists  in  England,  the  disappointed  ones,  who 
have  to  wait  for  the  next  trip,  nearly  blocking  the  station. 

This  Ch'ung  Yong  festival  is   looked  upon   more  as  a 
partial  holiday  than  as  a  feast   in  the  strict  sense  of  the 

60 


Asiatic  Society 

term.  Many  Chinese,  though  perhaps  not  five  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  population,  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity 
for  a  little  relaxation  from  business  ;  those  who  do  so  being 
such  as  are  blessed  with  leisure,  or  who  desire  an  outing,  or 
who  are  specially  superstitious.  In  connection  with  its 
celebration  a  few  fly  kites  from  these  elevated  positions. 
The  writer,  himself,  has  seen  remnants  of  kites  at  the  Peak 
and  the  block-house ;  he  has  also  seen  joss-paper  lying 
about,  though,  on  the  whole,  few  make  it  a  day  of  worship. 

ASIATIC  SOCIETY  (CHINA  BRANCH  OF)  was 
started  in  Hongkong  in  1848,  and  continued  in  existence 
until  1859.  Before  it  was  defunct,  a  'Shanghai  Literary 
and  Scientific  Society  '  was  commenced  in  1857,  which  was 
shortly  after  changed  into  the  '  North  China  Branch  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society  ' ;  a  few  years  since  the  word  '  North  ' 
was  dropped  out  of  the  title.  The  Transactions^  published 
by  these  societies,  form  a  set  of  some  scores  of  thick  and 
thin  brochures  full  of  most  interesting  and  valuable  informa- 
tion on  China  and  Chinese  subjects,  the  result  of  much  re- 
search and  study.  The  present  '  China  Branch  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society '  holds  its  meetings  in  Shanghai,  at 
which  papers  are  read  and  discussions  follow — some  of 
these  papers  appear  in  the  Transactions ;  the  member- 
ship is  considerable  ;  the  subscription  is  five  dollars  a  year, 
which  may  be  commuted  by  a  payment  of  fifty  dollars,  en- 
titling the  subscriber  to  be  a  life  member.  Those  who 
wish  to  belong  to  the  Society  should  apply  to  the  Secre- 
tary in  Shanghai.  Members  receive  the  'Journal  of  the 
China  Branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society  '  free,  and  have 
the  privilege  of  purchasing  back  numbers  at  a  reduction  of 
40%  on  the  published  prices,  while  the  public  are  allowed  a 
discount  of  10%  if  a  complete  set  of  the  'Journal,' 
as  far  as  can  be  supplied,  is  purchased.  The  annual  sub- 
scription to  the  latter,  for  the  'Journal,'  is  $5.  A  classified 
index  to  the  articles  in  the  'Journal '  of  the  N.  C.  Br.  of  the 
R.A.S.,  from  the  formation  of  that  Society  to  the  3ist 
December  1892,  is  to  be  found  in  the  'Journal,  New  Series/ 

6; 


Things  Chinese 

Vol.  XXIV.     There  is  a  museum  in  Shanghai  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Society,  and  a  library. 

ASTROLOGY.— Astrology  is  largely  believed  in  by  the 
Chinese.  One  of  the  commonest  inscriptions  (carved  or 
written  on  a  red-painted  board,  or  written  on  red  paper  and 
posted  up  on  a  wall)  is,  '  May  a  lucky  star  auspiciously 
shine  (on  us).'  The  planets,  or  stars,  are  supposed  to  exert 
a  beneficent  or  malevolent  influence  on  the  destinies  of 
mortals,  and  the  Chinese  almanacs  contain  particulars  of 
these.  The  good  stars  are  termed  '  kut  sing,'  the  evil  ones 
'  hoong,'  or  '  shut  sing.' 

AUDIENCE. — During  recent  years  the  audience  by  the 
Chinese  sovereign  of  foreign  ambassadors,  envoys,  etc.,  has 
been  one  of  the  burning  questions  of  the  day  in  the  Far  East. 
The  following  appeared  in  the  Times  a  few  years  since  : — 

'  Perhaps,  in  course  of  time,  they  [the  Chinese]  will  begin  to  see  the 
absurdity  of  shutting  up  their  Emperor  from  the  foreign  ministers 
accredited  to  him.  There  may  have  been  good  and  substantial 
reasons,  from  the  Chinese  point  of  view,  in  refusing  to  present  foreigners 
to  the  Empress  Dowager  when  she  acted  as  Regent ;  but  there  is  no 
reason  whatever — even  a  Chinese  reason — for  persisting  in  keeping 
the  Emperor  and  the  foreign  ministers  apart.  In  the  last  century  the 
Emperor  of  the  present  dynasty  received  foreigners,  and  condescended 
to  be  instructed  by  them.  The  present  Emperor  receives  his  own 
ministers  in  audience  every  day,  and  is  not  treated  as  a  semi-divine 
being,  on  whose  face  ordinary  mortals  may  not  look,  as  the  Mikado  of 
Japan  was  in  former  times.  There  is  no  reason  in  principle  or 
Chinese  practice  why  the  sovereign  should  not  receive  the  ministers  at 
his  Court,  and,  not  to  speak  of  earlier  Emperors,  there  is  the  prece- 
dent of  T'ung  Chi,  his  predecessor,  who  granted  an  audience  to  the 
Corps  Diplomatique.  It  is  the  absence  of  reason  about  the  business, 
the  obstinate  persistence  in  withholding  this  usual  mark  of  mutual 
respect,  that  renders  it  so  irritating.' 

To  get  some  idea  of  what  the  Chinese  standpoint  of 
view  was,  it  must  be  remembered  that  through  ages  past  it 
has  been  the  theory — a  theory  well  sustained  by  practice, 
and  where  practice  failed  to  support  it,  well  bolstered  up  by 
Chinese  historians — that  China  was  the  Suzerain  State,  and 
all  other  kingdoms  its  vassals,  who,  if  they  did  not  pay 
tribute,  were  in  a  state  of  rebellion,  and  should  present 
this  open  and  visible  sign  of  fealty.  All  presents  from  other 

68 


Audience 

sovereigns  were  styled  '  tribute ' ;  and  to  such  a  length  was 
this  carried,  that  when  China  was  divided  by  two  reigning 
houses,  and  when  the  so-called  vassal  kingdom  was  in 
reality  the  leading  state  in  China,  and  the  so-called  Imperial 
family  ruled  over  but  a  small  moiety  of  the  Empire,  yet  all 
presents  from  the  more  powerful  state  were  classed  as 
tribute  in  history,  while  those  from  the  Emperor,  which,  as 
given  to  a  more  influential  state  by  a  weaker  and  inferior 
one,  were  in  reality  more  entitled  to  the  name  of  tribute, 
were  classed  as  presents.  It  must  further  be  remembered 
that  China  has  been  the  leading  nation  of  Eastern  Asia  for 
many  centuries  past,  while  the  rest  of  the  world  was  com- 
paratively unknown  ;  all  surrounding  nations  have  been 
their  inferiors,  who  have  looked  up  to  the  Middle  Kingdom 
as  the  centre  from  which  their  letters,  literature,  knowledge, 
art,  and  science  have  all  originated  and  emanated.  It  is 
owing  to  all  these  causes,  and  for  all  these  reasons  that  the 
preposterous  claim  of  the  Chinese  has  been  founded. 

The  receiving  of  all  their  envoys  and  ambassadors  at 
the  Courts  of  Europe,  to  which  they  have  been  accredited 
fora  quarter  of  a  century,  was  not  sufficient,  in  face  of  these 
antiquated  views,  to  move  them  from  their  position  ;  for, 
judged  from  the  same  standpoint,  it  was  only  to  be  expected 
that  China's  envoys  should  be  received  with  every  mark  of 
respect  and  honour — nay  more,  their  theories  would  naturally 
lead  them  to  expect  that  they  should  be  received  with  that 
homage  accorded  to  them  by  their  neighbours,  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  by  Corea  in  past  times — a  homage  rendered  to  them 
as  representatives  of  the  Son  of  Heaven — a  homage  given 
by  virtue  of  the  claim  of  the  latter  to  universal  sovereignty. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  private  opinion  of  the 
handful  of  enlightened  officials,  the  belief  held  by  the  ma- 
jority of  them,  namely,  the  theory  already  enunciated  above, 
had  to  be  upheld  at  every  cost  ;  for  such  beliefs  die  hard  in 
China.  And  if  the  pressure  of  foreign  opinion  rendered 
necessary  some  show  of  alteration,  plausible  excuses  were 
put  forward,  or  subterfuges  resorted  to  ;  and  eventually  we 
find  the  representatives  of  the  most  powerful  nations  on  the 

69 


Things  Chinese 

earth  received  twice — long  ago  once,  and  again  in  1891,  after 
years  of  a  refusal  to  grant  it — in  an  Audience  Hall, 
especially  reserved  for  the  audience  of  tributary 
nations,  with  only  a  statement  on  the  last  occasion,  that 
such  should  not  be  the  case  again.  The  Emperor,  by  a 
decree  of  the  I2th  December  1890,  expressed  his  intention 
of  fixing  a  day  every  year  for  the  reception  with  honour  of 
all  the  Foreign  Ministers  resident  in  Peking.  After  the 
general  reception,  mentioned  above,  the  Austrian-Hun- 
garian Minister  was  received  in  another  out-building,  which 
was  also  associated  with  humiliation. 

Count  Cassini,  the  Russian  Minister,  insisted,  in  1892, 
on  presenting  his  credentials  personally  to  the  Emperor,  a 
bold  stand,  and  the  only  one  which  carries  the  day  with 
Chinese  officials. 

The  Chinese  seemed  indisposed,  to  put  it  mildly,  to 
receive  Foreign  Ambassadors  in  the  Imperial  Palace;  out- 
buildings were  made  to  do  duty  for  these  functions.  The 
point,  of  course,  was  that  until  the  Chinese  Emperor  received 
Foreign  Ambassadors  on  exactly  the  same  footing  that  our 
Sovereign  receives  the  Chinese  accredited  to  the  Court  of 
St.  James,  and  until  every  disposition  to  shirk  this  proper 
mode  of  dealing  with  the  Audience  Question  was  gone,  it 
would  still  remain  unsettled.  The  future  only  will  reveal 
whether  the  reservations,  equivocations,  and  evasions  of 
the  past  will  be  resorted  to  again  ad  nauseam.  At  the 
same  time  it  is  worthy  of  note,  as  a  sign  of  progress,  that 
the  humiliating  ceremony  of 'kow-tow'  was  not  demanded 
at  the  last  receptions  given  prior  to  a  complete  change  in 
the  system,  for  the  very  good  reason,  doubtless,  that  the 
Chinese  were  well  aware  it  would  not  be  performed.  And 
as  a  straw  showing  a  slight  change  in  the  current  of  the 
stupid  pride  and  arrogance  of  the  past,  it  was  pleasing  to 
see  that  the  Czarewitch,  on  his  visit  a  few  years  since,  to 
the  high  officials  in  Canton,  had  an  Imperial-yellow  sedan- 
chair  provided  for  him — an  honour  never  previously  granted 
to  a  European,  and  an  honour  only  reserved  in  China  for 
the  reigning  family. 

70 


Audience 

The  Audience  Question  appeared  to  be  approaching  a 
satisfactory  solution  latterly.  As  indicative  of  some  of  the 
first  signs  of  this  change,  for  the  better,  were  to  be  noticed  the 
fact  that  the  late  British  Minister  to  Peking  (Mr.  O'Connor) 
presented  his  credentials  in  person  to  the  Emperor  in  the 
Cheng  Kuang-tien  and  not  in  the  '  Hall  of  Tributary 
Nations.'  The  Austrian  Ambassador  had  previously  also 
been  received  in  a  proper  manner,  and  the  other  representa- 
tives of  their  respective  countries  were  afterwards  accorded 
receptions  more  befitting  the  nations  whose  interests  they 
had  in  hand  than  had  been  the  case  for  many  years  past. 

'The  Russian  and  French  Ministers  refused  audience  except  within 
the  Palace  walls  ;  when  China  was  being  defeated  by  Japan  then  the 
right  was  conceded  of  audience  within  the  Palace  Wall  to  all  the  nations. 
The  Hall  selected  for  it  was  the  Wen  Wa  Tien.'  They  feared  the 
Japanese  would  attack  Peking  ('the  Chinese  dreaded  two  of  the  Powers 
in  the  event  of  the  attack  on  Peking  and  the  overthrow  or  weaken- 
ing of  the  dynasty)  and  they  wished  to  conciliate  the  Great  Western 
Powers  ;  and  by  granting  this  important  but  inevitable  concession, 
to  secure  their  mediatorial  influences  in  suspending  or  averting  the 
threatened  descent  on  the  capital  and  in  the  bringing  about  of  peace.' 

On  the  defeat  of  China  by  Japan,  the  Foreign  Ministers 
were  received  in  audience  within  the  Palace  (1894). 

In  this  connection,  the  two  following  newspaper  cuttings 
from  periodicals  published  in  1898  are  interesting: — 

'The  Chinese  authorities  have  been  much  perplexed  over  the 
question  of  Prince  Henry's  suitable  reception  by  the  Emperor,  and  after 
considerable  hesitation,  it  has  been  decided  that  for  the  first  time  in 
Chinese  History,  His  August  Majesty  will  stand  to  receive  his  guest. 
The  officials  are  as  yet  in  much  too  great  trepidation  to  discuss  the 
details  of  the  return  visit.' 

'Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  has  paid  his  state  visit  to  the  Emperor  of 
China  in  Peking.  He  was  admitted  to  an  audience  at  the  Summer 
Palace  on  terms  of  equality  never  before  granted.' 

In  1 899  (and  repeatedly  since),  the  Empress  Dowager 
gave  audience  to  the  foreign  ladies  from  the  legations  in 
Peking. 

Amongst  the  reforms  which  will  be  forced  on  China  by 
this  last  war  (1900)  will  surely  be  the  placing  of  the  diplo- 
matic intercourse  between  foreign  nations  and  herself  on 
a  proper  footing  ;  and  thus  will  close  a  chapter  full  of  dis- 
grace to  China,  brought  on  herself,  and  discreditable  to  the 

71 


Things  Chinese 

foreign  Powers,  who  submitted  too  tamely  to  the  insults 
heaped  on  their  representatives  by  an  insolent  mandarinate. 
Since  writing  the  above,  this  apparently  has  been  ac- 
complished, for  the  Ministers  of  Great  Britain,  Germany, 
France,  Russia,  Japan  and  Portugal  were  received  in  1902 
in  audience  in  the  Hall  where  the  Emperor  receives  his 
own  officials  every  morning.  Thus  then  at  last  the 
Audience  Question  seems  to  be  set  at  rest. 

AWETO. — The  aweto  has  well  been  termed  the 
strangest  insect  in  the  world  ;  for,  were  the  fact  not  well 
vouched  for  by  scientists,  it  would  be  incredible  that  a 
caterpillar  should  blossom  out  into  a  plant.  The  vegetable 
fungus  which  takes  root  in  the  neck  of  the  caterpillar  grows 
upward  even  to  the  height  of  six  or  eight  inches  and  down- 
ward in  the  body  of  the  buried  aweto  until  vegetable  matter 
has  supplanted  all  the  animal  tissues  within  the  outer  skin 
of  the  insect — the  form  of  the  latter  being  perfectly  re- 
tained ;  this  accomplished,  it  dies,  or  (shall  we  say?)  they 
die ;  for  both  plant  and  animal  die,  becoming  dry  and  hard 
and  of  a  brown  colour.  This  odd  combination  then  looks 
like  a  wooden  caterpillar  with  a  big  horn  sticking  out  of  its 
neck.  The  Chinese  have  in  their  Materia  Medica  what 
would  appear  to  be  exactly  the  same  creature  as  the  above. 
It  is  produced,  if  our  Chinese  authority  is  reliable,  in 
Sz-chuan,  as  well  as  in  New  Zealand.  It  is  known  as  the 
toong  ctioong  hah  ts'o,  '  winter-worm  summer-grass,'  or  more 
commonly  as  the  toong  ctioong  ts'o,  '  winter-worm  grass.' 
It  is  considered  to  be  a  tonic,  and  is  boiled  with  pork  for 
that  purpose ;  the  soup  thus  produced,  and  the  aweto  itself, 
being  taken.  There  is  an  inferior  kind  which  is  said  to 
come  from  Japan,  but  is  stated  to  be  of  no  use. 

BAMBOO.— China  would  not  be  the  China  we 
know,  were  the  bamboo  wanting.  Existence  would 
well-nigh  seem  impossible  to  the  Chinese  without  it — 
'  a  universal  provider '  for  a  nation's  endless  wants. 
What  iron  is  to  the  English,  such  is  the  useful 

72 


Bamboo 

bamboo  to  the  Chinese.  Not  by  any  means  that  the 
use  of  iron  is  unknown  in  China,  far  from  it  ;  it  is  largely 
used  for  many  purposes ;  but  bamboo  is  even  more  exten- 
sively employed,  not  only  for  the  purposes  that  iron  is  ill 
fitted  for,  but  also  for  many  for  which  that  metal  is  well 
adapted.  Pages  might  be  filled  with  a  mere  list  given  of 
the  uses  to  which  it  is  put.  Bamboo  has  been  called  the 
universal  material.  There  are  few  things  which  cannot  be 
made  of  it.  The  question  is  not  what  it  is  used  for,  but 
what  it  is  not  used  for;  and,  after  a  lengthened  residence  in 
China  with  the  discovery  every  now  and  then  of  some  fresh 
article  made  of  bamboo,  the  answer,  with  but  little  reserva- 
tion, would  appear  to  be  that  it  is  used  for  nearly  every- 
thing. To  the  Chinese  it  is,  perhaps,  the  most  valuable 
product  of  their  land.  They  excel  in  manufacturing  it  into 
different  articles.  The  last  thing  that  one  would  suppose 
it  to  be  fit  for  is  food  :  the  hard  silicious  culms  look  any- 
thing but  tempting  to  an  epicure.  It  is,  however,  not  these 
in  their  hardened  mature  state,  but  the  fresh  young  sprouts 
as  they  come  out  of  the  ground  that,  cooked  till  tender, 
form  a  fine  vegetable,  or,  otherwise  treated,  make  a  pickle, 
or  comfit.  The  graceful  slender  stems — strong,  but  light — 
serve  an  infinitude  of  purposes  :  the  framework  of  mat- 
sheds  is  almost  entirely  constructed  of  them,  whether  they 
be  the  gigantic  temporary  structures  erected  for  religious 
festivals  which  tower  above  all  the  other  buildings  (See 
Article  on  Amusements) ;  or  the  more  modest  dwellings  of 
the  poorer  classes  ;  or  the  complicated  network  of  scaffold- 
ing round  the  rising  house  or  the  building  under  repair. 
Their  long  tubular  structure  adapts  them  admirably  for 
water-pipes  when  the  thick  septum  at  each  joint  has  been 
broken  through.  The  street-coolie,  or  the  chair-coolie, 
would  be  badly  off  without  the  bamboo  :  it  provides  carry- 
ing-poles for  the  first,  whilst  the  whole  framework  of  the 
sedan-chair,  and  the  shafts  are  often  of  this  material.  The 
boatman's  pole  for  his  boat,  the  ribs  for  the  sailor's  mat- 
sail,  and  the  sampan  woman's  awning  for  her  small  craft, 
are  all  constructed  of  the  bamboo.  Could  the  bamboo  age 

73 


Things  Chinese 

that  now  reigns  in  China  be  suddenly  abolished  by  some 
magician's  enchantment,  the  whole  of  the  fairies  that  ever 
peopled  Fairyland  would  find  their  hands  more  than  full 
to  provide  substitutes  for  all  the  household  articles,  the 
agricultural  implements,  the  toys  for  the  children,  and  the 
innumerable  objects  of  everyday  use  which  are  made  of  this 
ubiquitous  plant  The  roots  make  the  divining  blocks 
lying  on  every  temple  altar,  while  the  divining  sticks 
that  keep  them  company  are  slender  slips  of  bamboo 
contained  in  a  bamboo  vase  ;  the  mats  for  the  worshippers 
to  kneel  on  are  made  of  its  dried  leaves  ;  the  incense  sticks 
have  a  thin  slip  of  bamboo,  round  the  upper  part  of  which 
adhere  the  fragrant  spices  brought  from  Araby  the  Blest 
and  the  Sandal-wood  Islands  (Sandwich  Islands).  We  can 
scarcely  keep  our  eyes  off  bamboo  in  China  whether  in-doors 
or  out.  Rain-hats  or  sun-hats,  large  sized  and  small  (the  large 
ones  having  the  spread  of  an  umbrella,  of  which  the  handle 
is  the  man  or  woman  who  uses  it,  or  when  a  youngster  claps 
one  on  his  head,  we  have  a  walking  mushroom,  so  over- 
shadowed is  he  by  his  gigantic  head-gear),  the  policeman's 
or  soldier's  conical  small  hat,  constructed  to  ward  off  strokes 
and  parry  blows — these  are  all  made  of  bamboo.  The 
native  umbrella,  handle  and  ribs  and  spring,  is  ingeniously 
constructed  of  it  as  well,  while  oiled  paper  serves  in  the 
place  of  silk  or  cotton.  The  Robinson  Crusoe-like  rain- 
coat of  the  extreme  South  is  made  of  leaves — a  garment  of 
leaves — of  this  gigantic  grass  sewn  together.  The  old 
man's  staff,  the  blind  beggar's  stick,  the  sewing  woman's 
pole  to  which  to  fasten  her  seam,  the  washerwoman's 
clothes-lines,  are  bamboo.  The  rake  of  the  farmer,  the 
foot-rule  of  the  carpenter  and  tailor,  the  measures  of  the 
rice-shops,  and  many  chop-sticks  are  made  of  it.  Rags  are 
too  precious  in  China  to  be  wasted  on  the  manufacture  of 
paper,  for  when  the  decent  garment  begins  to  show  the 
wear  and  tear  of  the  merchant  prince,  it  descends  in  the 
social  scale,  serving  in  turn  the  shopman  and  coolie,  and 
finally,  when  all  respectability  is  gone  out  of  it,  forms  a 
covering  for  the  wretched  beggar,  if  any  ability  to  cover 

74 


Bamboo 

remains  in  it  at  all.  In  lieu  of  rags,  the  bamboo,  soaked 
for  a  length  of  time  and  reduced  to  pulp,  then  dried  and 
made  into  sheets,  furnishes  paper  for  the  student's  class- 
book,  the  merchant's  account-books,  and  the  author's 
scribbling  paper.  The  latter  writes  with  a  pen,  the  handle 
of  which  is  a  fine  bamboo  tube  ;  the  vase  for  holding  his 
pens  is  of  the  same  material.  Chairs,  tables,  stools,  couches, 
ornaments,  stands,  images,  lantern-handles,  canes,  instru- 
ments of  torture,  handles  of  spears,  cages  for  birds,  hen- 
coops, musical  instruments  (such  as  flutes  and  fifes  and 
fiddles,  etc.),  pillows,  dutch-wives,  ladders,  lattice-work,  bars 
of  doors  and  windows,  primitive-looking  lamps  and  lanterns, 
nutmeg-graters,  pepper-dusters,  floats,  watering-wheels,  rafts, 
bridges,  watch-towers,  tobacco  and  opium-pipes,  ropes, 
window-blinds,  curtains,  brooms,  brushes,  baskets  of  all  and 
every  kind,  cricket-traps,  snares  to  catch  game,  combs, 
tallies  for  checking  cargo,  summonses  for  secret  society 
meetings,  the  framework  and  handles  of  fans,  are  all  of 
this  cane  ;  but  we  must  stop,  or  we  should  have  to  make  an 
inventory  of  much  that  is  in  common  use  by  John 
Chinaman,  and  which  he  would  sadly  want  were  he  de- 
prived of  his  bamboo.  It  even  supplies  him  with  medicine 
in  the  shape  of  tabasheer,  a  silicious  concretion  found  in- 
side the  stems  ;  while  the  green  outer  surface  of  the  young 
bamboo  is  scraped  off  and  used  as  a  cooling  drink  (being 
boiled  with  water)  for  fever,  in  combination  with  other 
medicines,  or  alone.  The  green  buds  (of  the  leaves)  are 
also  employed  in  the  same  way  and  for  the  same  purpose. 
Order  is  maintained  throughout  the  whole  empire  by  it, 
and  a  sprig  of  it  is  borne  in  the  van  of  the  funeral 
procession. 

'  The  numerous  plants  which  common  parlance  lumps 
together  under  the  general  name  of  "bamboos"  really  form 
three  distinct  genera,  known  to  Botanists  as  Bambusa, 
Arundinaria,  and  Phyllostachys,  and  each  including  many 
species.' 

'  Throughout  life  the  Chinaman  is  almost  dependent  upon  it   for 
support,  nor  does  it  leave  him  until  it  carries  him  to  his  last  resting 

75 


Things  Chinese 

place  on  the  hill-side,  and   even   then  in  company  with  the   cypress, 
juniper,  and  pine  it  waves  over  and  marks  his  tomb.' 

Wallace  would  scarcely  regard  the  bamboo  as  a  tropical 
plant,  while  Rein  calls  the  monsoon  district  the  old  home 
of  many  kinds,  where  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  are 
cultivated,  and  from  whence  some  varieties — the  hardiest 
doubtless — have  crossed  the  tropic  of  Cancer  and  colonised 
both  in  Japan  and  China  far  beyond.  The  idea  that  such 
regions  are  too  raw  and  cold  for  such  delicate  plants  is 
fallacious.  The  bamboo  is  hardier  than  its  slender  stalks, 
tender  green  leaves,  and  graceful  swaying  masses  of 
feathery  tufts  would  at  first  glance  lead  one  to  suppose,  for 
it  holds  its  own  and,  if  properly  protected,  will  winter 
through  snows  amidst  the  cold  of  Mid-China.  Chambers's 
'  Encyclopaedia '  informs  us  that  a  few  species  of  bamboo 
are  found  in  the  Himalayas  at  an  altitude  of  12,000  feet. 

The  bamboo  is  one  of  the  most  rapidly  growing  plants 
in  existence — six  feet  or  more  in  a  single  night  is  a  record 
performance  in  plant  growth,  while  at  the  other  end  of  the 
scale  is  the  slow  growing  tree,  taking  a  year  to  accomplish 
the  same  height. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  the  bamboo  world  are  the 
purple  bamboo,  the  tortoise-marked  bamboo,  the  Sampan 
wood  bamboo  (bright  red  when  young),  the  purple  or 
black  bamboo,  the  golden  bamboo,  the  solid  bamboo 
(which  '  is  not  a  species,  not  even  a  variety,  but  merely  a 
sport ' ),  the  square  bamboo,  the  Dragon's  beard  (scarcely  a 
foot  high,  with  needle-like  stems,  while  at  the  other  extreme 
is  the  bamboo  the  stem  of  which  is  nearly  ij  ft.  in 
diameter),  striped  bamboos,  forked  bamboos,  and  the 
bamboo  of  filial  obedience,  which  last  a  Chinese  author 
thus  describes  : — It  '  has  long  and  slender  stems,  forming 
a  large  clump.  In  the  summer  its  sprouts  come  from  the 
inside  and  produce  coolness,  which  they  transmit  to  the 
parent  bamboo.  In  the  winter  they  come  up  outside  and 
afford  protection  to  the  parent  plant  by  covering  it  up. 
This  is  why  it  is  called  "  loving  filial-affection." '  It  is 
natural  that  such  a  filial-hearted  plant  (hollow-hearted 

76 


Bamboo 

though  it  is)  as  the  bamboo  appears  to  be,  should  respond 
to  filial  piety  in  the  human  species,  and  one  variety  of  this 
estimable  member  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  bears  in  Japan 
the  name  of  one  of  the  twenty-four  paragons  of  Chinese 
filial  piety,  who  for  his  sick  mother,  longing  for  soup  made 
from  bamboo  shoots  in  winter,  wept  so  copiously  in  a  bamboo 
plantation  that  his  tears,  like  the  warm  rains  of  spring, 
softened  the  hard  wintry  ground  and  caused  the  tender 
shoots  to  burst  forth,  in  reward  of  his  pious  affection.  The 
ingenious  Japanese  has  produced  artificial  varieties  of  the 
bamboo,  such  as  the  '  Hundred  Leaved  Bamboos,'  and 
bamboos  with  crooked  stems.  These  are  the  result  of  re- 
moving the  sheaths  and  cutting  the  stems. 

There  are  many  varieties  of  the  bamboo  ;  some  twenty 
or  more  in  the  south  of  China ;  one  Chinese  writer 
describes  sixty  varieties.  They  are  of  different  sizes  and 
colours — green,  yellow,  and  black — with  large  and  small 
leaves,  from  the  tiny  dwarf  bamboo  which,  when  full  grown, 
is  only  large  enough  to  form  a  low  hedge,  and  is  glorified 
with  the  name  of  the  'Goddess  of  Mercy  Bamboo,'  up  to  the 
larger  sizes,  whose  feathery  sprays  rise  to  a  height  of  fifty 
or  even  sometimes  seventy  feet.  It  is  a  most  graceful 
object,  touching  with  rare  beauty  every  few  yards  of  the 
Chinese  landscape,  and  has  inspired  many  a  poet  and 
artist.  If  the  bamboo  is  kind  to  the  Chinaman,  he  returns 
it  with  interest,  as  some  of  his  best  work  is  bestowed  upon 
it,  and  it  forms  the  motif  In  numerous  works  of  art.  What 
would  many  a  hideous  carving  be  but  for  its  '  saving  grace  ' ; 
the  artist  would  be  lost  but  for  its  lines  of  beauty,  while  its 
tawny  yellow  or  bright  green  stems  and  waving  top  plumes 
of  duller  green,  the  whole  object,  '  so  delicate  in  tint  and 
shape,  soft  of  hue,  .  .  .  indefinite  in  outline,  .  .  .  like 
wonderful  grey-green  lace  against  the  opalescent  sky,' 
appeals  not  only  to  the  most  aesthetic  side  of  the  Celestial's 
nature,  but  also  to  that  of  the  matter-of-fact  Western  traveller. 

Baden  Powell  says  : — 

'  I  always  think  bamboos  in  a  landscape  add  just  that  finish  which 
a  spray  of  maidenhair  gives  to  a  bouquet.' 

77 


Things  Chinese 

In  two  recent  years,  has  the  bamboo  flowered  in  Hong- 
kong, though  ordinarily  one  may  live  many  years  in  China 
without  noticing  it.  A  spray  of  it  in  flower  looks  some- 
what like  a  head  oi  oats,  but  much  smaller. 

'The  flowering  of  the  bamboo  is  considered  to  be  a  very  rare 
occurrence.  Once  in  eighteen,  twenty,  and  even  twenty-five  years  does 
it  flower,  and  still  less  seldom  does  it  produce  seed.'  'Externally  the 
seed  resembles  a  pear  in  shape,  and  is  of  a  deep  olive-green  colour, 
gradually  changing  to  a  dark  or  rifle-green.  On  opening  the  seed 
longitudinally,  a  thick  coat  of  coriaceous  matter  is  found  covering  the 
germinal  centre.  It  has  a  strong  vegetable  smell.' 

Of  late  the  bamboo  has  been  introduced  as  an  ornamental 
plant  into  gardens  in  England,  with  great  success.  In  a 
garden  in  the  Midlands,  some  fifty  species  flourished  ex- 
ceedingly well,  though  not  attaining  the  size  they  do 
where  the  climate  was  more  favourable  for  their  growth. 
It  was  previously  unknown  out  of  doors  in  England,  though 
well  known  on  the  Mediterranean.  Rein  tells  us  in  his 
magnificent  work,  '  The  Industries  of  Japan,'  that  Bambusa 
arundinacea  was  introduced  into  hot-houses  in  England  in 
1730,  and  until  1813  was  the  only  kind  there. 

Books  recommended.  —  1  Ling  Nam,'  by  Rev.  B.  C.  Henry,  M.A.,  D.D.,  pp. 
Ill,  135,  136.  'The  Middle  Kingdom,'  by  Rev.  S.  Wells  Williams,  LL.D., 
vol.  i.  pp.  358-360.  An  interesting'  account  appears  in  the  China  Mail  and 
Hongkong  Daily  Press,  of  the  9th  and  10th  June,  1893,  respectively,  of  an 
eccentric  mandarin  who  was  about  to  build  a  house  and  furnish  it  with 
nothing  but  articles  made  of  bamboo. 

BANKS  AND  BANK-NOTES.— There  are  no 
chartered  banks  in  China,  but  private  banks  are  very 
common.  If  we  include  branches  of  the  same  establish- 
ment, there  were,  a  few  years  since,  300  in  Tientsin.  Their 
number  '  is  large  in  proportion  to  the  business  of  a  town,' 
their  capital,  in  many  cases,  also  being  small,  amounting  to 
a  few  thousand  taels.  The  native  banks  do  not  appear  to 
have  hit  upon  the  device  of  cheques  ;  a  foreign  bank  in 
Hongkong,  the  National  Bank  of  China,  having  been  the 
first  to  introduce  these  convenient  orders  for  money  to  the 
Chinese  in  their  own  language  in  that  Colony.  The  native 
banks,  however,  '  issue  circular  letters  of  credit  to  travel 
through  the  Empire,  and  the  system  of  remittance  by 


Banks  and  Bank-Notes 

drafts  is  as  complete  as  in  Europe ;  the  rates  charged  are 
high,  however.'  Promissory  Notes  are  largely  availed  of  by 
the  native  banks  and  their  customers  in  their  dealings  with 
each  other.  A  very  curious  feature  in  these  transactions  is 
that  the  interest  is  often  not  stated  in  the  note  itself,  but  is 
written  on  the  envelope  in  which  the  note  is  enclosed,  though 
in  the  ordinary  promissory  note  it  is  inserted  in  the  note. 

As  cash,  the  common  copper  mite  and  for  long  only 
known  coin  amongst  the  Chinese,  is  heavy  and  difficult  to 
transport  in  any  quantities,  it  was  only  natural  that,  keen 
merchants  as  they  are,  the  Chinese  should  have  early 
invented  bank-notes.  '  The  date  seems  to  have  been  about 
A.D.  800.'  The  earliest  specimen  known  to  exist  in  any 
country  was  purchased  in  1890  by  the  British  Museum, 
where  it  may  be  now  seen  by  anyone  in  the  King's  Library, 
placed  under  a  glass  case.  The  label  to  it  states  that  it 
was  issued  300  years  earlier  than  the  establishment  (at 
Stockholm)  of  the  first  European  bank  which  sent  out  notes. 
This  wonderful  note  is  about  the  size  of  a  piece  of  foolscap 
paper  and  is  almost  blackish  in  colour.  It  was  issued 
during  the  reign  of  Hung  Wii,  A.D.  1368-1399.  Each 
money  shop  has  its  own  device,  though  the  general 
features  are  the  same  :  an  ornamental  border  surrounds  the 
oblong  paper,  and  since  the  Chinese  printing  is  in  columns, 
the  greatest  length  is  from  top  to  bottom,  and  not  from 
side  to  side  as  in  the  English  bank-note  ;  the  name  of  the 
bank  or  shop  issuing  it  is  put  in  large  characters, 
transversely,  as  a  heading  ;  below  this  are  several  rows  of 
characters,  the  centre  one  often  being  somewhat  to  this 
effect — '  On  production  of  this  note  pay  -  -  cash,'  and  the 
other  columns  containing  necessary  particulars,  such  as  the 
number  of  the  note  and  date,  etc.  ;  besides  which,  some 
moral  sentences  very  often  form  an  adornment. 

'The  check  on  over-issue  of  notes  lies  in  the  control  exercised  by 
the  clearing-house  of  every  city,  where  the  standing  of  each  bank  is 
known  by  its  operations.  The  circulation  of  the  notes  is  limited  in 
some  cases  to  the  street  or  neighbourhood  wherein  the  establishment 
is  situated  ;  often  the  payee  has  a  claim  on  the  payer  of  a  bill  for  a 
full  day  if  it  be  found  to  be  counterfeit  or  worthless — a  custom  which 

79 


Things  Chinese 

involves  a  good  deal  of  scribbling  on  the  back  ...  to  certify  the 
names.  Proportionally  few  counterfeit  notes  are  met  with,  owing 
more  to  the  limited  range  of  the  notes,  making  it  easy  to  ask  the  bank, 
which  recognises  its  own  paper.  .  .  .  Their  face  value  ranges  from 
one  to  a  hundred  tiaot  or  strings  of  cash,  but  their  worth  depends  on 
the  exchange  between  silver  and  cash,  and  as  this  fluctuates  daily, 
the  notes  soon  find  their  way  home.' 

A  tiao  is  1000  cash,  but  the  author  possesses  a  set  of 
cancelled  Foochovv  notes  ranging  in  value  from  100  cash 
to  1000  cash  and  $i.  Great  inconvenience  is  sometimes 
caused  by  the  failure  of  the  firms  which  have  issued  this 
paper  money. 

These  bank-notes  are  not  used  in  the  extreme  south 
of  China,  though  they  are  very  common  at  Foochow  and 
in  the  North. 

The  issue  of  these  notes  at  the  present  day  is  due 
entirely  to  private  enterprise,  but  the  Government  have 
acted  as  bankers  more  than  once  in  this  one  respect. 
Marco  Polo,  the  celebrated  Venetian  traveller,  was  in 
China  at  such  a  time  and,  speaking  of  Kublai  Khan's 
purchases,  he  thus  describes  them  : — 

'  So  he  buys  such  a  quantity  of  those  precious  things  every  year 
that  his  treasure  is  endless,  while,  all  the  while  the  money  he  pays 
away  costs  him  nothing  at  all.  If  any  of  those  pieces  of  paper  are 
spoilt,  the  owner  carries  them  to  the  mint,  and  by  paying  three  per 
cent,  on  the  value  he  gets  new  pieces  in  exchange.' 

The  total  issue  during  Kublai  Khan's  reign  of  thirty- 
four  years,  amounted,  it  is  estimated,  to  the  sum  of 
$624,135,500.  This,  however,  was  carried  too  far  by 
the  subsequent  Mongol  Emperors,  and  added  fuel  to  the 
flame  of  discontent  felt  by  the  Chinese  against  their 
foreign  rulers,  yet  the  new  Chinese  dynasty  (the  Ming) 
which  succeeded  to  the  throne,  was  obliged  at  first  to 
issue  notes  for  nearly  a  hundred  years.  The  present 
dynasty  of  Manchus  has  also  had  recourse  to  them  during 
the  great  T'ai-p'ing  rebellion,  but  their  circulation  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  metropolis. 

Books  recommended. — Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  85,  86. 
The  Wtsleyan  Methodist  Magazine,  July  1896,  contains  a  woodcut  of  a 
Chinese  bank-note.  See  also  Holcombe's  'The  Real  Chinaman,'  pp.  343-346. 

80 


Beche  de  Mer 

BASKETS. — Baskets  are  made  largely  of  bamboo. 
There  are  numerous  kinds  used  for  domestic  purposes  or 
for  the  market  or  in  daily  toil,  and  different  parts  of  the 
country  have  them  of  different  shapes  and  sizes.  The 
plain  material  is  sometimes  used  ;  at  other  times  it  is 
varnished  over ;  while  again  some  baskets  are  gaudily 
painted  in  glaring  colours. 

BATHING. — The  Chinese,  as  a  people,  are  not  addicted 
very  much  to  bathing.  As  a  general  rule,  with  multitudes 
of  them,  a  wash  of  the  face  and  hands  with  hot  water  once 
a  day  or  so  constitutes  the  sum  total  of  their  ablutions. 
This  is  called  '  wiping  the  face  and  hands,'  and  how  perfunc- 
torily it  is  performed  the  water-marks  on  dirty  ears  and  necks 
is  sign  enough.  Others,  however,  amongst  them  are  very 
cleanly  ;  especially  is  this  the  case  sometimes  with  one's 
chair-coolies,  who,  after  their  day's  labours,  have  buckets  of 
hot  water  and  wash  themselves  all  over.  In  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Foochow,  there  are  sulphurous  springs  to  which, 
Tseng  Ki-tong  tells  us,  the  well-to-do  people  repair  in 
summer  to  bathe. 

BATS. — Bats  are  emblematical  of  happiness  ;  and  con- 
stantly appear  in  paintings,  carvings,  and  decorative  designs. 

Large  specimens  are  allowed  in  great  number  to  con- 
gregate in  and  haunt  some  official  buildings.  A  superstition 
prevails  in  the  South  that  the  hair  will  fall  off  the  head  of 
those  who  touch  them. 

Dr.  Porter  Smith  says  of  bats  : — 

'This  animal  is  very  common  in  China,  being  a  frequent  visitor  of 
foreign  houses,  in  quest  of  mosquitoes,  which  it  devours  most  satis- 
factorily. As  it  is  supposed*  to  feed  upon  the  stalactites  which  are 
frequently  met  with  in  the  caves  it  is  wont  to  hybernate  in,  its  medical 
properties  are  rated  at  considerable  value  by  the  Chinese.  From  its 
asserted  extreme  longevity  and  its  excellent  sight,  this  curious  creature 
is  credited  by  the  Chinese  with  the  power  of  conveying  these  desirable 
qualities  to  those  who  consume  the  disgusting  preparations  made  from 
all  parts  of  its  body.' 

Book  recommended. — Dr.  Dobson's  exhaustive  monograph  on  Asiatic 
Chiroptera,  published  by  Taylor  &  Francis,  London,  1876. 

BECHE    DE    MER.— Called    in    Malay,   tripang :    in 

Si  K 


Things  Chinese 


Portuguese,  foV//0-afc-  war  =  sea-  worm  ;  it  is  known  by  the 
name  of  sea-cucumber  in  England,  its  appearance  and  shape 
being  like  that  vegetable  ;  but  it  is,  however,  a  dirty  brown. 
It  is  found  in  the  seas  of  the  Malay  Peninsula  and 
Archipelago. 

And  '  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Gulf  of  Siam,  and  is  so  abundant  on 
the  northern  coast  of  Australia  that  the  people  of  Celebes,  receiving 
advances  from  the  resident  Chinese,  have  been  long  in  the  habit  of 
making  annual  voyages  thither  in  quest  of  it.  Gutted,  dried  in  the 
sun,  and  smoked,  it  is  considered  cured,  and  fit  for  its  only  market, 
that  of  China,  to  which  many  hundred  tons  are  yearly  sent  for  the 
consumption  of  the  epicures  of  that  country.  The  fishery  of  the 
tripang  is  to  China,  what  that  of  the  sardine,  tunny,  and  anchovy  is  to 
Europe.  It  is,  for  the  most  part,  caught  by  hand,  for  it  has  little 
power  of  locomotion,  but  in  deep  water  it  sometimes  dives.'  'The 
tripang,  or  sea-slug,  is  of  several  varieties.  The  greater  portion  is 
caught  in  shallow  water,  where  it  can  be  picked  up  off  the  bank  without 
diving.' 

'  They  lie  apparently  motionless  on  sandy  ground.  Out  of  water, 
they  die  immediately  and  become  a  shiny  mass.  They  must,  therefore, 
be  cut  up  at  once,  the  digestive  canal  being  taken  out,  and  then  they 
are  dipped  in  boiling  water  and  dried  in  the  air.' 

These  banks  on  the  Aroe  Islands  of  pearls  and  tripang 
are  often  several  miles  in  width,  intersected  by  deep 
channels.  The  Chinese  know  this  esculent  holothuria  by  the 
name  of  hoi  shunt,  or  'sea  ginseng.'  Its  culinary  prepara- 
tion is  as  follows  :  —  It  is  soaked  for  a  couple  of  nights,  and 
becomes  soft,  when  it  is  washed,  and  then  steamed  with 
water  and  pigeon  or  duck.  Instead  of  simple  water,  that 
in  which  pork  bones  have  been  boiled  is  sometimes  used. 
It  has  a  sweet  taste. 

BED.  —  The  Chinese  bed  commonly  consists  of  two 
thickish  boards  laid  side  by  side  on  two  trestles,  with  a 
woven  mat  instead  of  mattress  ;  blankets  and  cotton  wadded 
coverlets  being  used  for  warmth  in  winter.  Large  wooden 
bedsteads  of  slighter  constructions  and  of  more  framework 
style  than  amongst  us  are  also  used.  In  the  North,  with 
the  severe  winters  experienced  there,  the  people  sleep  on 
kangs,  which  are  built  of  bricks,  and  hollow  inside  for  fires  ; 
in  fact,  the  northern  Chinese  sleep  on  stoves.  Residence 
in  the  Far  East  affords  a  perpetual  commentary  on  the 

82 


Bells 

customs  mentioned  in  the  Bible;  and  it  is  no  uncommon 
sight  in  China  to  see  a  man  take  up  his  bed  and  walk,  i.e., 
he  rolls  up  his  blankets,  earthen-ware,  leather,  or  wooden 
pillow,  and  coverlet  all  inside  his  mat,  and  shoulders  it,  or 
carries  it  under  his  arm,  and  thus  takes  his  bed  with  him 
and  goes  where  he  likes. 

Much  pity  has  been  wasted  and  much  useless  indignation 
expended  respectively  on  Chinese  servants,  and  '  old  China 
hands,'  who  have  taken  these  domestics  with  them  when  on 
a  visit  to  their  native  lands,  and  knew  the  absurdity  of 
providing  their  amahs,  or  '  boys,'  with  the  unappreciated 
and  useless  luxury  of  iron  bedsteads  and  spring  mattresses. 

BEES. — The  busy  bee  in  Hongkong  keeps  up  its  re- 
putation, starting  to  work  at  7  or  8  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  going  on  till  6  o'clock  in  the  summer,  or  stopping 
earlier  in  winter.  They  are  better  able  to  be  handled  than 
those  in  England,  so  much  so  is  this  the  case  that  it  has 
been  thought  they  did  not  sting  at  all,  or  had  no  sting ; 
but  this  is  wrong,  for  they  can  and  do  sting.  They  are 
smaller  than  the  English  bees.  Wild  bees  are  also  found. 
The  natives  smoke  them  and  thus  capture  them,  wrapping 
them  up  in  a  cloth,  and  take  them  home  to  rear.  The 
hives  are  curious-looking  objects  :  some  are  like  hour- 
glasses about  two  feet  long,  while  others  are  not  so  willow- 
waisted,  but  more  cylindrical  in  shape  ;  both  sorts  are 
fastened  high  up  horizontally  against  walls  of  buildings,  or 
over  the  front-door.  The  entrances  to  the  hour-glass  ones 
are  at  the  ends,  and  to  the  cylindrical  ones  at  the  side  in  the 
middle.  These  apertures,  of  which  there  are  several,  are 
very  small,  being  only  large  enough  for  the  tiny  insects 
to  push  through  one  at  a  time. 

Honey  is  used  by  the  Chinese,  but  is  often  adulterated  : 
it  is  eaten  as  an  article  of  diet,  but  is  more  often  taken 
medicinally. 

BELLS. — All  temples  have  bells  hung  in  them,  some 
several  centuries  old,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  inscriptions  on 

83 


Things  Chinese 

them.  They  are  beaten  as  part  of  the  religious  ceremony. 
The  bell  has  no  clapper ;  but  is  struck  with  a  piece  of 
wood,  a  round,  smooth  surface  generally  being  prepared  on 
the  surface  of  the  bell  for  that  purpose.  Foreign  visitors  to 
Chinese  temples  often  strike  the  large,  sonorous  bell,  hung 
up  at  the  side  of  the  idol's  shrine.  It  might  be  as  well 
if  they  followed  the  good  advice  to  '  touch  not  .  .  .  handle 
not '  in  this  respect,  and  remember  what  would  be  thought 
if  a  'heathen  Chinee'  visited  one  of  our  churches  and 
took  liberties  with  the  different  objects  in  them  as  his 
fancies  prompted  him. 

Bells  are  one  of  the  Chinese  antiques  found  on  sale  in 
curio  shops. 

Bells  formed  ancient  musical  instruments,  singly,  or  in 
numbers  suspended  in  frames. 

Bells  are  not  used  in  domestic  life  as  amongst  us  ;  there 
being  no  door-bells  to  houses,  visitors  have  to  hammer 
and  bang  at  the  doors  with  stick,  umbrella,  or  hand,  and 
shout  themselves  hoarse  till  heard.  Nor  are  bells  used  for 
summoning  servants,  nor  employed  in  factories,  or  boats,  or 
ships. 

BERI-BERI. — Beri-beri,  a  Malay  name  for  a  common 
disease  in  the  East,  known  as  kakke  in  Japan,  which  has 
hitherto  been  an  obscure,  mysterious  complaint,  baffling  the 
doctors  by  its  different  phases,  and  claiming  as  its  victims 
many  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Malay  and  Eastern 
Archipelagoes,  India,  China,  and  Japan,  and  other 
countries.  But  it  is  now  better  known,  as  facts  in  connec- 
tion with  it  have  been  carefully  studied,  so  that  in  doctor's 
parlance  it  is  authoritatively  described  as — 

'A  specific  form  of  multiple  peripheral  neuritis,  occurring  endemi- 
cally,  or  as  an  epidemic,  in  most  tropical  and  sub-tropical  climates,  and 
also,  under  certain  artificial  conditions,  in  more  temperate  latitudes. 
The  mortality  is  considerable,  sometimes  very  high,  death  being  usually 
dependent  on  heart  paresis.'  Dr.  Manson  further  says  of  it  : — '  My 
idea  about  the  matter  is  ...  that  beri-beri  is  a  germ  disease  ;  that  the 
germ  resides  in  the  soil,  in  the  houses  and  surroundings  of  beri-beri  spots ; 
there  it  distils  a  poison  which,  on  being  absorbed  by  man,  produces 
neuritis  much  in  the  same  way  that  alcohol  does.  .  .  .  And  this 

84 


Betel-Nut 

toxin,  being  inhaled  or  swallowed  by  man,  produces  in  him  a  specific 
neuritis,'  and  he  can  carry  this  germ  inside  him  from  one  place  to 
another.  '  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  interpret  them,  this  is  the 
only  hypothesis  which  fits  in  with  all  the  facts  of  the  case.' 

Amongst  the  many  different  things  that  beri-beri  has 
hitherto  been  ascribed  to,  are  damaged  grain,  damaged  fish, 
rain,  wind,  heat,  cold,  rheumatism,  and  malaria.  Beri-beri 
is  fostered  by  damp,  by  great  heat,  and  most  often  attacks 
those  who  sleep  on  or  near  the  ground.  Overcrowding  is 
favourable  to  it,  consequently  it  frequently  breaks  out 
amongst  prisoners  in  gaols,  children  in  schools,  miners  in 
camps,  labourers  in  plantations,  soldiers  in  armies,  and  the 
crews  of  ships.  Large  cities,  villages,  as  well  as  jungle 
lands  are  all  subject  to  it. 

One  patient  will  appear  dropsical  and  another  emaciated 
and  reduced  to  a  skeleton,  and  the  same  patient  will 
present  these  different  aspects  at  different  periods  of  the 
disease.  A  man  who  has  every  appearance  of  being  very 
ill  will  recover,  while  another  who  looks  as  if  he  had  very 
little  the  matter  with  him  will  rapidly  develop  dangerous 
heart  symptoms  and  almost  suddenly  die  out  of  hand. 

As  one  of  the  marked  features  of  the  disease  is  an  in- 
ability to  use  the  legs  properly,  '  ankle-drops '  being  also  one 
of  the  symptoms,  and  hence  the  Chinese  term  it  kbk  hay,  or 
'  feet  vapours.' 

P,ooks  recommended. — '  Tropical  Diseases  :  A  Manual  of  the  Diseases  of 
Warm  Climates. '  Second  Edition.  By  Patrick  Manson,  M.D.,  LL.D.  '  Beri- 
Beri,'  by  Pekel having.  Translated  by  James  Cantlie,  M.B.,  F.R.C.S. 

BETEL-NUT. — All  betel-nuts  in  China,  as  far  as  we 
are  aware,  are  imported.  Not  so  with  the  leaf. 

'  The  fruit  of  the  Areca  palm,  a  tall,  graceful  tree,  sometimes 
reaching  a  height  of  60  ft.  The  nuts  are  surrounded  by  a  yellow, 
tough  fibre,  enclosed  in  a  thickish  green  rind.  To  prepare  them  for 
use,  the  entire  fruit  is  split,  and  the  halves  dried  in  the  sun.  When 
dry,  the  nut  is  separated  from  its  envelope  and  is  sold  for  chewing 
with  sirih  leaf  and  lime.  Its  use  communicates  a  blood-red  colour  to 
the  lips  and  gums,  and  the  same  hue  to  the  saliva  which  the  natives  eject.' 

The  taste  is  astringent.     (See  next  Article.) 

85 


Things  Chinese 

BETEL-VINE,  OR  SIRIH.— A  leaf  used  to  chew  with 
the  betel-nut  and  lime.  The  plant  is  cultivated  in  China, 
for  the  leaf.  A  dab  of  the  prepared  lime  is  smudged  on  to 
the  leaf  and  the  betel-nut  is  then  wrapped  up  in  it,  put  in 
the  mouth  and  chewed.  From  this  circumstance  the  leaf 
gets  its  name,  pun  long  lai'i,  'betel-nut  wrapper.'  It  is 
used  medicinally,  both  for  outward  application,  when  the 
leaf  is  rubbed  on,  and  taken  internally  in  cases  of  accident. 

BETROTHAL. — Betrothals  are  generally  negotiated— 
for  they  are  matters  of  business  and  not  of  sentiment — by 
the  go-betweens,  who  are  mostly  women,  and  who  make  it 
their  business  to  find  out  a  suitable  parti.  They  are 
commissioned  by  the  parents,  the  parties  themselves 
having,  as  a  general  rule,  no  voice  in  the  matter,  often 
being  of  too  tender  an  age  to  understand  what  it  means. 
Unborn  infants  are  even  sometimes  informally  betrothed, 
i.e.,  the  parents  agreeing  that  the  children  when  born,  if  of 
opposite  sexes,  shall  in  future  life  be  husband  and  wife ; 
this  is  carried  so  far  that  married  couples  occasionally 
promise  that  if  they  ever  have  children  of  different  sexes 
they  shall  be  given  in  marriage  to  one  another  ;  but  the 
usual  age  for  betrothals  in  many  parts  of  the  country  is 
ten,  twelve,  or  even  older. 

The  go-betweens  are  generally  women  of  the  status  of 
elderly  servants  who  have  the  free  entree  into  the  houses 
of  those  desirous  of  contracting  matrimonial  alliances,  in 
the  same  manner  that  an  ordinary  broker  would — in  fact 
they  are  marriage  brokers.  Sometimes  they  are  specially 
sent  for  by  the  parties  desirous  of  their  services,  and  at 
other  times  they  visit  families  unsolicited,  on  account  of 
information  received.  These  go-betweens  have  a  hand  in 
the  matter  from  beginning  to  end,  and  are  responsible 
for  the  proper  conduct  of  the  whole  affair ;  they  are 
not  employed  only  to  bring  the  families  contracting 
marriage  together.  The  first  ceremonials  consist  in  the 
go-between  being  commissioned  by  the  young  man's 
family  to  obtain  from  the  girl's  family  her  name  and  the 

86 


Betrothal 

moment  of  her  birth  ;  this  is  done  that  the  horoscope  of 
the  two  may  be  examined  by  a  fortune-teller  in  order  to 
ascertain  whether  the  proposed  alliance  will  be  a  happy 
one.  These  particulars  are  written  on  paper,  and  should 
the  fortune-teller  give  a  favourable  reply  to  the  inquiries, 
the  second  ceremonial  takes  place,  that  of  sending  the  go- 
between  back  with  an  offer  of  marriage.  The  assent  in 
writing  is  asked  for,  and  forms  the  third  ceremonial. 
Fourthly,  presents  are  sent  to  the  girl's  parents.  Fifthly, 
the  go-between  requests  them  to  choose  a  lucky  day  for 
the  wedding.  The  preliminaries  are  concluded  by  the 
bridegroom  going  in  a  procession  to  bring  the  bride  home. 
The  Chinese  speak  of  three  covenants  and  six  ceremonies, 
which  may  be  stated  to  be  as  follows : — 
The  three  covenants  are  : — 

The  Contract  of  Marriage, 

The  Receipt  of  Betrothal  Money, 

The  Deed  of  the  Delivery  of  the  Bride. 
The  six  ceremonies  are  : — 

The  Small  Presents, 

The  Inquiry  for  the  Name  of  the  Bride, 

The  Payment  of  the  Betrothal  Money, 

The  Request  to  fix  the  Day, 

The  Sending  of  a  Goose, 

The  Fetching  of  the  Bride. 

Betrothal  presents  are  called  cttd  lai,  tea  presents,  or 
ceremonials.  They  consist  of  a  present  of  tea,  cakes,  betel- 
nuts,  and  money,  given  by  the  future  husband's  family  to 
the  family  of  his  future  wife.  The  go-between  takes,  or 
accompanies,  these  presents  (to  the  girl's  family)  which  are 
carried  in  hop,  or  round  flat  boxes  made  of  wood.  A  few 
dollars  are  also  put  into  the  boxes.  With  concubines, 
money  alone  is  most  generally  given.  The  Chinese  have 
a  phrase,  shik  yan  chld  lat,  which  means  that  these 
ceremonial  presents  have  been  accepted  and  eaten,  and 
consequently  that  the  daughter  is  betrothed.  If  there  are 
no  presents,  there  is  no  betrothal. 

Betrothals  are  most  binding ;  and  it  would  seem  that 

87 


Things  Chinese 

on  the  woman's  side  they  cannot  be  broken  without  the 
consent  of  the  man,  accompanied  by  a  money  salve.  No 
misconduct,  however  flagrant,  on  the  side  of  the  youth  at 
least,  is  held  to  be  a  release  from  the  covenant. 

'  From  the  time  of  engagement  until  marriage,  a  young  lady  is 
required  to  maintain  the  strictest  seclusion.  Whenever  friends  call 
upon  her  parents  she  is  expected  to  retire  to  the  inner  apartments, 
and  in  all  her  actions  and  words  guard  her  conduct  with  careful 
solicitude.  She  must  use  a  close  sedan  whenever  she  visits  her 
relations,  and  in  her  intercourse  with  her  brothers  and  the  domestics 
in  the  household  maintain  great  reserve.  Instead  of  having  any 
opportunity  to  form  those  friendships  and  acquaintances  with  her  own 
sex,  which  among  ourselves  become  a  source  of  so  much  pleasure  at 
the  time,  and  advantage  in  after  life,  the  Chinese  maiden  is  confined 
to  the  circle  of  her  relations  and  her  immediate  neighbours.  She 
has  few  of  the  pleasing  remembrances  and  associations  that  are 
usually  connected  with  school-day  life,  nor  has  she  often  the  ability  or 
opportunity  to  correspond  by  letter  with  girls  of  her  own  age. 
Seclusion  at  this  time  of  life,  and  the  custom  of  crippling  the  feet, 
combine  to  confine  women  in  the  house  almost  as  much  as  the 
strictest  laws  against  their  appearing  abroad  ;  for  in  girlhood,  as 
they  know  only  a  few  persons,  except  relatives,  and  can  make  very 
few  acquaintances  after  marriage,  their  circle  of  friends  contracts 
rather  than  enlarges  as  life  goes  on.  This  privacy  impels  girls  to 
learn  as  much  of  the  world  as  they  can,  and  among  the  rich  their 
curiosity  is  gratified  through  maid-servants,  match-makers,  peddlers, 
visitors,  and  others.  Curiosity  also  stimulates  young  ladies  to  learn 
something  of  the  character  and  appearance  of  their  intended  hus- 
bands, but  the  rules  of  society  are  too  strict  for  young  persons  to 
endeavour  to  form  a  personal  attachment,  though  it  is  not  [absolutely] 
impossible  for  them  to  have  a  look  at  each  other  if  they  wish.' 

As  to  relations  with  the  betrothed,  there  are  none.  The 
two  are  as  utter  strangers  to  each  other  as  any  other  man 
or  woman,  if  not  more  so :  no  courting ;  no  moonlight 
rambles;  no  gradually  getting  better  acquainted  with  each 
other  and  thereby  getting  better  fitted  to  live  together.  It 
is  simply  a  business  transaction  in  almost  all  cases,  the 
active  parties  in  which  are  the  parents,  while  the  most 
interested  parties  are  simply  passive.  The  children  are 
supposed  never  to  meet  or  speak  to  each  other,  and  it  would 
be  unpardonably  bad  taste  were  the  parents  representing 
the  one  side  ever  to  discuss  the  subject  with  those  of  the 
other  side.  Under  these  circumstances  there  are,  of  course, 
no  engagement  rings,  nor  for  that  matter  is  a  wedding  ring 
worn  by  Chinese  ladies  when  married. 

88 


Bibliography 

What  has  been  stated  above  is  in  regard  to  the 
betrothal  of  a  chief  or  legitimate  wife.  With  concubines, 
or  secondary  wives,  it  is  quite  different.  In  their  case  a 
go-between  may  be  employed  or  not.  In  such  a  betrothal, 
all  that  generally  takes  place  in  Canton  is  for  the  woman 
to  pour  out  a  cup  of  tea  for  her  future  husband  to  drink,  and 
a  parcel  of  money,  wrapped  up,  of  course,  in  red  paper  and 
containing  two,  or  three,  or  ten  dollars  or  so,  is  placed  on  the 
tray  for  her ;  but  in  other  places  there  may  not  be  so  much 
ceremony  about  it  as  that.  The  bargain  money  may  even 
be  paid  right  into  her  own  hands,  but  this  is  only  the  case 
with  very  low  people,  as  it  is  not  thought  the  right  thing  for 
either  party  to  have  direct  dealings  with  one  another. 

In  the  Macao  district  of  country  the  course  of 
procedure  with  regard  to  concubines  is  as  follows : — A  man 
taking  a  fancy  to  a  domestic  slave  for  her  good  looks  or 
for  her  capacity  for  work,  etc.,  approaches  her  owner  on 
the  subject  through  a  go-between  or  a  mutual  friend,  who 
sees  the  master,  if  he  is  a  man,  or  the  mistress,  if  she  is 
a  woman  (for  men  and  women,  as  a  general  rule,  have 
no  dealings  together  in  China).  The  friend  may  even 
commission  his  wife,  if  she  knows  the  mistress,  to  transact 
the  business  ;  preliminary  enquiries  first  being  made,  the 
bargain  money  then  passes  through  the  hand  of  the  friend 
to  the  master  or  mistress.  Should  the  money  required  be 
$100 — then  the  bargain  money  would  be  $10.  This  is  really 
a  purchase,  though  disguised  under  the  name  of  bargain, 
or  earnest  money.  In'  the  Macao  district,  the  tea  pour- 
ing-out takes  place  occasionally,  but  is  not  a  regular 
practice. 

Book  recommended. — "NVilliams's    'Middle    Kingdom,'    vol.     ii.    pp.    785, 
786.     (See  Article  on  Marriage.) 

BIBLIOGRAPHY.— Mollendorff's  'Manual  of  Chinese 
Bibliography'  is  a  most  valuable  work  of  reference  with 
regard  to  European  books,  essays,  and  articles  on  China 
down  to  the  year  1876:  it  contains  4639  titles.  There  is 
also  the  encyclopaedic  work  of  M.  Henri  Cordier, 

89 


Things  Chinese 

'  Bibliotheca  Sinica :  Dictionnaire  Bibliographique  des 
Ouvrages  Relatifs  k  1'Empire  Chinois,'  in  two  large  volumes 
of  1396  pages,  with  supplement ;  it  is  a  perfect  storehouse 
of  information  on  books  relating  to  China.  The  China 
Review,  published  in  Hongkong  once  every  two  months, 
contained  a  list  of  books  and  magazine  articles  on  China, 
under  the  heading  of  '  Collectanea  Bibliographical  As  to 
native  works,  Wylie's  '  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature '  is 
invaluable:  it  treats  of  1/45  Chinese  books.  For  an 
account  of  the  immense  compendiums  of  former  works, 
made  by  authority  of  different  Emperors,  one  should  refer 
to  Mayers's  'Bibliography  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Collec- 
tion of  Literature,'  published  in  the  China  Review,  vol.  vi. 
pp.  223-286. 

BIRDS'  NEST  SOUP.— Birds'  nest  soup  is  even  more 
of  a  luxury  in  China,  than  turtle  soup  is  in  England.  An 
old  resident  in  China  thus  writes  of  it : — 

'  Perhaps  the  costliest  dainty  of  the  Chinese  cuisine,  and  is  as  much 
prized  by  Chinese  gourmands  as  turtle  is  in  England.  It  is  not  nasty, 
but  it  is,  to  a  European  palate,  exceedingly  insipid  ;  it  is  a  white,  soft, 
slippery  substance,  not  unlike  a  badly  made  junket,  or  flummery,  and 
the  taste  for  it  is  certainly  an  acquired  one.' 

The  nests  from  which  the  soup  is  prepared  are  not  like 
an  ordinary  nest  made  up  of  sticks  and  twigs,  hay  and 
grass,  but  are  of  a  gelatinous  substance,  secreted  by  the 
bird  itself  for  the  purpose,  or,  as  it  has  been  wittily  put,  the 
bird  makes  them  '  all  out  of  its  own  head.'  Darwin  puts  it 
in  plain  English  : — '  The  Chinese  make  soup  of  dried  saliva ' ; 
in  scientific  language,  they  are  described  as  being  produced 
from  the  '  inspissated  mucus  from  the  salivary  glands.' 

Birds'  Nests  of  this  kind  have  been  described  as  : — 

'  Externally  resembling  ill-concocted  fibrous  isinglass,  and  of  a  white 
colour,  inclining  to  red  ;  their  thickness  is  little  more  than  that  of  a 
silver  spoon,  and  their  weight  from  a  quarter  to  half  an  ounce.  When 
dry,  they  are  brittle  and  wrinkled  ;  the  size  is  rather  larger  than  a 
goose-egg  ;  the  dry,  white,  and  clean  are  the  most  valuable.' 

'  These  nests  are  constructed  in  caves  on  the  sea-shore, 
the  swiftlet,  which  makes  them,  being  a  native  of  Malaya 

90 


Birth 

and  Ceylon.  Gomanti  are  the  largest  birds'  nest  caves  in 
the  world  .  .  .  from  which  there  is  an  out-turn  of  over 
$15,000  worth  yearly."  The  nests  are  gathered  at  con- 
siderable risk,  and  the  best  quality  commands  a  high 
price,  ranging  from  three  to  thirty  dollars  a  pound,  while 
the  inferior  grades  are  mixed  more  or  less  with  twigs,  etc. 
The  Chinese  consider  it  strengthening  and  stimulating,  and 
it  forms  the  first  dish  at  all  grand  dinners.  Here  is  a 
receipt  for  preparing  Potage  mix  Nids  c? Hirondclles,  trans- 
lated from  the  Chinese  : — 

'Take  clean  white  birds'  nest  shreds,  or  birds'  nests,  and  soak 
thoroughly.  Pick  out  all  feathers.  Boil  in  soup  or  water  till  tender, 
and  of  the  colour  of  jadestone.  Place  pigeons'  eggs  below,  and  add 
some  ham  shreds  on  top.  Boil  again  slowly  with  little  fluid.  If 
required  sweet,  then  boil  in  clear  water  till  tender,  add  sugar-candy, 
and  then  eat.  This  is  a  most  clear  and  pure  article,  and  thick  (or 
oily)  substances  should  not  be  added.  It  should  be  boiled  for  a  long 
time  ;  for,  if  not  boiled  till  tender,  it  will  cause  diarrhoea.' 

BIRTH  (CUSTOMS  CONNECTED  WITH). — There  are 
quite  a  number  of  superstitions  connected  with  the  birth 
of  children.  As  an  instance  of  them  it  may  be  noted  that 
certain  coins  are  worn  by  women  before  the  event,  as  they 
are  thought  to  ensure  an  easy  delivery.  Mid  wives  are 
nearly  always  in  attendance ;  they  are  utterly  ignorant 
women,  and  sad  are  the  tales  that  many  a  foreign  doctor 
could  tell  of  the  wretched  plight  Chinese  women  have  been 
reduced  to  under  their  unskilful  treatment,  or  want  of 
treatment.  They  are  engaged  a  month  beforehand,  except 
in  very  poor  cases. 

Shortly  before  birth,  when  the  birth-pangs  come  on, 
the  mother-in-law  and  midwife  worship  all  the  household 
gods  (all  the  gods  that  may  be  in  the  house)  and  the 
ancestral  tablets,  but  there  is  no  going  to  the  Temple  or 
Ancestral  Hall  for  the  purpose.  These  acts  of  worship 
consist  in  burning  incense  before  the  objects  of  adoration, 
and  extempore  prayer  (there  being  no  form  of  prayer  for 
the  purpose)  for  a  quick  and  happy  delivery,  and  for  the 
welfare  of  child  and  mother ;  the  woman  herself  does  not 
offer  any  prayer. 

91 


Things  Chinese 

Many  people  have  a  charm  ready  procured  from  a 
temple,  and  some,  on  the  birth  of  the  child,  at  once  fasten 
it  to  the  body  or  round  the  neck,  or  a  piece  of  cypress  is  tied 
to  the  body,  either  alone  or  in  addition.  A  piece  of  raw 
ginger  is  hung  up  at  the  street  door  to  keep  off  evil  spirits 
and  strangers,  as  it  is  feared  the  advent  of  the  latter  may 
cause  the  death  of  the  child,  the  supposition  being  that  the 
stranger's  birthday  will,  or  may,  clash  with  that  of  the  child  ; 
and  it  is  for  the  same  reason  that  the  characters  which  repre- 
sent the  hour  and  date  of  birth  of  bride  and  bridegroom  are 
handed  to  a  fortune-teller,  so  that  he  may  find  out  whether 
they  do  or  not.  If  they  do,  the  bride  or  bridegroom  might 
die.  To  return  to  the  new-born  infant — a  piece  of  fern  (or 
cyclas  revoluta,  we  think)  is  hung  up  by  a  red  cord,  in  order 
to  avert  evil  consequences  and  keep  off  bad  spirits.  This 
is  also  suspended  at  the  street  door  on  other  occasions  as 
well,  but  the  use  of  the  ginger,  we  have  mentioned  already, 
is  confined  to  the  birth  of  a  child. 

One  of  our  informants  tells  us  that,  from  his  experience, 
the  new-born  infant  is  washed  with  warm  water  at  once 
(whether  this  is  due  to  foreign  influence  or  not  we  cannot 
say),  while  from  other  sources  we  learn  that  such  an  idea  is 
scouted.  No  dainty  little  baby  garments  are  ready  for  the 
stranger,  worked  with  the  expectant  love  of  the  mother,  or 
given  by  friends  in  anticipation  of  the  interesting  event, 
but  his  tender  little  limbs  and  body  are  wrapped  up  in 
swaddling  bands,  which  consist  of  old  warm  clothes  both  of 
men  and  women — a  little  bundle  of  old  clothes,  awkward 
and  ungainly  for  the  tiny  mite  inside  it.  After  this,  the 
new-born  babe  may  probably  not  be  washed  again 
thoroughly  (if  he  has  ever  yet  been  subjected  to  such  an 
operation)  for  the  first  month,  for  fear  the  child  should  get 
cold  ;  he,  or  she,  may  be  wiped  over  with  a  cloth  ;  but  after 
that  time,  the  luxury  of  an  occasional  wash,  such  as  it  is, 
may  be  indulged  in.  A  special  kind  of  fine  little  cake, 
sweet  and  delicate  in  taste,  is  sometimes  the  only  food  the 
little  stranger  is  regaled  with  for  the  first  few  days.  For 
the  first  month,  the  mother  must  have  ginger  and  vinegar 

92 


Birth 

with  everything  she  takes.  She  eschews  her  ordinary  food 
— chicken  boiled  with  ginger  and  vinegar,  or  (if  too  poor  to 
afford  the  fowl,  cheap  enough  though  it  be  in  China),  ducks' 
eggs  boiled  with  the  same  condiments,  and  pig's  feet  boiled 
with  the  same  articles  form  her  diet :  and  these  she  eats 
twice  or  thrice  a  day.  Such  a  dietary  is  considered  to  be 
tonic,  and  after  the  month  is  up,  she  returns  to  her  ordinary 
food. 

And  now  comes  a  most  important  event — the  shaving 
of  the  child's  head.  A  lucky  day  is  selected  for  it.  It 
must  not  be  after  the  thirtieth  day,  but  it  may  be  before  or 
on  the  day  itself,  i.e.,  the  shaving  takes  place  on  the 
completion  of  the  month  (the  month,  of  course,  has  some- 
times 29  days  and  sometimes  30  days)  if  that  should  prove 
to  be  a  lucky  day  ;  if  not,  an  earlier  day  is  selected,  never  a 
later  one.  After  the  shaving  is  over  (on  the  same  day— 
never  before  the  operation),  the  ancestors  first  are 
worshipped  and  then  the  household  gods,  thanks  being 
offered  to  them  for  the  addition  to  the  family,  and  prayers 
for  the  prolongation  of  the  life  newly  bestowed.  Either 
the  Temple  or  Ancestral  Hall,  or  both,  are  often  also 
visited  for  the  same  purpose  by  those  who  are  making  a 
great  fuss  over  the  event.  Offerings  are,  of  course,  made. 
The  mother-in-law,  or  some  relative,  goes  to  perform  these 
religious  acts,  and  not  the  father  or  mother :  it  is  very 
rarely,  if  ever,  that  the  mother  goes  on  these  occasions. 
The  child,  however,  dressed  in  its  best,  is  carried  in  the  arms 
when  this  worship  takes  place.  On  the  first  occasion  when 
a  child  is  shaved,  which  necessary  operation  from  a  Chinese 
standpoint  takes  place,  as  we  have  already  seen,  when  the 
baby  is  either  a  month  or  nearly  a  month  old,  eggs,  dyed 
red,  are  sent  round  to  relatives,  friends  and  acquaintances. 
The  number  to  be  sent  is  not  fixed  by  custom,  nor  is  it 
necessary  for  any  written  communication  to  accompany 
them  ;  a  verbal  message  that  they  are  from  so-and-so  is 
sufficient.  The  recipients  are  expected  to  give  a  present  to 
the  child  on  its  being  a  month  old,  when  a  feast  is  held,  to 
which  they  are  invited.  These  red  eggs  are  sent,  in  the 

93 


Things  Chinese 

South  of  China,  irrespective  of  the  sex ;  whether  a 
distinction  exists  in  the  North  and  only  a  boy  is  entitled  to 
them,  and  of  the  boys  of  a  family,  only  the  first  born,  we 
are  unable  to  say  ;  but  Prof.  Giles  in  his  '  Chinese  Sketches,' 
p.  1 59,  states  that  such  is  the  case  amongst  the  Chinese. 
The  custom  amongst  the  Cantonese  is  as  stated  above ;  so 
that  it  is  possible  Prof.  Giles's  remarks  simply  refer  to  the 
North,  since  customs  differ  so  widely  in  China. 

The  Chinese  have  almost  as  great  a  love  for  dinners  as 
the  English,  and  it  is  only  natural  that  a  feast  should  take 
place  when  the  child  is  a  month  old,  called  kong  ts'b,  ginger 
and  vinegar.  Cards  of  invitation  are  issued  to  this  kong 
chok,  or  ginger  dinner,  to  which  the  guests  are  both  friends 
and  relatives.  Unless  the  family  is  poor,  the  male  friends 
go  to  a  restaurant  for  their  feast ;  if  poor,  and  there  are  only 
two  or  three  relatives,  it  may  be  given  in  the  house.  The 
women's  repast,  on  the  other  hand,  is  spread  in  the 
house. 

If,  however,  there  are  many  friends  and  relatives,  two 
feasts  are  held  :  the  first  is  for  the  relatives,  and  is  at  the 
house,  even  if  they  are  males  ;  the  second  is  for  friends,  and 
is  at  a  restaurant.  In  such  cases  the  relatives  are  invited  on 
the  day  of  the  shaving,  even  if  it  takes  place  before  the 
month  is  up  ;  the  invitations  are  sent  out  the  day  before,  or 
to  those  at  a  distance,  earlier  ;  and  the  friends  also,  whether 
invited  at  the  same,  or  another  time,  may  also  be  asked 
as  well  before  the  month  is  up.  The  feast  may  be  held  at 
another  time  than  the  shaving  date,  either  for  relatives,  or 
friends,  or  both  ;  the  chief  thing  seems  to  be  to  celebrate 
the  event  by  a  feast.  Two  dishes  are  on  the  tables :  the 
one  containing  the  pickled  ginger  which  gives  the  name 
to  the  entertainment,  and  the  other  red  eggs  dyed  \\ii\\ytn 
cht,  Chinese  rouge,  or  with  foreign  dye-stuffs.  The  invited 
guests  make  presents  of  gold  and  silver  jewellery,  or 
articles  of  clothing,  to  the  infant,  accompanied  with  lai-shi 
(cash  or  silver  folded  within  red  paper) ;  the  latter  is  given 
if  nothing  else  is,  more  presents,  of  course,  being  given  to  a 
boy  than  to  a  girl. 

94 


Birthdays 

The  swaddling  bands  being  discarded,  the  little  mani- 
kin (or  the  '  little  wifie '  to  a  lesser  extent)  comes  out 
gorgeous  in  scarlet  and  red — bright  with  colours  ;  amulets 
and  charms  adorn  him  and  safeguard  him  from  evil  spirits 
and  demons  :  a  tiny  mirror  flashes,  perchance,  from  the 
front  of  his  forehead,  to  dismay  the  ugly  devils  by  a  sight 
of  their  hideousness  ;  a  row  of  gilt  deities  benignly  encircle 
his  brow,  to  guard  him  ;  silver  locks  and  chains  bind  him, 
so  that  no  harm  may  befall  him  :  many  and  wonderful  are 
the  means  used  to  protect  him  by  such  and  other 
mysterious  and  occult  expedients  and  devices  from  all 
injury,  while  common-sense  rules  of  health  and  cleanliness 
are  unknown  and  ignored.  The  tribute  paid  by  childhood, 
from  the  very  moment  of  birth  and  onwards,  to  the 
insanitary  conditions  that  surround  it  must  be  enormous, 
not  only  in  the  immediate  sacrifice  of  life,  but  in  the  way 
of  sowing  seeds  of  future  disease  and  weakness.  It  is 
wonderful  that  so  many  children  escape  with  a  fair  amount 
of  health  to  carry  on  the  increasing  round  of  human  life 
and  toil  in  this  populous  land  of  China.  Out  of  every  1000 
Chinese  children  born  in  Hongkong  only  72  live  beyond 
twelve  months  or  so. 

BIRTHDAYS.— As  a  general  rule  it  may  be  said  that 
the  principle  of  topsy-turvydom  comes  into  play  in  the 
difference  in  observing  birthdays  in  China  and  England  : 
here  in  China  the  '  grown-up's  '  birthdays  are  kept  and  the 
child's  almost  entirely  ignored,  while  with  us,  in  our  own 
lands,  the  contrary  is  more  commonly  the  case.  A 
mother,  however,  in  the  Shun  Tak  district  of  the  Canton 
Province  will  give  a  steamed  fresh  fowl's,  or  a  fresh  or 
salt  duck's,  egg  to  her  child  on  its  birthday,  to  eat,  the 
idea  being  that  as  the  yolk  of  these  eggs  is  what  the 
Chinese  call  red,  in  their  loose  way  of  designating  colours 
in  their  common  speech,  so  the  child's  heart  may  be  red 
or  sum  hoong,  as  it  is  termed  ;  and  this  is  equivalent  to  the 
phrase  fat  fun,  which  means  zealous,  or  enthusiastic,  or 
diligent.  Some  parents,  and  sometimes  others  as  well,  in 

95 


Things  Chinese 

the  same  district  will  give  a  present  of  new  clothes  or  toys, 
etc.,  on  a  birthday. 

But  the  great  day  in  a  child's  life  is  when  it  is  a  month 
old.  The  first  anniversary  of  the  birthday  is  kept  also  in 
Canton,  and  presents  are  also  given  by  the  parents,  and 
sometimes  by  friends.  These  presents,  however,  only 
consist  of  eatables ;  though,  at  times,  different  articles  are 
placed  before  the  child  on  that  day,  such  as  books 
and  pens,  an  abacus,  or  different  tools,  and  what  the  child 
picks  up  shows,  it  is  believed,  that  in  after  life  he  will 
follow  the  profession,  calling,  or  trade  which  uses  the 
articles  selected. 

No  notice  is  taken  of  the  birthday  when  a  youth  or 
maiden  attains  his  or  her  full  age,  shing  ting,  as  it  is  called, 
which  is  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen  in  China.  Few  males 
marry  before  this  age,  but  girls  often  marry  earlier,  even 
at  fourteen,  which  is  really  thirteen  according  to  our 
mode  of  reckoning.  The  Chinese  generally  reckon  by  the 
years,  or  parts  of  years,  in  which  anyone  has  lived  :  thus 
a  child  born  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  is  two  years  old 
on  the  next  day ;  and  as  each  New  Year  arrives,  all  the 
inhabitants  of  this  populous  empire  add  a  year  to  their 
lives.  We  might  therefore  almost  say  that  New  Year's 
Day  serves  as  a  birthday  to  all  the  400,000,000  people  of 
China,  and  consequently  it  is  not  worth  keeping.  If  one 
desires  to  know  accurately  the  exact  age  of  any  Chinese, 
it  is  necessary  to  enquire  the  year,  month,  and  day  in 
which  he  was  born. 

After  a  man  is  married,  his  birthday  assumes  more 
importance,  and  his  father-in-law  or  mother-in-law  send 
him  presents  of  eatables  or  clothing ;  whether  his  own 
father  or  mother  do  so  or  not  is  left  to  their  own  fancy. 

With  the  Chinese  it  is  not  considered  the  proper  thing 
for  those  nearly  related  to  make  presents ;  the  utmost 
extent  to  which  it  is  thought  well  to  go  in  this  respect  is  to 
say,  for  example,  to  a  near  relative,  '  Do  you  like  this?  If 
you  do,  I'll  give  it  to  you.'  There  is  a  saying,  Chee-ts'un 
mb  inun,  i.e.,  '  There  is  no  ceremony  between  those  most 

96 


Birthdays 

nearly  related.'     The  presentation  of  gifts  partakes  accord- 
ing to  their  ideas  of  the  ceremonious. 

All  the  sons  and  daughters  have  to  prostrate  them- 
selves on  the  ground  (the  kowtow}  before  their  parents  on 
their  birthdays,  and  this  is  universally  done,  except  perhaps 
by  the  very  lowest  dregs  of  society.  This  is  the  practice 
on  New  Year's  Day  as  well.  On  the  birthdays  it  is  called 
pie  show;  and  on  these  birthdays,  in  the  Shun  Tak  district, 
it  is  the  custom  of  the  children  to  put  their  cash  together 
and  buy  sweatmeats,  such  as  sugared  kam-kwats,  dried 
sweet  persimmons,  sugared  citrons,  etc.  etc.,  boil  them  in 
water,  and  present  this  water  to  the  parents  to  drink. 
Sometimes  clothes,  etc.,  are  given  ;  but  this  latter  is  not  a 
fixed  custom — custom  is  inexorable  in  China. 

When  grown-up,  the  children  give  a  wine-party  to  their 
parents  on  their  birthdays,  inviting  relatives  on  both  sides 
of  the  family  to  it.  Fowls  and  vegetables  are  cooked — in 
fact,  a  feast  is  prepared. 

The  birthdays  when  a  man  attains  the  age  of  21,  31, 
and  so  on  to  91,  are  considered  of  more  importance  than 
the  others.  This  is  owing  to  a  man's  life  being  dominated 
by  the  mysterious  and  mystical  yong  principle,  by  which 
the  first  years  in  the  decades  are  considered  as  of  importance 
as  entering  on  the  first  of  the  new  decade.  This  prevails 
throughout  China.  With  women,  though,  in  other  parts  of 
China  it  is  the  same,  and  in  the  Kwongtung  province  this 
is  also  the  case  to  a  great  extent ;  yet  others  have  a  local 
custom  of  keeping  the  even  tens  of  their  ages  as  important 
birthdays,  such  as  20,  30,  and  so  on.  This  is  on  account  of 
the  equally  mysterious  and  mystic  yum  principle,  pertain- 
ing to  women,  inclining  to  these  even  years.  The  principle 
of  these  two,  t\\e  yum  andyong,  pertaining  to  the  even  and 
the  odd,  is  laid  down  in  that  abstruse  classic,  the  Yik  King, 
or  Book  of  Changes. 

It  will  be  noticed  from  the  above  that  the  first  thing 
the  Chinese  give  on  birthdays  is  food,  the  second  in 
importance  is  clothing. 

The  birthdays  of  many  gods  are  kept,  and  are  called 

97  G 


Things  Chinese 

tahn.  The  idols  are  worshipped  by  their  votaries  on 
these  anniversaries,  either  in  the  people's  own  houses  or 
in  the  temples  of  the  gods,  and  offerings  of  food,  etc., 
are  presented  to  them.  The  worshippers  say  the  spirits 
thus  worshipped  take  the  spiritual  portion  or  ethereal 
essence  of  the  eatables,  and  they,  the  worshippers,  then 
feast  on  the  remains,  which  to  human  eye  and  taste  are 
in  precisely  the  same  condition  as  they  were  before 
being  offered.  All  the  absurdities  this  gives  rise  to  are 
clearly  perceived  by  the  Chinese,  who  say  p'ung  shun  loh 
shik,  which  means  using  the  excuse  of  worshipping  the 
gods  to  get  food  for  themselves.  There  is  another 
similar  saying,  sow  ching  ng  tsong  meeoo,  which  refers 
to  subscriptions  being  obtained  to  repair  temples  and 
then  the  money  being  diverted  to  the  bellies  of  those 
who  have  collected  it.  One  could  almost  fancy  these 
swindlers  saying  that  the  spiritual  essences  of  the  silver 
satisfied  the  gods,  while  they  took,  like  those  who  offered 
food,  the  substantial  portion  themselves. 

BOATS. — Leaves  floating  on  the  water  first  suggested 
the  idea  of  boats  to  the  Chinese,  so  some  native  writers 
inform  us  ;  other  accounts  ascribe  their  origin  to  the 
sight  of  drift-wood,  or  to  a  natural  development  from 
the  more  primitive  raft.  Whether  or  not  fallen  leaves — 
'  the  leaves  of  the  forest  when  autumn  hath  blown  ' — were 
the  first  hints  of  future  possibilities,  the  boats  of  China 
might  almost  be  compared  to  the  leaves  of  the  forest 
in  number,  and  their  varieties  are  about  as  great  as  that 
of  the  foliage  of  China.  Boats  large  and  small,  boats  long 
and  short,  boats  broad  and  narrow,  boats  for  hawkers,  boats 
for  fishing,  boats  for  pleasure — boats  ready  for  any  and 
everything ;  boats  for  smuggling,  boats  for  pirates,  boats 
for  honest  tradesmen,  boats  for  lepers,  boats  for  beggars, 
boats  for  everyone ;  boats  for  passage,  for  ferries,  for 
bridges,  for  marriages,  for  feastings,  for  theatres,  or  rather 
for  theatrical  troupes  and  their  properties.  Is  there 
anything  that  boats  are  not  provided  for  in  China? 

98 


Boats 

It  has  been  said  there  are  more  boats,  in  China  than  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  world  put  together.  The  extensive  sea- 
board, and  the  innumerable  rivers  and  streams  are  a 
sufficient  reason  for  this  multiplicity  of  craft  of  one  kind 
or  another. 

If  we  credit  what  the  natives  themselves  say,  boats  were 
first  built  in  the  third  century  before  the  Christian  era. 

'One  account  ascribes  the  invention  to  Ho  Sfn  Kwii,  a  pious 
woman,  who  became  one  of  the  eight  Taoist  genii.  Her  first 
craft  was  a  mere  raft,  without  means  of  propulsion.  But  one  day 
when  she  was  washing  clothes  in  the  river,  she  took  a  hint  from 
a  fish  that  was  rowing  with  its  fins  and  steering  with  its  tail,  and 
she  then  put  oars  and  a  rudder  upon  her  boat.' 

In  mediaeval  times  the  Chinese  not  only  held  their  own, 
but  took  the  lead  in  adventurous  voyages  to  distant  shores 
(See  Article  on  Chinese  Abroad),  which  awaken  the 
surprise  and  admiration  of  those  who  have  investigated 
the  subject  ;  but  gradually  these  voyages  have  been 
discontinued ;  and  even  in  modern  times,  within  the 
memory  of  the  author,  they  have  shrunk  into  short 
passages  between  different  seaports  on  the  coast  of  China 
and  closely  adjacent  countries,  the  voyages  in  native 
craft  to  the  Straits  Settlements  and  neighbouring  lands 
and  islands  being  but  few,  while  the  long  trips  to  India, 
and  other  distant  lands,  in  the  large  old  junks  carrying 
from  three  to  ten  and  twelve  sails  (the  present  sea- 
going junks  seldom  have  more  than  three  or  four  sails) 
and  a  crew  of  250  or  more  men,  mentioned  by  the 
mediaeval  travellers,  Friar  Jordanus,  Ibn  Batuta,  and 
Marco  Polo,  are  now  entirely  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  old  must  die  out  before  the  new,  and  the  modern 
steamship  is  running,  in  fact  has  run,  the  heavy  lumbering 
junk  off  many  of  its  old  established  sea-routes  ;  even  a 
commencement  has  been  made  in  inland  waters  in  the  same 
direction,  and  eventually  the  picturesque  clumsy  old  craft 
is  bound  to  disappear  in  the  world's  march  of  progress, 
which  even  now  influences  distant  Cathay.  Notwith- 
standing their  uncouth  shape  and  clumsy-looking  sails, 
they  undoubtedly  are  picturesque  objects,  and  look  as 

99 


Things  Chinese 

if  they  had  been,  commenced  in  some  antediluvian  age 
and  never  finished  off.  Their  bizarre  hulls,  high  sterns 
further  augmented  by  the  gingerbread  work,  the  divergent 
rake  of  their  masts,  their  large  nut-brown  matting  sails, 
topped  sometimes  with  a  gay  red  pennant,  all  lend  a 
distinct  charm  and  piquant  flavour  of  their  own  to  the 
junk,  and  make  it  a  sui  generis  not  to  be  found  anywhere 
else  in  the  wide  world.  They  offer  very  effective  objects 
for  the  painter's  brush  :  whether  as  brown  sails  speckled  on 
the  sun-lit  sea  ;  or  whether  the  diverse  style  of  their  build 
with  their  queer-shaped  hulls  are  more  carefully  studied  ; 
or  whether,  all  tattered  and  torn,  the  ragged  sail  of  the 
weather-beaten  craft  on  its  return  voyage  suggests  a 
conflict  with  stormy  winds,  while  a  more  forlorn  appearance 
still  is  apparent  when,  dismantled,  they  are  undergoing 
repairs,  or  when  heeled  over  on  the  sand  for  breaming, 
or  when  cast  high  and  dry  on  the  beach,  or  stranded  on 
the  rocks,  with  their  bare  poles  of  masts  and  gaping  sterns, 
out  of  which  stick  their  queer-shaped  enormous  rudders. 
Still  more  picturesque  is  the  sight  of  a  squadron  of  war- 
junks,  with  brightly  painted  hulls  and  many-coloured 
banners,  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  and  streaming  pennants 
like  the  old  mediaeval  galleys  of  Europe,  lying  ready  to 
start  on  an  expedition  to  subdue  the  rebellious  subjects  of 
His  Imperial  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  China. 

A  book,  nay  scores  of  books,  might  be  written  on  the 
many-featured  sides  of  life  to  be  found  on  boats  in  China  : 
their  history  from  earliest  times  to  the  present ;  their  shapes 
and  sizes  and  builds  and  rigs,  from  the  curious  Hakka  boats, 
with  their  nine  or  a  dozen  sails  spread  fan-like  on  an 
improvised  framework  of  bamboo  poles,  down  to  the 
tiny  fisher's  canoe. 

What  interesting  chapters  could  be  indited  anent 
thousands  and  millions  of  human  beings,  whose  whole 
lives  are  spent  on  the  rivers  and  canals  which  flow  past, 
or  cut  through,  so  many  Chinese  cities — inhabiting  dwell- 
ings without  foundations  (and  for  which  the  occupants 
pay  no  ground-rent),  as  the  flowing  stream  supports  them 

joo 


Boats 

in  more  senses  than  one ;  the  strange  and  varied  ex- 
periences to  be  found  in  travelling  by  boat  will  still  afford 
material  for  many  a  volume  of  novel  adventure  in  the 
future  as  they  have  in  the  past ;  the  origin  of  some  of 
the  boat  populations,  their  curious  customs,  habits  and 
superstitions — these  all  have  been  but  lightly  touched 
upon  as  yet,  and  present  an  interesting  field  to  be  worked 
by  the  ethnologist,  the  comparative  mythologist,  and  the 
lover  of  folklore. 

The  following  extracts  from  consular  reports,  by  Mr. 
Byron  Brennan,  are  interesting  as  showing  how  an  attempt 
has  been  made  to  copy  the  paddle-wheel  in  one  species 
of  boat  in  Canton,  and  how  steam-launches  are  making 
their  way  into  use  : — 

'The  evolution  of  the  Chinese  passenger-boat  is  proceeding 
cautiously.  Twenty  years  ago  sails  and  sweeps  were  the  powers 
used  ;  then  came  stern-wheel  boats  worked  by  manpower,  these  are 
still  extensively  used.  The  next  stage  was  a  towboat  lashed  along- 
side a  passenger-boat,  and  the  next,  it  may  be  hoped,  will  be  the 
amalgamation  of  the  tug  and  the  tow. 

'The  stern-wheel  passenger-boats  are  a  striking  feature  on  the 
busy  river  at  Canton.  They  are  long,  low,  box-looking  craft,  the 
largest  being  of  about  100  tons  measurement.  The  inside  of  the  box 
is  divided  into  compartments  into  which  the  passengers  lie  down  or 
squat,  for  there  is  not  head  room.  The  roof  is  flat,  and  on  this  sit 
a  crowd  of  passengers  sheltered  from  the  weather  by  stiff  bamboo 
mats.  At  the  stern  is  the  compartment  where  the  men  work.  The 
largest  kind  of  boat  has  twenty-four  men.  The  machinery  on  a  large 
boat  consists  of  four  shafts  laid  across  the  boat  at  a  distance  of  3 
feet  from  each  other.  At  each  of  these  shafts  six  men  work  a  sort  of 
tread-mill  ;  they  hold  on  to  a  cross-bar  above  with  their  hands,  while 
their  feet  work  the  three  wooden  pedals  which  are  fixed  on  three  iron 
arms  radiating  from  the  centre  ;  there  is  thus  an  angle  of  120  degrees 
between  two  pedals.  The  pedals  along  the  shafts  are  so  dispersed 
that  the  six  men  do  not  keep  step.  As  No.  i  puts  his  foot  on  one 
pedal,  No.  2  is  already  half-way  through  his  step,  and  so  on.  These 
series  of  tread-mills  are  connected  with  the  stern  paddle-wheel  by 
means  of  cranks,  so  that  one  revolution  of  the  tread-mill  makes  one 
revolution  of  the  stern-wheel.  The  stern-wheel  is  8  feet  in  diameter 
and  has  8  floats,  and  when  the  men  are  working  easy  it  makes  16  to 
1 8  revolutions  a  minute,  and  the  speed  attained  is  3-;  miles  to  4  miles 
an  hour.  On  a  long  journey  the  men  rest  in  turn,  three  working  to 
one  resting,  and  in  this  way  the  boat  is  kept  going  during  the  whole 
of  the  day. 

'The  number  of  native-owned  steam-launches  running  between 
Canton  and  the  numerous  towns  of  the  Delta  is  constantly  increasing. 
Besides  their  use  by  officials,  and  in  the  customs,  likin,  and  salt 

IOI 


Things  Chinese 

preventive  services,  they  are  constantly  employed  to  tow  passenger- 
boats  ;  but,  in  this  case,  only  to  and  from  fixed  stations.  The 
launches  engaged  in  towing  are  taxed,  and  ply  under  severe  pains 
and  penalties.  However,  since  the  opening  of  the  West  River  in 
1897,  steam  traffic  on  the  Canton  waterways  has  been  placed  under 
the  control  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs.' 

At  Swatow  and  other  places  in  China,  such  as  between 
Soochow,  Hangchow,  and  Shanghai,  steam-launches  are 
plying  as  passenger-boats,  and  it  is  hoped  that,  as  time 
goes  on,  they  will  be  increased,  as  notwithstanding  the 
multiplicity  of  boats  and  the  magnificent  rivers  in  many 
parts,  intercommunication  is  slow.  The  use  of  the  steam- 
launch  has  increased  very  much  ;  they  are  to  be  found 
on  the  Poyang  Lake  and  in  other  parts  of  Central  China, 
and  there  is  scarcely  now  a  navigable  stream  in  connection 
with  the  Canton  River,  at  all  events  in  the  Delta,  which 
is  not  traversed  daily  by  steam-boats.  '  For  every  ten 
persons  who  travelled  ten  years  ago  there  are  a  hundred 
to-day'  (1901). 

There  are  three  Chinese  companies  running  large 
launches  between  Hankow  and  Changsha,  which  carry 
passengers  and  tow  other  boats. 

There  are  eighteen  launches  running  from  Amoy  inland 
to  distances  of  sixty  miles,  twenty-six,  thirteen,  and  ten, 
carrying  in  1900  some  600,000  passengers,  an  increase  of 
10%  on  1899,  though  the  fares  had  been  doubled. 

The  traffic  represented  by  steam-launches  at  Wuchow, 
under  the  Chinese  flag,  amounted  in  tons  to  24,138  in 
1900.  At  Samshui,  launches  have  increased  in  numbers 
in  1900. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Canton,  steam-launches  made 
132,972  trips  in  inland  waters  in  1900,  'or  a  daily  average 
of  about  as  many  trips  as  there  are  days  in  the  year." 

BOOKS  ON  CHINA.— The  books  written  on  China  are 
numerous,  and  are  constantly  being  added  to  (See  Article 
on  Bibliography).  Nearly  every  one  who  has  taken  any 
interest  in  the  country  or  people  has  written  about  one  or 
both  ;  more  especially  is  this  the  case  lately,  as  the  siege  of 

102 


Books  on  China 

the  legations  in  Peking  and  the  last  operations  in  the 
North  seem  to  have  awakened  interest  in  China  in  an  un- 
precedented manner.  Missionaries,  merchants,  military 
and  naval  men,  scholars,  professors,  teachers,  interpreters, 
consuls  and  vice-consuls,  ambassadors  and  diplomats, 
statesmen,  travellers  and  globe-trotters,  the  literary  man, 
reviewers,  novelists  and  poets,  as  well  as  the  Chinese  them- 
selves, have  all  contributed  their  quota  to  instruct  Europe 
and  America  as  to  things  Chinese;  and  the  views  presented 
from  such  varied  standpoints  are  naturally  diverse.  The 
books  produced  range  through  all  branches  of  the  subject : 
the  languages  and  peoples,  the  history,  geography,  natural 
history,  government,  customs  and  manners,  books,  arts  and 
industries,  religions,  politics  and  commerce — all  come  in 
for  their  full  share  of  attention. 

We  do  not  propose  to  give  a  complete  list  of  the  best 
books  on  China,  but  the  perusal  or  study  of  the  following 
ten  will  give  a  very  good  idea  of  this  interesting  people  : — 

(i.)  William's  '  Middle  Kingdom.' — To  those  who  wish 
to  get  a  general  idea  of  the  Empire,  and  all  that  concerns 
it  and  its  people,  there  is  not  a  better  book.  It  is  a  perfect 
repository  of  information  for  the  general  reader,  and  the 
last  edition,  which  has  been  brought  up  to  date,  will  doubt- 
less maintain  its  position  as  a  text-book  on  the  subject  for 
many  years  to  come. 

(2.)  Archdeacon  Gray's  '  China.' — A  book  in  two 
volumes,  profusely  illustrated  by  Chinese  drawings  and 
giving  much  information,  not  in  the  style  of  a  text-book, 
but  in  the  form  of  a  personal  narrative  of  what  the  author 
himself  saw  during  his  long  residence  in  China. 

(3.)  '  Historic  China,  and  other  Sketches,'  by  Professor 
Giles  of  Cambridge. — An  octavo  volume  of  400  pages, 
containing  short  sketches  of  the  different  historical  periods, 
and  essays,  all  written  in  a  light  and  pleasant  sytle,  and 
containing  much  information. 

(4.)  Doolittle's  '  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese.' — A  book 
full  of  all  the  curious  superstitions,  strange  ceremonies, 

103 


Things  Chinese 

and  customs  of  the  Chinese,  more  particularly  those  per- 
taining to  Foochow. 

(5.)  '  Ling-nam,'  by  Rev.  B.  C.  Henry,  M.A.,  D.D.— A 
pleasant,  brightly-written  book  of  travels  in  the  Canton 
province,  with  descriptions  of  its  beautiful  scenery,  fine 
rivers,  and  thickly  populated  districts. 

(6.)  Miss  Gordon  Cumming's  '  Wanderings  in  China,'  is 
light,  pleasant  reading,  and  gives  the  general  reader  a 
good  idea  of  the  coast  ports. 

(7.)  'Journeys  in  North  China,'  by  the  late  Dr. 
Williamson,  contains  an  immense  amount  of  reliable  in- 
formation, principally  about  that  portion  of  China. 

(8.)  Professor  Douglas's  '  Society  in  China '  is  even 
better  than  his  former  work, '  China,'  which  we  recommended 
in  a  former  edition  as  being  well  fitted  to  give  a  good 
general  idea  of  China  and  its  people,  within  compact 
limits. 

(9.)  'Journals  of  the  North  China  Branch  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society.'  (See  Article  on  Asiatic  Society.) 

(10.)  Professor  Legge's  'Chinese  Classics '  contain  the 
Bible  of  the  Chinese  nation,  which  every  school-boy  is 
taught  to  learn  by  heart,  and  on  which  the  government  of 
the  whole  empire  and  the  fabric  of  Chinese  society  is 
based. 

The  above  books  might  be  increased  to  ten  times  ten 
easily  enough  ;  nor,  by  placing  these  first,  do  we  intend  to 
imply  that  many  of  the  others  would  not  equally  claim  to 
be  mentioned  with  them.  With  such  an  embarras  de 
richesses  it  is  difficult  to  know  where  to  begin.  Of  books  of 
travel,  we  may  instance  '  Old  Highways  in  China,'  by  Mrs. 
Williamson,  as  a  light  and  readable  book,  containing  a 
good  deal  about  the  women  and  children.  Another  book 
interesting  to  young  people  is  '  Children  in  Blue  and  What 
They  Do,'  by  Florence  I.  Codrington.  '  The  Real 
Chinaman,'  by  C.  Halcombe,  is  a  very  readable  book. 
To  those  who  want  to  know  the  why  and  wherefore  of 

104 


Books  on  China 

things  Chinese,  there  is  Professor  Giles's  'Glossary  of 
Reference.'  '  Among  the  Mongols,'  by  the  Rev.  J.  Gilmour, 
M.A.,  gives  a  true  picture  of  these  nomads. 

Quite  a  literature  is  springing  up  on  Western  China  ; 
Mrs.  Bryson's  '  Child  Life  in  China '  treats  of  Hankow  and 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Yang-tsz,  so  does  Rev.  W.  A. 
Cornaby's  '  A  String  of  Chinese  Peach  Stones,'  in  the  way 
of  tales  and  folklore,  finally  ending  in  a  story  of  the 
Rebellion  of  Rebellions  in  modern  times  in  China,  the 
great  T'ai  P'ing  Rebellion  ;  E.  Colborne  Baber's  '  Travels 
and  Researches  in  Western  China,'  published  as  a  supple- 
mental paper  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  vol.  i.  pt. 
i.,  1882;  Hosie's  '  Travels  in  Western  China,' and  Rev.  V. 
Hart's  'Western  China' — these  are  all  most  interesting 
books  and  well  worthy  of  perusal.  In  this  connection  there 
is  also  Mr.  Little's  '  Yang-tsz  Gorges '  and  his  more  recent 
work, '  Mount  Omi  and  Beyond:  A  Record  of  Travel  on  the 
Thibetan  Border.'  Mrs.  Little's  '  Intimate  China  :  Chinese 
as  I  Have  Seen  Them '  should  also  be  mentioned,  and  one 
of  her  latest,  '  The  Land  of  the  Blue  Gown.' 

Still  treating  of  particular  parts  of  China  is  Baron 
Richthofen's  splendid  work,  which  deals  with  the  northern 
part  of  the  empire,  and  contains  much  valuable  informa- 
tion by  a  traveller  '  of  great  scientific  ability,'  whose  ex- 
plorations have  been  described  as  '  at  once  the  most 
extensive  and  the  most  scientific  of  our  age.'  It  is  written 
in  German. 

Peking  is  treated  of  in  '  Peking,  Histoire  et  Description 
avec  524  Gravures  anciennes  et  nouvelles,  reproduites  on 
execute's  par  des  Artistes  chinois  d'apres  les  plus  precieux 
documents,'  by  A.  Favier. 

Concerning  Canton,  one  may  read  Archdeacon  Gray's 
'  Walks  in  the  City  of  Canton,'  which,  besides  giving  much 
information,  is  also  useful  as  a  guide-book.  Mention  should 
also  be  made  of  the  Rev.  Hilderic  Friend's  '  The  Willow 
Pattern,'  written  by  one  who  lived  amongst  the  people,  and 
took  the  greatest  interest  in  all  their  habits  and  customs  ; 
it  is  consequently  a  very  truthful  picture  of  Chinese  life,  told 
in  the  guise  of  a  tale. 

105 


Things  Chinese 

Macao  has  been  treated  of  in  a  book,  now  rare  and  out 
of  print,  viz  : — Sir  Andrew  Lungstedt's  '  Macao  and  China,' 
over  the  production  of  which  the  author  spent  much  labour 
and  research.  There  is  also  a  German  book  lately  published 
on  this  interesting  old  European  settlement  in  the  Far  East , 
viz., '  Macao:  Der  Erste  Stiatzpunkt  Europaischen  Handels 
in  China,'  by  Max  Kutschera. 

Swatow  customs,  people,  and  folk-lore,  are  treated  of  in 
a  trio  of  books  by  Miss  Fielde,  entitled  '  Pagoda  Shadows,' 
'  A  Corner  of  Cathay,'  and  '  Chinese  Nights'  Entertainment.' 

Archdeacon  Moule's  '  New  China  and  Old,'  has  some- 
thing to  say  of  Ningpo,  Hangchow,  and  Shanghai ;  besides 
treating  of  Chinese  subjects  in  general. 

Besides  numerous  magazine  articles,  the  large  island  of 
Hainan  has  been  admirably  treated  in  a  new  book 
in  French,  '  L'Empire  de  Chine.  Hai'-nan  et  la  c6te  conti- 
nentale  voisine,'  by  C.  Madrole.  Here  may  be  mentioned  a 
recent  work,  styled  '  European  Settlements  in  the  Far 
East,'  which  not  only  deals  with  all  the  Treaty  Ports  in 
China,  but  of  the  similar  spots  in  the  adjacent  countries  as 
well.  A  few  books  deal  with  separate  provinces,  such  as 
Mayer's  '  Kwong  Tung,'  and  Armstrong's  '  Shan  Tung.' 

The  transition  from  these  to  a  lighter  class  of  reminis- 
cences of  olden  days,  may  be  made  by  the  reading  of  an 
old  resident's  recollections  of  earlier  days,  under  the  names 
of '  Bits  of  Old  China,'  and  '  The  Fan-kwai  in  Canton.' 

A  vast  amount  of  learning,  erudition,  and  research  are 
shown  in  many  of  the  books  published  on  China,  especially 
in  the  China  Review,  Transactions  of  the  N.C.  Br.  of  the 
R.A.S.,  already  mentioned,  and  in  the  twenty  volumes  of 
the  Chinese  Repository.  Any  one  who  will  take  the 
trouble  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  most  of  the 
Articles  and  Notes  contained  in  these  three  periodicals,  to 
say  nothing  of  Notes  and  Queries  on  China  and  Japan, 
and  The  Chinese  Journal  and  Missionary  Recorder,  and 
Journal  of  the  Peking  Oriental  Society,  will  find  that  there 
is  scarcely  a  subject  connected  with  China  that  has  not 
been  most  learnedly  discussed  in  these  pages. 

Here  may  also  be  mentioned  a  number  of  interesting 

1 06 


Books  on  China 

brochures  issued  from  the  Jesuit  press  at  Shanghai,  under  the 
general  name  of '  Varietes  Sinologiques.'  One  of  the  latest 
of  these  is  '  Inscriptions  Juives  de  K'ai  Fong  Fou.' 

To  those  who  are  fond  of  the  marvellous,  treated  in  a 
sober  manner,  let  us  recommend  '  Mythical  Monsters,'  by 
Charles  Gould,  son  of  the  gifted  and  renowned  ornithologist ; 
to  those  who  wish  a  light  story-book  on  the  same  subject, 
there  is  Professor  Giles's  '  Strange  Stories  from  a  Chinese 
Studio.' 

From  myths  to  worship  is  an  easy  transition,  and  here 
we  have  a  whole  host  of  books,  especially  if  under  this 
category  we  include  books  dealing  with  the  philosophical 
systems.  'The  Dragon,  Image,  and  Demon;  or,  the 
Three  Religions,'  by  the  Rev.  H.  C.  du  Bose,  will  give  an 
idea  of  the  multiplicity  of  objects  of  worship :  it  deals 
primarily  with  the  neighbourhood  of  Soochow,  though 
much  is  applicable  to  all  parts  of  China.  Edkin's 
'  Religion  in  China,'  and  his  '  Chinese  Buddhism,'  Legge's 
'  The  Religions  of  China,'  and  Beal's  '  Buddhistic  Literature 
in  China,'  treat  fully  of  these  subjects.  Also  to  be  noticed 
as  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation  is  De  Groot's 
'  Religious  Systems  of  China.'  To  those  who  are  con- 
tent with  comparatively  short  essays,  there  is  Douglas's 
'  Confucianism  and  Taouism,'  containing  two  admirable 
monographs  on  these  two  religions,  or  philosophies. 
Then  there  .are  the  works  of  Dr.  Faber,  noted  for 
sound  scholarship;  'The  Mind  of  Mencius ;  or,  Political 
Economy,  founded  upon  Moral  Philosophy,'  and  'A 
Systematic  Digest  of  the  Doctrines  of  Confucius,'  besides 
his  other  works  in  both  German  and  English.  And  the 
Bible  of  the  Taoists,  '  The  Tao  Teh  King,'  translated  by 
the  learned  sinologue,  Dr.  Chalmers  ;  there  are  besides  two 
translations  of  the  Taoist  philosopher,  by  Balfour  and 
Giles  respectively,  and  latest  of  all,  Professor  Legge's  transla- 
tion in  the  '  Sacred  Books  of  the  East '  Series. 

There  are  numbers  of  volumes  containing  short  papers, 
or  essays,  amongst  which  we  may  mention  the  admirable 
'  Hanlin  Papers;  or,  Essays  on  the  Intellectual  Life  of  the 
Chinese,'  in  two  series,  by  Dr.  Martin ;  Balfour's  '  Leaves 

107 


Things  Chinese 

from  my  Chinese  Scrapbook ' ;  and  Sir  Walter  Medhurst's 
'  The  Foreigner  in  Far  Cathay ' ;  amongst  these  also  might 
be  classed  the  interesting  work,  '  Chinese  Characteristics,' 
by  A.  H.  Smith,  and  the  later  work,  '  Village  Life  in  China  : 
A  Study  in  Sociology,'  by  the  same  author.  Watters's 
'  Essays  on  Chinese  Literature '  is  a  valuable  work.  The 
gift  to  see  ourselves  as  others  see  us  will  be  granted  by  a 
perusal  of '  Those  Foreign  Devils ' :  a  Celestial  on  England 
and  Englishmen,  translated  by  W.  H  Wilkinson  of  H.M.'s 
Consular  Service,  and  the  later  work  by  T.  G.  Selby, '  As 
the  Chinese  See  Us.'  '  John  Chinaman,'  by  E.  H.  Parker, 
is  a  book  just  out 

For  the  Historical  student  there  are  Boulgers's  '  History 
of  China,1  in  two  large  volumes,  and  his  '  Short  History  '  in 
one  volume ;  '  Ross's  History  of  the  Manchus,'  and  the 
same  author's  '  Corea,'  which  necessarily  deal  largely  with 
China.  There  is  also  Dr.  Mirth's  learned  brochure,  '  China 
and  the  Roman  Orient :  Researches  into  their  Ancient 
and  Mediaeval  Relations  as  represented  in  old  Chinese 
Records ' ;  Parker's  '  A  Thousand  Years  of  the  Tartars  '  ; 
the  same  author's  recent  work,  '  China :  Her  History, 
Diplomacy  and  Commerce  from  the  Earliest  Times  to 
the  Present  Day  ' ;  Rev.  J.  Macgowan's  '  History  of  China,' 
and  his  '  Pictures  of  Southern  China ' ;  Mrs.  Bishop's 
'  Korea  and  Her  Neighbours ' ;  and  Professor  Giles's 
'  Biographical  Dictionary.'  The  terrible  «siege  of  the 
foreign  legations  in  Peking  has  produced  a  number  of 
books ;  amongst  these  '  The  Siege  in  Peking :  China 
Against  the  World,'  by  an  Eye-witness,  W.  A.  P.  Martin, 
President  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  University,  will  be 
found  most  interesting  and  well  written.  There  is  also 
Sir  Robert  Hart's  '  These  from  the  Land  of  Sinim.' 

Dealing  with  the  Government  of  China  are  Mayer's 
'Chinese  Government,'  and  'List  of  the  Higher  Metro- 
politan and  Provincial  Authorities  of  China,'  compiled 
by  the  Chinese  Secretaries,  H.B.M.  Legation,  Peking, 
corrected  to  March  1899,  by  C.  W.  Campbell,  Assistant 
Chinese  Secretary. 

On  legal  matters  may  be  instanced  Staunton's  '  Penal 

1 08 


Books  on  China 

Code '  and  Alabaster's  '  Notes  and  Commentaries  on  the 
Chinese  Criminal  Law/  etc. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  part  that  different 
European  nations  have  played  in  the  Far  East,  and  in 
the  political  outlook  in  that  part  of  the  world,  will 
doubtless  find  the  following  books  to  their  taste,  viz.  : — 
'  Problems  of  the  Ear  East,'  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  G.  N. 
Curzon  ;  '  The  Peoples  and  Politics  of  the  Ear  East,' 
by  Mr.  H.  Norman  ;  '  The  Problem  in  China  and  British 
Policy' ;  '  China  in  Decay,'  and  '  Russia  in  Asia  :  A  Record 
and  Study,'  1558-1899,  by  A.  Krausse.  One  of  the  latest 
of  this  class  of  books  is  '  The  Englishman  in  China  during 
the  Victorian  Era,'  as  illustrated  in  the  career  of  Sir 
Rutherford  Alcock,  by  A.  Michie. 

A  pleasant  taste  of  Chinese  literature  may  be  obtained 
from  Professor  Giles's  '  Gems  of  Chinese  Literature,'  being 
gleanings  from  all  times  and  periods,  and  his  latest  work, 
1  A  History  of  Chinese  Literature,'  and  Dr.  Martin's  '  Lore 
of  Cathay.' 

Those  fond  of  poetry  will  find  it  treated  of  in  Sir 
John  Davis's  monograph  on  the  'Poetry  of  the  Chinese'; 
also  more  interesting  is  Professor  Giles's  '  Chinese  Poetry 
in  English  Verse  ' ;  and  those  delighting  in  rhymes  will  find 
Stent's  '  Entombed  Alive,  and  other  Songs  and  Ballads 
from  the  Chinese,'  a  lively  book  to  beguile  a  pleasant  half- 
hour  ;  '  Pidgin-English  Sing-song,'  by  Chas.  G.  Leland,  is 
amusing.  Two  most  interesting  illustrated  books  by 
Professor  Headland  are  '  Chinese  Mother  Goose  Rhymes,' 
and  '  The  Chinese  Boy  and  Girl.' 

Freemasons  and  those  interested  in  Secret  Societies 
will  find  Schlegel's  '  Thian  Thi  Hwui,'  of  great  interest.  A 
small  book  has  also  been  lately  published,  Stanton's  '  Triad 
Society,'  etc.  '  A  Collection  of  Chinese  Proverbs,'  by  \V. 
Scarborough,  will  suit  another  class  of  readers.  The 
translation  of  the  Ch'eng  Yii  K'ao,  '  A  Manual  of  Chinese 
Quotations,'  by  the  Hon.  J.  H.  Stewart  Lockhart,  C.M.G.,  is 
another  work  of  value. 

Philologists  have  their  tastes  provided  for  in  Edkins's 

109 


Things  Chinese 

'  China's  Place  in  Philology,'  and  '  The  Languages  of  China 
before  the  Chinese,'  by  Professor  Terrien  de  Lacouperie. 

The  Collector  of  China  has  had  some  aids  provided  in 
Dr.  Mirth's  '  Ancient  Porcelain  :  A  Study  in  Chinese 
Mediaeval  Industry  and  Trade,'  and  Dr.  Bushell's  '  Chinese 
Porcelain  before  the  Present  Dynasty.'  It  is  a  pity  that 
the  illustrations  of  this  last  work  could  not  have  been 
reproduced  ;  but  his  larger  book  is  splendidly  got  up  and 
illustrated.  Another  book  is  '  Chinese  Porcelain,'  by  W. 
G.  Gulland.  Numismatists  will  find  their  tastes  catered  for 
in  the  Hon.  Stewart  Lockhart's '  The  Currency  of  the  Farther 
East,  from  the  Earliest  Times  up  to  the  Present  Day.' 

Collections  of  photographs  with  more  or  less  of  letter- 
press, may  be  instanced  as  another  class  of  books  on 
China,  amongst  which  we  may  notice  '  Chinese  Pictures : 
Notes  on  Photographs,'  by  Mrs.  J.  F.  Bishop,  as  one  of 
the  latest. 

Not  a  few  books  in  French  have  been  issued  from  the 
press,  dealing  with  China,  and  ranging  from  the  learned 
works  of  Julien  to  the  recent  light  literature  by  Tcheng  Ki 
Tong.  The  other  principal  languages  of  Europe  have 
all  been  requisitioned  to  describe  this  people  and  their 
country,  such  as  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese, 
Russian,  and  even  Latin. 

There  is  also  a  literature  growing  up  dealing  with 
China  and  the  Chinese  from  the  Missionary  standpoint. 
One  of  the  latest  of  these  is  Dr.  Gibson's  '  Mission  Problems 
and  Mission  Methods  in  South  China'  (Swatow).  Also  in 
this  connection  may  be  mentioned  a  number  of  biographies 
of  eminent  missionaries. 

But  we  have  already  occupied  more  than  enough  space 
in  this  rapid  survey  of  books  treating  of  China  and  the 
Chinese,  and  have  necessarily  left  many  works  unnoticed. 
We  cannot,  however,  close  without  a  passing  reference  to 
Marco  Polo,  the  celebrated  Venetian  traveller  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  the  pioneer  of  the  army,  which,  with  ever-increasing 
numbers,  has  visited  the  ere-while  Kingdom  of  the  '  Grand 
Khan,'  Kublai  Khan  ;  but  the  present  itinerants,  unlike 
their  great  predecessor,  who  resided  for  years  in  the 

no 


Books  for  Learning  Chinese 

country,  are  content  to  '  do '  China  in  a  few  days  or 
months,  and  then  hasten  to  instruct  the  ignorant  world  in 
books  and  pamphlets,  which,  often  amidst  interesting  and 
sprightly  narratives  of  stirring  events,  contain  a  mass  of 
crude  and  undigested  second-hand  information  of  the 
people  they  scarcely  know,  and  of  the  country  they  have 
skimmed  through,  '  or  rather  passed  by,'  so  rapidly. 

Books  recommended.— '  Bihliotheca  Sinica:  Dietionnaire  Bibliographiqne 
des  Ouvragcs  Relatifs  a  1'Empire  Chinois,'  par  Henri  Cordier.  'Manual  of 
Chinese  Bibliography,'  being  a  list  of  works  and  essays  relating  to  China,  by 
P.  G.  &  0.  F.  von  MollenaorH'.  'Collectanea  Bibliographies,'  appearing  of 
late  years  in  the  China  Review. 

BOOKS  FOR  LEARNING  CHINESE.— Beginners 
are  often  at  a  loss  to  know  what  books  to  get  to  learn  the 
different  so-called  dialects,  or  rather  spoken  languages  of 
China ;  and  we  often  have  enquiries  made  on  this  subject. 
We  therefore  give  some  directions  as  to  the  books  to 
procure : — 

AMOY. — For  a  phrase-book,  get  Macgowan's  '  Manual 
of  the  Amoy  Dialect,'  and  for  Dictionaries,  English-Amoy  : 
the  same  author's  '  English-Chinese  Dictionary  in  the 
Amoy  Dialect,'  price  $10.  For  Amoy-English  Dictionary, 
1  Chinese-English  Dictionary  of  the  Vernacular  or  Spoken 
Language  of  Amoy,  with  the  principal  variations  of  the 
Chang  Chew  and  Chin  Chew  Dialects,'  by  Rev.  Carstairs 
Douglas,  M.A.,  LL.D.  Besides  these  books,  there  is  a  large 
assortment — the  largest  in  the  country— of  Romanised 
Colloquial  books  prepared  by  the  missionaries. 

CANTONESE. — For  learning  the  language  properly, 
get  '  Cantonese  Made  Easy,'  4th  edition.  '  The  Cantonese 
Made  Easy  Vocabulary,'  '  How  to  Speak  Cantonese,'  2nd 
edition,  price  $5,  and  '  Readings  in  Cantonese  Colloquial,' 
price  $3 — all  by  the  present  author.  The  two  varieties 
of  Dictionaries  required,  are  Eitel's  Cantonese-English 
Dictionary,  price  $IO;  and  Chalmer's  'English-Cantonese 
Dictionary,'  price  $3,  or  so.  For  a  mere  smattering— 
for  the  acquisition  of  a  few  phrases — there  is  a  small  book 
specially  prepared,  freed  as  much  as  possible  from  all 
difficulties ;  it  is  '  An  English  and  Cantonese  Pocket 

1 1 1 


Things  Chinese 

Vocabulary/    2nd    edition,    also   by   the    present    author, 
price  75  cents. 

FOOCHOW.  —  Maclay's  '  Manual  of  the  Foochow 
Dialect,'  and  Maclay  and  Baldwin's  '  Chinese-English 
Dictionary.' 

HAINAN. — The  Gospels  in  Romanised  Colloquial. 

HAKKA. — The  present  author's  'Easy  Sentences  in  the 
Hakka  Dialect,  with  a  Vocabulary,'  2nd  edition,  price  $i  ; 
this  is  prepared  simply  for  those  who  wish  to  acquire  a 
mere  smattering  of  Hakka  ;  for  others  there  has  also  been 
prepared  by  the  same  author,  '  Hakka  Made  Easy,'  Ft.  I., 
price  $2.  There  are  also  the  Romanised  Colloquial  books 
prepared  by  the  German  Missionaries,  as  well  as  the  New 
Testament,  and  part  of  the  Old,  in  Character  Colloquial. 

MANDARIN  (PEKINGESE).  —  Sir  Thomas  Wade's 
'Tzu-Erh-Chi'  (Colloquial  Series),  price  $15.  Giles's 
'  Chinese  without  a  Teacher,'  price  $i.  Edkins's  '  Mandarin 
Grammar,'  price  $3.  A  new  book,  highly  recommended, 
is  Dr.  Mateer's  '  Mandarin  Lessons,'  price,  in  one  vol., 
89-50.  There  is  also  one  by  a  Japanese,  Goh — called  the 
'Kuan  Hua  Chih  Nan,'  price  $i  ;  and  a  translation  by 
L.  C.  Hopkins,  called  '  The  Guide  to  Kuan  Hua,'  price  $2. 
This  book  has  been  translated  into  Cantonese  by  the 
Hon.  F.  H.  May.  Dictionaries. — Stent's  '  A  Chinese  and 
English  Vocabulary  in  the  Pekingese  Dialect,'  price  $6  ; 
and  Williams's  '  Syllabic  Dictionary  of  the  Chinese 
Language,'  price  $15.  There  is  also  the  grand  new 
Dictionary  by  Professor  H.  A.  Giles,  costing  $35,  and 
containing,  as  well  as  the  Mandarin  pronunciation,  that 
of  a  number  of  the  so-called  Dialects. 

NlNGPO. — Morrison's  '  Anglo-Chinese  Vocabulary  of 
the  Ningpo  Dialect' :  and  many  Romanised  books. 

SHANGHAI. — Dr.  Edkins's  '  Grammar  of  the  Shanghai 
Dialect,'  price  $2  ;  and  also  his  vocabulary  in  English- 
Chinese,  price  $2. 

SOOCHOW.  —  Lyon's  '  Introductory  Lessons  in  the 
Soochow  Dialect,'  price  50  cents. 

SWATOW. — The  simplest  is  Professor  Giles's  'Hand-book 
of  the  Swatow  Vernacular  Dialect,  with  a  Vocabulary,' 

112 


Books  for  Learning  Chinese 

price  $r.  A  very  good  phrase-book  is  Lim's  '  Hand-book 
of  the  Swatow.'  For  an  English-Chinese  Vocabulary,  get 
'  P'nglish  Chinese  Vocabulary  of  the  Vernacular  or  Spoken 
Language  of  Swatow,'  by  Rev.  W.  Duffus,  price  85.  The 
only  Chinese-English  Dictionary  is  Miss  Fielde's,  but  un- 
fortunately the  English  spelling  of  the  Chinese  words  is  not 
the  same  as  in  the  other  books,  price  $8,  unbound.  For 
a  combination  of  phrase-book  and  grammar,  there  is 
'Primary  Lessons  in  Swatow  Grammar'  (Colloquial),  by 
Rev.  W.  Ashmore,  D.D.,  price  $i,  unbound. 
TAI-CHOW. — Book  of  Psalms. 

To  read  Chinese. — A  good  knowledge  of  the  Colloquial 
should  precede  all  attempts  to  learn  the  Book  Language, 
except  for  scholars  in  America  or  Europe,  who  simply 
learn  Chinese  as  they  would  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
Sanscrit,  or  any  other  language  for  which  they  have  no 
colloquial  need. 

The  present  author's  '  Readings  in  Cantonese  Colloquial,' 
leads  from  pure  and  simple  colloquial  by  easy  stages  to  a 
semi-mixed  style  of  colloquial  and  book  language. 

A  very  good  book  is  Williams's  '  Easy  Lessons  in 
Chinese.'  Another  aid  to  beginners  will  be  found  in  the 
'  Chinese  Chrestomathy,'  an  old  book,  which,  with  all  its 
faults,  is  an  excellent  one  in  many  respects.  Both  these 
books  are  out  of  print. 

An  admirable  way  to  learn  the  Book  Language  is  to 
follow  the  plan  of  Chinese  school-boys  by  going  through 
the  school-books,  commencing  with  such  as  the  Third, 
Fourth,  and  Fifth  Character  Classics,  reading  aloud  after 
the  teacher  so  often  that  whole  pages  of  the  books  can  be 
repeated  off  by  heart.  A  translation  of  the  two  first-named 
by  Professor  Giles  is  to  be  had  :  and  Dr.  Eitel  has  also  more 
lately  published  translations  of  them.  Some  knowledge 
might  be  acquired  of  the  '  Four  Books  '  and  '  Five  Classics,' 
— the  '  Four  Books,'  at  all  events  ;  if  there  is  time  for  it, 
learned  in  the  same  manner  as  the  simple  school-books, 
mentioned  above.  Legge's  '  Chinese  Classics '  should  be 
used  here.  Those  published  with  Chinese  text,  English 

113  H 


Things  Chinese 

translation,  and  notes,  etc.,  are  five  volumes  in  number. 
The  '  Li-Ki/  without  the  Chinese  text,  is  published  in  the 
same  series  in  two  volumes,  and  the  Yik  King  in  one  volume. 
For  those  who  are  to  be  connected  with  the  Consular 
Service,  nothing  can  be  better  than  a  thorough  mastery  of 
Wade's  '  Tzu  Erh  Chi,'  Documentary  Series.  For  those  in 
the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  Service,  there  is,  further, 
the  admirable  series  of  papers  and  documents  collected  by 
Dr.  Hirth,  entitled  '  Text  Book  of  Documentary  Chinese.' 
Besides  these  two  compendiums  there  is  the  '  Text  Book  of 
Documentary  Chinese,'  by  G.  T.  Hare,  which  contains  many 
Chinese  documents,  such  as  petitions,  bills,  agreements, 
memorials,  letters,  etc.  etc.,  with  English  tables  of  contents. 
Hirth's  '  Notes  on  the  Documentary  Style '  is  also  a  very  use- 
ful book.  After  going  through  the  whole,  or  a  portion  of  the 
books  mentioned  above,  the  learner  will  know  pretty  well 
what  is  best  adapted  for  his  requirements  should  he  intend 
to  proceed  further.  We  might  also  mention  Professor 
Bullock's  '  Progressive  Exercises  in  the  Chinese  Written 
Language,'  for  those  who  cannot  obtain  a  native  teacher. 

Writing. — To  learn  how  to  form  the  Character  in  the 
correct  way,  there  is  the  present  author's  '  How  to  Write 
Chinese,' — Part  I.,  price  $2. 

BOTANY. — There  is  still  a  great  deal  for  Botanists  to 
do  in  China,  in  the  way  of  collecting,  examining,  and 
making  known  to  the  world  the  result  of  their  labours, 
for  there  are  yet  vast  regions  unexplored. 

'The  Chinese  flora  is  extremely  rich.  Forests,  in  the  European 
sense,  are  rare ;  but  evergreens,  flowering  shrubs,  and  especially 
resinous  plants,  are  found  in  great  variety.  Proceeding  southwards, 
the  transition  is  very  gradual  from  the  Manchurian  to  the  tropical 
flora  of  Indo-China.  Hence  in  some  of  the  central  districts  there 
is  a  remarkable  intermingling  of  species  belonging  to  different  zones, 
the  bamboo  flourishing  by  the  side  of  the  oak,  while  wheat  and 
maize  crops  are  interspersed  with  paddy-fields,  sugar,  and  cotton  planta- 
tions. In  general,  the  cultivated  species  are  everywhere  encroaching  on 
the  wild  flora.' 

We  quote  the  above  from  A.  H.  Keane's  '  Asia,'  edited 
by  Sir  Richard  Temple. 

114 


Botany 

Owing  to  the  monsoons,  there  is  'a  more  regular 
distribution  of  the  rainfall,'  and  a  rainy  season  in  spring ; 
the  result  is  an  '  extremely  regular  succession  of  seasons, 
which  ...  is  favourable  to  a  careful  garden -like  agri- 
culture.' In  the  North,  wheat  and  millet  are  cultivated,  while 
in  the  South,  rice,  sugar-cane,  mulberries,  the  tea-plant,  and 
oranges  are  grown.  Cotton  and  indigo  are  also  produced 
in  China. 

One  of  the  most  marked  differences,  noticeable  to  the 
new  arrival  in  China,  especially  in  the  South,  is  the  absence 
of  meadows  and  pasture-lands.  '  Hongkong,  in  its  more 
sheltered  valleys  and  ravines,  presents  an  extraordinary 
varied  flora,'  closely  connected  with  that  of  Sikkim,  Assam, 
Khasia,  and  North-East  India,  'and  will  probably  hereafter 
prove  to  be  connected  with  it  by  a  gradual  transition  across 
South  China.'  Many  other  species  are  more  tropical,  like 
those  of  the  Indian  Archipelago,  Malayan  Peninsula,  and 
even  Ceylon  and  Africa.  '  Northwards  of  Hongkong  the 
vegetation  appears  to  change  much  more  rapidly.  Very  few 
of  the  species  known  to  range  across  from  the  Himalayas  to 
Japan  are  believed  to  come  much  further  south  than  Amoy, 
where,  with  a  difference  of  latitude  of  only  two  degrees, 
the  tropical  features  of  the  Hongkong  flora  have  (as  far  as 
we  know)  almost  entirely  disappeared.'  It  is  quite  wonder- 
ful what  a  '  very  large  total  amount  of  species  are  crowded 
upon  so  small  an  island '  as  this  little  colony  of  Hongkong. 
There  are  over  1,000  species,  and  550  genera  of  phanero- 
gamic plants  described  in  Bentham's '  Flora  Hongkongensis.' 
Since  this  was  published,  about  240  additional  species  have 
been  discovered  in  Hongkong,  bringing  the  total  number 
of  indigenous  plants  in  this  island  up  to  about  the  same 
number  as  is  known  in  the  whole  of  the  British  Islands. 

In  a  new  work  (now  being  published  in  separate  parts 
as  the  papers  appear  in  the  Linnxan  Society's  Journal)  en- 
titled '  Index  Florae  Sinensis,'  there  are  over  129  orders,  more 
than  1,000  genera,  and  about  5,000  species.  The  book 
when  completed  will  probably  contain  some  7,000  or  more 
species,  representing,  with  a  supplement,  the  whole  number 


Things  Chinese 


of  plants  at  present  known  to  exist  in  China.  The  number 
is  being  constantly  added  to  by  zealous  botanists  in  different 
parts  of  the  country,  as  many  as  a  thousand,  or  even  more, 
having  been  discovered  in  six  years. 

We  give  a  list  of  some  of  the  genera  most  numerous  in 
species : — 


Clematis,  31. 
Anemone,  16. 
Ranunculus,  15. 
Nasturtium,  9. 
Stellaria,  16. 
Camellia,  14  or  more. 
Ilex,  20. 
Euonymus,  19. 
Vitis,  24. 
Acer,  15. 
Crotalaria,  14. 
Indigofera,  14. 
Astragalus,  21. 
Desmodium,  25. 
Prunus,  21. 
Spiraea,  19. 
Rubus,  41. 
Potentilla,  26. 
Rosa,  17. 
Pyrus,  14. 
Saxifraga,  20. 
Sedum,  28. 
Eugenia,  14. 
Viburnum,  27. 
Lonicera,  34. 
Hedyotis,  21. 
Vernonia,  12. 
Aster,  31. 
Artemisia,  22. 
Senecio,  35. 
Saussurea,  28. 
Lactuca,  21. 
Rhododendron,  65. 
Primula,  43. 
Lysimachia,  35, 
Ardisia,  18. 


Symplocos,  18. 
Jasminum,  15. 
Ligustrum,  14. 
Cynanchum,  24. 
Gentiana,  57. 
Ipomaea,  26. 
Solanum,  13. 
Veronica,  14. 
Pedicularis,  94. 
Plectranthus,  18. 
Scutellaria,  17. 
Amarantus,  9. 
Chenopodium,  9. 
Polygonum,  63. 
Rumex,  1 1. 
Aristolochia,  10. 
Piper,  9. 

Chloranthus,  1 1. 
Machilus,  16. 
Litsea,  23. 
Lindera,  20. 
Wikstrcemia,  13. 
Elaeagnus,  12. 
Loranthus,  14. 
Euphorbia,  23. 
Phyllanthus,  1 1. 
Glochidion,  10. 
Mallotus,  13. 
Ficus,  42. 
Pilea,  20. 
Elatostema,  9. 
Boehmeria,  1 1. 
Betula,  10. 
Quercus,  58. 
Castanopsis,  13. 
Salix,  31. 


116 


Botany 

Some  of  the  orders  numerous  in  species  are : — 

Ranunculacaea,  107.  Gentianacae,  81. 

Leguminosae,  301.  Convolvulaceae,  49. 

Saxifragaceae,  70.  Scrophularineae,  200. 

Umbelliferae,  56.  Acanthaceae,  51. 

Caprifoliaceae,  78.  Verbenaceae,  56. 

Rubiaceae,  106.  Labiat.'e,  136. 

Compositae,  325.  Polygonaceae,  80. 

Ericaceae,  79.  Laurineae,  73. 

Primulaceae,  97.  Kuphorbiaceae,  131. 

Oleaceae,  52.  Urticaceae,  120. 

Asclepiadeae,  59.  Cupulifene,  101. 

Besides  these,  there  are  many  species  of  Solanacea: 
Amaryllidese,  Liliaceae,  Aroideae,  Orchideae,  Labiatae,  and 
Coniferae.  Many  gramineous  and  alliaceous  plants  are 
cultivated  for  food  ;  but  we  must  stop,  for  if  we  once 
enter  on  the  food  products  of  China,  volumes  might  be 
written  on  its  extensive  economic  botany.  We  cannot 
pass  from  Chinese  plants  without  a  notice  of  the  bamboo  in 
its  many  varieties,  useful  for  food,  for  dress,  for  furniture, 
for  boat-  and  ship-building,  for  the  erection  of  houses,  and 
for  almost  everything  that  man  needs  or  human  ingenuity 
can  apply  it  to.  (See  Article  on  Bamboo.)  Worthy  also 
of  mention  are  the  fan  palms  of  the  South  of  China,  from 
which  so  many  of  these  articles  of  necessity  in  a  warm 
climate  are  manufactured  (See  Article  on  Fans)  not  only 
for  home  consumption,  but  for  extensive  exportation  to 
America  and  other  countries.  The  pea-nut  (See  Article  on 
Pea-nut)  and  the  plant  from  which  the  cool  grass-cloth  is 
manufactured  are  largely  cultivated. 

Chinese  botany,  if  the  thing  is  worthy  of  such  a 
scientific  name,  is  quite  unscientific  in  its  methods.  Some 
of  the  illustrations  in  botanical  works  are  so  truthful  that,  if 
the  genera  are  known,  they  afford  a  means  of  ready 
identification  ;  but  no  pains  are  taken  to  specially  represent 
the  seed-vessels  and  flowers,  so  that  it  is  well-nigh  im- 
possible to  tell  what  species  a  plant  so  depicted  belongs  to. 
unless  it  is  already  known.  The  plants  are  not  divided 

117 


Things  Chinese 

according   to   their   orders,    genera,   or    species,   but    the 
classification  is  more  of  this  style  : — 

Five  divisions  of  the  Vegetable  Kingdom,  viz. — Herbs, 
Grains,  Vegetables,  Fruits  and  Trees.  These  are  again 
sub-divided  into  families,  though  the  plants  grouped  under 
a  family  are  very  dissimilar.  The  same  word  is  used  for 
the  lowest  division,  and  at  times  might  signify  a  genus,  a 
species,  or  even  a  variety.  Herbs  are  divided  into  nine 
families :  '  Hill-plants,  odoriferous,  noxious,  scandent,  or 
climbing,  aquatic,  stony  and  mossy  plants,  and  plants  not 
used  in  medicine.'  This  will  give  some  idea  of  the  mode 
of  classification,  for  we  cannot  follow  them  through  the 
other  four  grand  divisions. 

Books  recommended. — There  are  numerous  books  and  articles  which  treat 
more  or  less  of  the  botany  of  China  or  parts  of  it.  Bretschneider's  'Botanicon 
Sinieum.'  Bentham's  'Flora  Hongkongensis,  and  Supplement.'  '  Index  Flora 
Sinensis :  An  Enumeration  of  all  the  Plants  known  from  China  Proper,  For- 
mosa, Hainan,  Corea,  the  Luchu  Archipelago,  and  the  Island  of  Hongkong, 
together  with  their  Distribution  and  Synonymy.'  By  F.  B.  Forbes,  F.L.S., 
etc.,  and  W.  B.  Hemsley,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S.,  etc.,  Keeper  of  the  Herbarium  of 
the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew. 

BRONZE. — The  Chinese  appear  to  have  possessed  the 
art  of  both  making  and  ornamenting  bronze-work  from  a 
high  antiquity ;  for  even  at  the  time  of  the  Shang  dynasty, 
(B.C.  1783-1 134)  the  work  bore  evidence  of  having  arrived  at 
an  advanced  stage.  It  was  intimately  connected  with  their 
ancient  beliefs,  for  bronze  vases  and  other  vessels  were  in 
use  in  those  most  primitive  of  cults,  which  have  still  full 
sway  over  the  Chinese  mind  :  the  worship  of  Nature  in  its 
visible  manifestations  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  stars,  winds, 
streams,  and  mountains,  formed  the  official  religion  of  the 
Chinese,  and  confined,  as  a  State  religion,  to  the  governing 
classes ;  it  was  supplemented  in  the  case  of  individuals  and 
families  by  the  worship  of  ancestors.  Unfortunately  the 
rigid  cast  of  the  Chinese  worship  of  antiquity  and  of  set 
forms,  has  so  bound  them  down  to  a  faithful  copy  of  all  that 
has  been  done  by  their  predecessors,  that  these  bronze 
vessels  are  copied  to  the  most  minute  particular  at  the 
present  day,  and  have  been  for  a  score  or  more  centuries. 

118 


Bronze 

The  artistic  mind  was  thus  hampered  and  confined  to  a 
reproduction  of  what  have  been  considered  the  masterpieces 
of  antiquity;  play  of  individual  taste  and  fancy  has  been 
restricted  and  shut  up  within  its  own  country,  with  but 
little,  if  any,  inspiration  from  external  sources  ;  Chinese  art 
thus  remained  till  the  first  century,  when  a  new  influence 
exerted  a  beneficial  effect  on  it. 

But  before  passing  on  to  a  consideration  of  the  influence 
of  Buddhism,  it  is  interesting  to  notice  the  presence  of  a 
decorative  design,  which  in  the  West  has  been  styled  '  the 
Greek,'  on  account  of  its  being  found  in  Greek  and  Etruscan 
art.  The  questions  naturally  present  themselves  as  to 
whether  :  (ist.)  This  design  has  been  copied  by  the  Chinese 
from  the  Greeks ;  and  the  answer  is  that  this  seems 
improbable.  (2nd.)  Whether  the  design  has  been  arrived 
at  independently  by  both  nations  ;  and  the  answer  is  that 
this  is  not  improbable,  for  the  design  of  the  Chinese  seems 
slightly  different  from  that  of  the  Greeks,  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that  it  has  arisen  from  the  representation  of  the 
two  pervading  principles  of  Nature,  the  Yin  and  the  Yang. 
(3rd.)  Whether  the  design  is  of  such  remote  antiquity  that 
it  may  have  been  carried  from  some  cradle  of  the  human 
race,  and  thus  been  common  originally  to  both ;  it  would 
appear,  in  our  present  state  of  knowledge,  that  this  question 
must  be  left  unanswered. 

At  first,  animal  forms  were  the  original  models  for  the 
Chinese  in  their  sacrificial  vessels,  but  they  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  representation  of  animals,  for  vases  of  curious 
and  antique  forms  are  found,  and  libation  vessels  like  a  re- 
versed casque  mounted  on  three  feet.  Ancient  bronze  work 
was  made  for  other  purposes  besides  the  two  already  named, 
being  used  by  the  Emperor  for  bestowal  as  presents. 

Buddhism,  which  we  have  already  referred  to,  introduced 
in  its  train  objects  of  virtu  and  art  for  the  native  Chinese 
to  copy  ;  and  it  served  as  an  incentive  in  presenting  a 
broader  field  for  the  Chinese  art-worker  to  roam  over,  less 
fettered  than  the  narrow  limits  confined  him  to.  Many  of 
the  treasures  of  art,  which  owe  their  origin  to  its  inspira- 

119 


Things  Chinese 

tion,  have  doubtless  perished  in  the  iconoclastic  persecu- 
tions which  this  religion  has  met  more  than  once  since  its 
establishment  in  China  ;  for  the  human  figure  now  formed 
a  subject  for  the  Chinese  artist,  and  gods  and  goddesses 
innumerable  were  depicted,  and  it  is  here  that  the  best 
samples  of  Chinese  art  are  to  be  found,  the  finest  specimens 
being  produced  about  A.I).  1426,  and  from  A.D.  1621  to 
1643,  reaching  their  highest  excellence  under  the  reign  of 
K'ang  Hi,  A.D.  1662. 

Taoist  idols  and  symbols  have  had  their  share  in 
providing  objects  of  art  for  the  Chinese  bronze-worker. 
Arabian,  or  Persian  art,  has  also,  in  the  time  of  the  Mongol 
rulers  of  China,  exerted  some  influence  on  Chinese  bronze 
art,  by  giving  it  certain  beauties  of  form  which  it  had  not 
previously  possessed,  as  well  as  new  decorative  and  orna- 
mental designs  ;  and  in  this  connection  one  must  mention 
the  bronze  astronomical  instruments  in  Peking,  made  for 
the  Observatory  there,  during  the  time  of  Kublai  Khan, 
and  now  taken  to  Berlin.  We  can  only  refer  en  passant  to 
the  incrustations  of  gold,  or  the  beautiful  ornamentation 
'  with  delicate  scrolls  and  flowers  in  niello  work  of  silver  or 
gold  wire,  inserted  into  grooves  cut  in  the  metal '  on  bronze 
work,  which  greatly  enhances  its  beauty ;  nor  can  we  do 
more  than  call  attention  to  the  damaskeen  work,  probably 
introduced  from  India,  as  well  as  the  gilded  bronze,  due 
to  Buddhist  influence  on  Chinese  art. 

Book  recommended. — '  L'Art  Chinois,'  by  M.  Paleologue. 

BUDDHISM. — China  presents  the  unique  spectacle  of 
three  powerful  so-called  religions,  holding  sway  con- 
currently over  the  teeming  millions  of  its  inhabitants  ;  and 
though  strong  opposition  has  been  shown  to  the  younger 
members  of  this  trinity  of  religions  by  the  older  one — Con- 
fucianism— yet  there  is  now  an  outward  pax.  Each  of 
them  is  a  complement  of  the  other,  and  attempts  to  meet  a 
different  want  in  human  nature :  Confucianism  appeals  to 
morality  and  conduct  ;  Taoism  is  materialistic  ;  and 
Buddhism,  metaphysical.  Two  only  are  indigenous ; 

1 20 


Buddhism 

Buddhism  is  foreign,  introduced  in  A.D.  61,  for  the 
Emperor  dreamt  of  a  gigantic  image  of  gold,  and  sent  to 
India  in  search  of  the  new  religion;  but  some  believe  it 
was  known  in  China  before  that.  The  first  centuries  of  its 
arrival  were  marked  by  the  translation  into  Chinese  of 
numerous  Buddhistic  works ;  and  there  was  considerable 
progress  in  making  proselytes,  for  in  the  fourth  century 
nine-tenths  of  the  inhabitants  of  China  were  Buddhists.  It 
is  impossible  to  give  an  estimate  of  the  number  at  the 
present  day,  as  every  Chinaman,  who  is  not  a  Mohammedan 
or  Christian,  is  a  Buddhist,  as  well  as  a  Taoist  and  a  Con- 
fucianist,  often  at  one  and  the  same  time.  The  eclectic 
nature  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  mutual  adaptation  of  the 
systems — a  give  and  take — to  one  another,  in  the  course 
of  centuries  of  combined  occupation  of  the  Chinese  religious 
mind,  have  rendered  the  outcome  more  of  an  amalgamation, 
or  rather  a  mechanical  combination  of  the  three ;  for  their 
partnership  is  not  of  that  intimate  character  that  it  can  be 
compared  to  a  chemical  union,  where  the  different  elements 
combine  to  produce  a  new  substance.  All  three  are  like- 
wise established  faiths  in  China :  their  sages  and  divinities 
are  admitted  into  the  state  pantheon  and  honoured  by 
state  patronage.  One  is  tempted  to  illustrate  this  com- 
bination of  the  three,  so  intimately  are  they  sometimes 
blended  together,  as  a  tripartite  union  of  body,  soul,  and 
spirit :  Confucianism,  with  its  ever-present  essence,  permeat- 
ing the  whole  body  politic  and  social  system,  forming  the 
soul  ;  but  here  the  comparison  must  stop,  for  it  cannot, 
with  any  approach  to  truth,  be  carried  further,  except  to  say 
that  there  are  two  other  members  of  this  partnership. 

Buddhism  is  divided  into  two  great  branches,  the 
Northern  and  Southern.  The  Buddhism  of  China, 
Nepaul,  Tibet,  Mongolia,  Corea,  Japan,  and  Cochin 
China  belong  to  the  Northern  ;  that  of  Ceylon,  Burmah, 
and  Siam  to  the  Southern.  There  are  several  points  of 
difference  between  them  :  the  sacred  books  amongst  the 
Northern  Buddhists  are  either  in  Sanscrit,  or  translated 
from  it ;  while  amongst  the  Southern,  Pali  is  the  sacred 

121 


Things  Chinese 

language.  The  Northern  Buddhists  have  the  story  of  the 
Western  Paradise,  perhaps  evolved  from  the  human  mind 
as  the  result  of  longings  for  some  tangible  residence  of 
future  bliss,  which  the  doctrine  of  Nirvana  does  not  satisfy 
with  its  absorption  into  a  passionless  state.  In  this  'pure 
land  of  the  West,'  the  saints  are  '  exempt  from  suffering, 
death,  and  sexual  distinction,'  surrounded  by  the  most 
beautiful  scenery,  and  '  live  for  aeons  in  a  state  of  absolute 
bliss.'  The  Goddess  of  Mercy,  who  takes  very  much  the 
same  place  as  the  Virgin  Mary  amongst  Roman  Catholics, 
belongs  to  this  division  of  Buddhism.  'In  the  Southern 
branch  the  Hindoo  traditions  in  respect  to  cosmogony  and 
mythology  are  adhered  to  more  rigidly ;  while  in  the 
Northern  branch  a  completely  new  and  far  more  extensive 
universe,  with  divinities  to  correspond,'  is  believed  in. 

Though  these  three,  especially  Taoism  and  Buddhism, 
are  so  blended  and  mixed  together,  the  latter  obtrudes  itself 
more  on  the  view  than  the  other  two.  Its  temples,  as  well 
as  its  priests,  are  more  numerous.  It  is  very  interesting  to 
notice  the  various  phases  which  this  wide-spread  form  of 
religion  has  developed  in  different  lands.  In  China,  it  is 
polytheistic,  and  has  borrowed  and  adopted  deities  from 
Taoism.  In  fact,  Buddhism  has  adapted  itself  to  circum- 
stances, and  finding  certain  beliefs  prevalent  amongst  the 
Chinese,  instead  of  combating  them,  has  taken  them  under 
its  wing,  and  thus  gained  by  accretion,  not  only  beliefs,  but 
numbers. 

Nor  does  Buddhism  seem  only  to  have  borrowed  from 
Taoism,  and  in  this  connection  the  following  extract  from 
a  paper  by  Professor  Max  Miiller  in  the  Fortnightly  Review 
for  July  1896,  may  be  interesting  : — 

'  Hue  and  Gabet,  while  travelling  in  Tibet  felt  startled  at 
the  coincidences  between  their  own  ecclesiastical  ritual  and'  that 
of  the  Buddhist  priesthood  in  Tibet.  They  pointed  out,  among  other 
things,  the  crosier,  the  mitre,  the  dalmatic,  the  cope,  the  service  with 
two  choirs,  the  psalmody,  exorcism,  the  use  of  censers  held  by  five 
chains  which  shut  and  open  by  themselves,  blessings  given  by  the 
Lamas  in  extending  their  right  hand  over  the  heads  of  the  faithful, 
the  use  of  beads  for  saying  prayers,  the  celibacy  of  the  priesthood, 
spiritual  retreats,  worship  of  saints,  fastings,  processions,  litanies, 

122 


Buddhism 

holy  water — enough  it  would  seem  to  startle  Roman  Catholic  mission- 
aries. They  ascribed  them  to  the  devil  who  wished  to  scandalise 

pious  Roman   Catholics   who    might   visit  Tibet We   cannot 

escape  from  the  conclusion  that  this  large  number  of  coincidences 
proves  an  actual  historical  communication  between  Roman  Catholic 
and  Buddhist  priests.  And  such  a  channel  through  which  these  old 
Roman  Catholic  customs  could  have  reached  Tibet  can  be  shown  to 
have  existed.  It  is  an  historical  fact  that  Christian  missionaries, 
chiefly  Nestorians,  were  very  active  in  China  from  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  to  the  end  of  the  eighth  century.  Their  presence  and  activity 
in  China  during  these  centuries  are  attested  not  only  by  the  famous 
monument  of  Hsian-fu,  but  likewise  by  various  Chinese  historians, 
and  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt  their  testimony.  The  Nestorian 
Christians  had  monasteries  and  schools  in  different  towns  of  China 
and  were  patronised  by  the  Government.  We  know  that  one  of  the 
monks  in  the  monastery  at  Hsian-fu  was  at  work  under  the  same  roof 
with  a  well-known  Buddhist  monk  from  Cabul,  trying  to  translate  a 
Buddhist  Sanscrit  text  into  Chinese.  The  prosperity  of  the  Nestorian 
missions  in  China  lasted  till  the  year  841,  when  the  Emperor  Wu-tung 
issued  his  edicts  for  the  suppression  of  all  Buddhist  and  likewise  of  all 
Christian  monasteries.  While  Buddhism  recovered  after  a  time, 
Christianity  seems  to  have  been  rooted  out,  and  when  Marco  Polo 
visited  Hsian-fu,  he  tells  us  that  the  people  were  all  idolaters.' 

Referring  to  many  of  the  ethics  of  Buddhism  being 
identical  with  the  precepts  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  has 
been  pointed  out  that  it  is  erroneous  to  suppose  that 
Christianity  has  borrowed  them  from  the  Buddhists,  as 
they  were  freely  taught  by  Moses  and  the  Prophets  cen- 
turies before  Buddha  existed  : — 

'  The  ethics  of  Buddhism  were  evidently  derived  from  those  nations 
with  whom  the  inhabitants  of  India  had  commercial  and  other  rela- 
tions, including  the  Jewish,  which  was  in  its  greatest  prosperity  500 
years  before  Buddha  was  said  to  have  existed.  .  .  .  Evidence  has 
been  given  by  Strabo  and  other  ancient  writers  to  the  great  com- 
mercial intercourse  existing,  in  the  tenth  century  B.C.,  between  India, 
Persia,  Parthia,  Media,  and  the  countries  south  of  the  Euxine,  as  well 
as  the  ancient  traffic  by  sea  which  recent  research  had  shown  to  have 
existed  .  .  .  carried  on  from  India  round  Ceylon  and  up  the  Red 
Sea,  the  ships  being  mostly  manned  by  those  intrepid  mariners,  the 
Phoenicians.' 

On  the  other  hand,  Roman  Catholicism  seems  to  have 
borrowed  a  little  from  Buddhism,  Buddha  himself  having 
been  made  a  saint. 

The  Buddhism  of  the  first  few  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era  in  China  was  a  vigorous  immigrant,  fresh  and  lusty 
with  life ;  eager  to  attempt  great  things  in  its  new  chosen 
home,  with  strength  and  vigour,  prepared  to  spread  its 

123 


Things  Chinese 

principles ;  and  ready  to  endure  the  fiery  baptisms  of 
persecution  through  which  it  had  later  on  to  pass.  A  very 
different  thing  to  the  emasculated  descendant  that  now 
occupies  the  land  with  its  drones  of  priests,  and  its  temples  ; 
in  which  scarce  a  worthy  disciple  of  the  learned  patriarchs 
of  ancient  days  is  to  be  found.  Received  with  open  arms, 
persecuted,  patronised,  smiled  upon,  tolerated,  it,  with  the 
last  phase  of  its  existence,  has  reached  not  the  halcyon 
days  of  peace  and  rest,  but  its  final  stage,  foreshadowing  its 
decay  from  rottenness  and  corruption,  for  it  has  long 
passed  its  meridian.  It  was  at  the  zenith  of  its  power  in 
the  tenth  and  twelfth  centuries,  not  only  being  popular,  but 
exerting  great  literary  influence.  It  excites  but  little 
enthusiasm  at  the  present  day  in  China  ;  its  priests  are 
ignorant,  low,  and  immoral ;  addicted  to  opium  ;  despised 
by  the  people  ;  held  up  to  contempt  and  ridicule  ;  and  the 
gibe  and  joke  of  the  populace.  The  nuns  likewise  hold  a 
very  low  position  in  the  public  estimation.  The  belief  in 
the  transmigration  of  souls  ;  the  desire  for  the  merit  of 
good  works  in  charity  bestowed  on  priests,  and  gifts  to  the 
large  monasteries,  so  frequent  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land  ;  as  well  as  the  superstitious  beliefs  in 
charms  and  masses  for  the  dead  ;  faith  in  the  worship  of 
the  Goddess  of  Mercy,  and  a  trust  in  the  efficacy  of  other 
gods : — all  these  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  strong 
supports  of  Buddhism  in  China  at  the  present  day  ;  but  the 
scoff  of  the  infidel,  and  the  sneer  of  the  atheist  is  slowly 
undermining  some  parts  of  this  religious  structure ;  and  a 
better  religion  and  a  purer,  which  will  stand  true  to  its 
colours,  will  have  more  chance  of  success  in  future  than 
Buddhism  has  had  in  the  past.  (  The  Light  of  Asia '  is 
setting  in  obscure  darkness,  while  the  first  glimmering  rays 
of  '  The  Light  of  the  World '  are  chasing  that  darkness 
away,  and  '  The  Sun  of  Righteousness '  is  arising  '  with 
healing  in  His  wings.' 

Books  recommended. — Rhys  David's  '  Buddhism,'  published  by  the  Society 
for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  gives  the  best  account  for  the  general 
reader  of  Buddhism,  as  a  religion.  Eitel's  'Three  Lectures  on  Buddhism ' 
give  in  a  popular  form,  and  in  a  few  pages,  an  account  of  Chinese  Buddhism, 

I24 


Buffalo 

which  is  more  lengthily  treated  of  in  Edkins's  '  Chinese  Buddhism ' ;  Beat's 
'  Buddhism  in  China '  is  interesting  and  smaller  than  the  last.  Edkins's 
'  Religion  in  China '  contains  much  on  Buddhism.  Beat's  '  Buddhist 
Literature  in  China '  treats  of  works  translated  into  Chinese.  Eitel's  '  Hand- 
book for  the  Student  of  Cliine.se  Buddhism  '  is  a  dictionary  of  the  Sanscrit 
terms  used  in  Chinese,  their  translations  into  the  latter,  with  an  account  of 
their  meanings.  For  an  interesting  account  of  a  paper  dealing  with  the 
ethics  of  Buddhism,  see  '  Hong  Kong  Telegraph,1  1/th  Feb.  1896.  Also 
see  'Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,'  vol.  iv.  pp.  445-458,  for  a  strange 
account  of  the  canonisation  of  Buddha  himself  as  a  Roman  Catholic  saint. 

BUFFALO  (WATER  BUFFALO).— This  animal  is 
called  by  the  Chinese  the  water-ox,  or  cow ;  by  naturalists, 
Bos  bubalus,  Crauford  and  Dr.  Dennys  thus  describe 
it:— 

'  The  same  useful,  powerful,  ugly,  sluggish,  and  unwieldy  animal 
which  exists  in  all  the  warm  countries  of  Asia,  and  which  was 
introduced  into  Greece,  Egypt  and  Southern  India  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
It  is  only,  however,  within  ten  or  twelve  degrees  of  the  equator  that  it 
is  found  of  great  size,  strength  and  vigour.  .  .  .  The  flesh  of  this  semi- 
aquatic  animal  is  coarse.  .  .  .  The  wound  inflicted  by  an  enraged 
buffalo  is  fearful.  The  victim  is  generally  gored  in  the  thigh,  the 
femoral  artery  being  ripped  open.' 

The  buffalo  is  a  dangerous  animal  for  Europeans  to 
approach,  as  it  has  a  repugnance  to  strangers,  but  with  its 
friends  is  thoroughly  docile,  and  in  perfect  control  of  the 
little  boys  who  have  the  task  of  driving  them  to  and  from 
the  fields,  and  of  guiding  them  when  pulling  the  harrow 
and  plough,  often  riding  on  their  backs.  So  common  is 
this  sight  that  the  metaphor  of  a  lad  astride  a  buffalo's 
back,  blowing  the  flute,  frequently  enters  into  Chinese 
descriptions  of  rural  life,  and  the  buffalo  with  the  herd-boy 
thus  engaged  appears  in  paintings  and  is  used  for 
decorative  designs,  etc. 

The  buffalo  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  covered  with 
hair,  a  few  straggling  ones  being  all  that  Nature  has  vouch- 
safed to  it ;  one  author  describing  it  as  having  '  a  hairless 
hide.'  Through  this  scanty  pretence  for  a  covering  the 
light  black  colour  of  the  skin  shows  without  any  conceal- 
ment. Each  horn  is  nearly  semi-circular,  and  bends  down- 
ward, while  the  head  is  turned  back  so  as  almost  to  bring 
the  nose  horizontal.  This  peculiar  carriage  of  the  head 
enables  the  animal  to  submerge  nearly  the  whole  of  the 

125 


Things  Chinese 

body  and  head  under  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  pools 
and  ponds  in  which  they  delight  to  lie,  to  cool  themselves 
or  to  get  rid  of  the  gnats.  It  is  very  curious  to  see  a  herd 
of  them  thus  immersed  with  only  the  tips  of  their  noses 
showing.  The  habits  of  this  animal  make  it  cheap  to 
keep  him  in  good  condition,  while  he  can  do  more  work 
than  the  ox.  The  milk  of  the  buffalo-cow  in  the  South  of 
China  is  richer  than  that  of  the  cow  in  that  part  of  the 
world. 

CAMPHOR. — This  useful  drug  is  the  product  of  the 
camphor  tree,  a  species  of  laurel,  which  grows  abundantly 
in  Fuh-kien  and  Kwong-tung,  and  is  met  with  as  a  timber- 
tree  in  Kiang-si,  Hu-peh,  and  other  provinces  to  some 
extent.  The  tree  attains  a  large  size,  is  of  much  use,  and 
gives  employment  to  many  carpenters,  shipwrights  and 
boat-builders,  the  wood  being  valuable  for  the  manufacture 
of  trunks  and  chests-of-drawers.  The  odour  of  the  wood 
is  pleasant,  and  when  fresh  and  strong  of  some  utility  in 
keeping  away  moths  and  insects  from  clothing,  the  wood 
itself  not  being  subject  to  the  attack  of  white  ants,  etc. 
Vessels  are  constructed  partially  or  wholly  of  it  as  well. 

The  drug  is  employed  medicinally  by  the  Chinese,  and 
another  use  they  make  of  it  is  for  thinning  lacquer  ;  but 
the  Chinese  are  not  careful  in  the  preparation  of  the  former, 
and  the  result  is  very  impure.  Williams  thus  describes  the 
process  as  follows  : — 

'  The  gum  is  procured  from  the  branches,  roots,  leaves,  and  chips  by 
soaking  them  in  water  until  the  liquor  becomes  saturated  ;  a  gentle 
heat  is  then  applied  to  this  solution,  and  the  sublimed  camphor 
received  in  inverted  cones,  made  of  rice-stra\v,  from  which  it  is 
detached  in  impure  grains,  resembling  unrefined  sugar  in  colour.' 

Dr.  Porter  Smith  tells  us: — 'It  is  met  with  in  granular  lumps  or 
grains,  of  the  colour  of  dirty  snow,  and  having  a  strong  terebinthinate 
odour,  and  a  warm,  bitter,  aromatic  taste,  with  an  aftertaste  somewhat 
cooling.  It  is  not  so  strong  as  the  English  drug,  but  it  is  more 
volatile.  Very  good  camphor  is  brought  from  Tsiuen-chau  fu  in 
Fuh-kien.' 

Rein  says  : — '  Japanese  camphor  is  much  purer  and  more  valuable, 
and  therefore  commands  a  higher  price  than  Chinese.' 

More  than  one  variety  of  camphor  is  procurable  in  the 

126 


Cannibalism 

Chinese  drug  shops ;  the  common  dirty  stuff,  sold  at  a 
cheap  rate,  being  of  little  use.  The  better  qualities  are 
either  from  abroad,  or  have  had  more  care  taken  in  the 
preparation.  '  A  variety  called  icicle-flakes  is  procured 
from  a  different  species  of  tree,  is  said  to  come  from 
Chang-chau  fu,  in  Fuh-kien,  and  the  tree  yielding  it 
...  is  described  as  growing  in  Canton  province.' 

Since  the  loss  of  the  Island  of  Formosa,  the  Chinese 
production  of  camphor  is  confined  to  that  of  the  mainland. 
In  a  British  Consulate  Report  from  Foochow  -occurs  the 
following  passage : — 

'  Camphor  trees  grow  in  this  neighbourhood,  and  I  cannot  but 
think  that  if  the  Chinese  were  sufficiently  long-sighted  to  take  proper 
care  of  the  existing  trees,  and  to  plant  young  ones,  a  considerable 
trade  in  camphor  might  be  fostered.  Heretofore  Formosa  has  been  a 
camphor-producing  country.  Now  that  this  has  been  transferred  to 
Japanese  rule,  the  Chinese,  unless  they  take  measures  to  prevent  it, 
will  lose  the  camphor  trade  entirely.' 

The  Japanese  in  1899  made  camphor  a  Government 
monopoly,  in  Formosa. 

Camphor  has  risen  enormously  in  value  lately.  It  has 
been  erroneously  thought  that  this  was  due  to  the  extended 
use  of  it  in  the  manufacture  of  smokeless  powder ;  but  it 
was  only  employed  experimentally  at  first  for  that  purpose, 
which  could  not  have  affected  the  market  value.  It  is, 
however,  extensively  used  in  the  manufacture  of  celluloid. 

'  Cabinets  made  of  camphor-wood  are  much  esteemed,  not  only  for 
the  fine  grain  and  silky  sheen  of  the  wood,  but  for  its  efficacy  against 
the  attacks  of  insects.  The  camphor-laurel  ranks  among  the  stateliest 
of  trees,  frequently  attaining  to  an  enormous  height  and  girth.' 

'The  total  yearly  consumption  of  camphor  is  estimated  at  about 
5,000,000  catties,  of  which  4|-  million  catties  are  produced  in  Formosa  and 
in  the  interior  of  Japan,  thus  nearly  the  whole  supply  of  the  world 
being  the  Japanese  product.  It  is  stated  that  there  are  camphor  trees 
in  South  China,  but  the  yield  is  very  poor  as  compared  with  Japan.' 

'  The  Chinese  yield  has  never  exceeded  220,000  Ibs.' 

Care  should  be  taken  in  the  damp  climate  of  the  South 
of  China  that  camphor-wood  chests-of-drawers  and  boxes 
are  well-seasoned  before  use. 

CANNIBALISM. — It  is  but  rarely  that  cannibalism 

127 


Things  Chinese 

as  such,  is  practised  in  China,  though  a  horrible  practice  of 
eating  the  gall,  and  sometimes  taking  the  blood  of 
criminals,  who  have  paid  the  penalty  for  their  crimes  with 
their  forfeited  lives,  is  common  enough,  the  idea  being  that 
the  courage  of  the  victim  will  enter  into  the  individual 
who  thus  consumes  the  seat  of  courage,  the  gall.  If  such 
a  practice  can  be  called  cannibalism,  then  it  may  be  said 
in  general  terms  that  it  is  almost  wholly  confined  to  this 
species  of  semi-cannibalism.  It  would,  however,  be  burk- 
ing the  truth  to  entirely  overlook  the  intermittent 
occurrence  at  rare  intervals  of  cases  in  which  the  whole 
body  has  been  devoured  by  savage  men,  infuriated  by  the 
passion  of  war.  Such  cases  are,  however,  most  uncommon. 
An  atrocious  instance  of  its  perpetration  is  narrated  in  the 
China  Mail  of  the  3ist  August  1895,  which,  summarised, 
was  as  follows  : — Disputed  water-rights,  a  prolific  source  of 
trouble  between  Chinese  villages,  caused  an  internecine  war 
between  two  of  them,  Pien  Chheng  and  Tang  Chheng, 
seven  miles  from  Ty  Sami  in  the  Kwong-tung  province. 
Reprisals  followed  the  cutting  of  a  sea  embankment  which 
let  in  the  water  and  destroyed  the  rice  crops  of  one  village, 
a  small  war  lasted  for  a  month,  different  villages  were 
involved  in  the  struggle,  and  a  large  number  of  deaths 
ensued.  Three  prisoners  on  one  side  and  four  on  the 
other  were  taken  alive,  killed  and  eaten—'  every  eatable 
portion  was  consumed,  most  of  it  being  given  to  the 
children  of  the  respective  villages.  .  .  .  Though  not 
unprecedented  in  that  district,  such  an  act  of  cannibalism 
is  unusual.'  Were  justice  available  at  the  courts  of  law, 
such  village  fights  would  not  occur ;  and  it  is  further  a 
forcible  illustration  of  the  evil  results  of  the  officials 
leaving  the  villagers  to  manage  their  own  affairs.  Of 
course,  when  matters  get  to  such  a  pass,  the  mandarins  step 
in.  Again  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press  of  22nd  January 
1896  contains  the  following  : — 

'  There  is  probably  not  a  foreigner  in  Formosa  but  knows  of  the 
custom  of  eating  portions  of  the  bodies  of  savages  by  the  Chinese,  and 
who  is  not  aware  of  the  markets  in  settlements  of  Formosa,  containing 

128 


Capital  Cities 

the  human  flesh  of  the  savage  for  sale.  During  the  savage  outbreak 
of  1891,  so  great  was  the  loss  of  life  that  savage  flesh  was  brought  in 
and  sold  like  pork  in  the  open  market.' 

Another  curious  feature  of  Chinese  life  is  shown  in  the 
custom  of  filial  children  cutting  out  a  portion  of  their  own 
living  flesh  and  cooking  it  for  their  sick  parents,  who  are 
to  partake  of  it,  not  knowing  the  source  whence  it  comes. 
Such  cases  are  by  no  means  rare,  and  generally  meet  with 
the  applause  of  the  people,  the  encomium  of  the  mandarin, 
and  the  approval  of  the  government. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  horrible  as  it  may  seem,  such 
a  thing  as  cannibalism  is  not  entirely  unknown  in  China. 

CAPITAL  CITIES. — The  country  now  included  in 
China  has  been  the  scene  of  so  many  different  states  in 
ancient  times,  due  to  the  vicissitudes  incident  to  conquest 
and  war,  as  well  as  to  other  causes,  that  various  cities  have 
been  the  capital  of  the  empire  at  different  periods  of  its 
existence. 

Hangchow  is  one  of  the  most  famous  of  these.  Marco 
Polo  waxes  eloquent  in  his  praise  of  it :  '  The  noble  and 
magnificent  city  of  Kin-sai,  a  name  that  signifies  "the 
celestial  city,"  and  which  it  merits  from  its  pre-eminence 
to  all  others  in  the  world,  in  point  of  grandeur  and  beauty, 
as  well  as  from  its  abundant  delights,  which  might  lead  an 
inhabitant  to  imagine  himself  in  paradise.'  All  writers 
agree  in  praising  its  situation,  and  the  beauty  of  the 
surroundings,  as  well  as  the  richness  of  the  city,  though 
they  do  not  go  into  the  ecstasies  of  the  mediaeval  Italian. 
Hangchow  was  the  metropolis  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
Sung  dynasty  (A.D.  1129-1280),  when  the  northern  part 
of  the  empire  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Kin  Tartars. 

The  ancient  capital  of  Shan-tu,  rendered  famous  by 
Coleridge's  exquisite  poem,  '  In  Xanadu  did  Kublai 
Khan,'  is  now  in  ruins. 

The  chief  city  of  Shang-tung  is  Chi-nan-fu,  once  the 
capital  of  the  ancient  state  of  Tsi  (B.C.  1 100-230). 

Kai-fung-fu,  or  Pien  Liang,  had  the  honour  of  being  the 
metropolis  from  A.D.  960  to  1 129. 

129  I 


Things  Chinese 

The  After  Hans  had  their  capital  at  the  chief  city  of 
Sz-chuan,  where  their  rule  extended  over  the  West  of  China. 

Si-ngan-fu  '  has  been  the  capital  of  the  empire  for  more 
years  than  any  other  city.' 

Nanking,  i.e.t  the  Southern  capital,  has  been  the 
metropolis  of  China  several  times  during  long  periods  of 
her  history,  once  from  A.D.  317  to  582.  It  was  here  that 
the  seat  of  government  was  established  in  the  former  part 
of  the  Ming  dynasty,  A.D.  1368-1403,  though  Hung  Wu, 
the  founder  of  that  dynasty,  intended  Hwui-chow  to  be  the 
capital.  The  famous  porcelain  tower  was  at  Nanking,  and 
here  it  was  too  that  the  T'ai  P'ing  rebels  made  their  head- 
quarters for  many  years.  The  Southern  Mandarin  was 
the  Court  language  of  China,  owing  to  Nanking  being  the 
capital,  until  displaced  by  the  Northern. 

Peking  is  the  Northern  capital,  and  has  been  so  for 
many  centuries,  but  it  was  not  the  capital  of  the  whole  of 
China  until  the  time  of  Kublai  in  A.D.  1264.  On  the  fall 
of  the  Mongol  dynasty,  the  centre  of  government  was 
transferred  to  Nanking  until  A.D.  1411,  when  Peking  again 
became  the  metropolis,  and  has  remained  so  ever  since.  It 
is  owing  to  Peking  being  the  capital  that  the  Northern 
Mandarin  is  spoken  in  Peking,  and  is  the  Court  language 
of  China,  otherwise  it  would  be  an  insignificant  dialect. 

Books  recommended. — In  'Notes  and  Queries  on  China  and  Japan," 
vol.  i.  p.  60,  there  is  a  list  of  Capital  Cities.  See  also  the  interesting  Article 
in  China  Mail  of  3rd  September  1892,  on  '  Some  Chinese  Capitals.' 

CARVING. — Carving  seems  to  be  an  art  just  designed 
for  the  patient  persevering  toil  of  a  Chinaman  ;  for  no  labour 
is  too  great  to  bestow  on  the  most  minute  undertaking,  and, 
in  a  country  where  time  enters  so  little  into  the  essence  of 
life,  days  and  months  are  lavishly  spent  on  what  would  be 
thought  elsewhere  to  be  unremunerative  work. 

Over  the  fronts  of  certain  shops,  such  as  eating-houses, 
it  is  common  to  have  a  broad  piece  of  woodwork  highly 
decorated  with  carvings  of  figures,  houses,  flowers,  richly 
gilded,  all  in  alto-relievo ;  and  in  private  dwellings  there  is 
some  carving  to  be  found  on  the  large  doors  which  serve  as 

130 


Carving 

partitions.  There  is  also  an  amount  of  it  to  be  found  in 
certain  boats,  especially  on  the  so-called  flower-boats,  which 
have  a  screen  of  carved  woodwork,  rising  to  considerable 
proportions,  over  the  entrances  of  the  larger  ones. 

Bamboo  vases  for  holding  pens  are  a  common  article 
for  the  decorative  artist  to  exercise  his  skill  on. 

Wood,  bamboo,  stone,  ivory,  and  seeds,  all  form  fit 
subjects  for  the  untiring  industry  of  the  Chinese ;  but  all 
this  carving  in  wood,  bamboo,  and  olive  seeds,  is,  according 
to  Western  ideas,  often  rendered  grotesque  in  the  extreme 
by  a  rigid  adherence  to  the  canons  of  Chinese  art ;  for 
perspective  is  ignored,  and  the  harmony  of  proportion 
between  the  different  objects  is  lost  sight  of. 

Religion  causes  the  production  of  countless  numbers 
of  carved  images,  in  wood  and  stone,  in  all  attitudes  and 
positions,  decked  out  in  all  the  different  insignia  of  office, 
or  armed  with  weapons.  The  best  specimen,  perhaps,  of  all 
this  motley  group  is  the  God  of  Literature,  represented  as 
standing  on  one  foot  on  a  monster's  head,  while  one  arm  is 
stretched  to  its  utmost  extent,  the  hand  holding  a  Chinese 
pen :  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  abandonment  and 
freedom  from  the  stiff  conventionality  of  the  sedate  or 
hideous  imbecilities  which  do  duty  as  Chinese  idols,  the 
flowing  drapery  and  slender  form  of  this  personification  of 
Literature  having  lent  themselves  readily  to  the  artistic  eye 
of  the  carver,  who  has  not  failed  to  take  advantage  of  them. 
Specimens  of  the  Eight  Genii  are  also  sometimes  found,  as 
well  as  other  carvings  of  the  same  class  as  that  last 
mentioned,  in  which  the  natural  twistings  of  the  roots  or 
fibres  have  been  utilised,  with  skilful  touches  here  and  there 
to  heighten  the  effect,  or  supplement  what  Nature  has  left 
undone. 

Boles  of  trees  are  also  sometimes  made  use  of  as  curios, 
while  stands  for  ornaments  and  vases,  under  the  skilful 
manipulation  of  a  workman,  blessed  with  a  certain  play  of 
fancy,  become  as  curious  objects  of  art  as  the  carved  stone 
vessels  they  support.  Chinese  ebony,  or  black-wood,  as  it 
is  likewise  called,  is  largely  used  for  the  above  purposes,  and 


Things  Chinese 

is  carved  into  the  imitation  of  lotus  leaves,  seed-vessels, 
and  many  other  objects.  The  white-wood  carved  work  of 
Ningpo  is  much  admired  ;  frames  for  pictures,  little  models 
of  boats,  carts,  figures  of  men  and  animals,  and  many  other 
objects  are  produced  in  it. 

The  carving  in  ivory  and  sandal-wood  is  perhaps  better 
known  in  the  West,  as  such  large  quantities  of  it  are  made 
for  exportation.  The  concentric  balls  of  ivory  have 
attracted  much  interest  and  speculation  ;  there  is,  however, 
no  trickery  in  their  production,  but,  like  most  things  of  the 
kind  amongst  Chinese,  they  are  the  result  of  patient  toil, 
the  balls  being  carved  in  situ  one  within  the  other :  the 
outside  ball  is  first  carved,  and,  through  the  holes  thus 
made,  instruments  are  introduced,  and  gradually  the  out- 
side crust,  as  it  were,  forming  the  outermost  ball,  is 
detached  from  the  remaining  interior  mass,  while,  by  the 
same  means,  the  surface  of  this  interior  mass  is  carved. 
This  process  is  repeated  with  every  successive  ball  until 
a  globular  mass  of  intricate  hollow  balls  is  the  result  of  the 
ingenuity  of  the  Chinese  artist-workman. 

The  carved  soap-stone  ware  of  Foochow  is  well  known 
amongst  the  foreign  residents  in  China  :  models  of  pagodas, 
shoes,  Chinese  graves,  plates,  memorial  arches,  and  many 
other  things,  are  produced  in  it.  The  hard  seed  of  the 
olive  is  elaborately  carved  in  the  South  into  models  of  boats 
and  other  objects.  Wood-carving  is  of  very  ancient  origin 
in  China,  though  the  influence  of  Buddhism  in  the  second 
century  gave  an  artistic  life  to  what  had  before  not  been 
raised  much  above  a  mechanical  art.  No  signatures  or 
dates  are  borne  on  Chinese  carvings  ;  it  is  therefore  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  to  assign  a  date  to  them. 

Book  recommended. — '  L'Art  Chinois,'  by  M.  Paleologue. 

CHESS. — Chess  is  an  ancient  game  in  China,  and  is 
said  to  have  been  invented  by  the  first  emperor  of  the  Chow 
dynasty,  Wu  Wang,  B.C.  1120;  though  it  is  questioned 
whether  this  Chow  dynasty  does  not  refer  to  one  four 
hundred  years  later.  Chess  is  mentioned  in  the  Chinese 

132 


Chess 

classics,  but  the  game  in  olden  times  appears  to  have  been 
somewhat  different  from  the  present  one,  which  came  into 
general  use  after  the  Sung  dynasty. 

Chess  has  always  been  looked  upon  as  a  mimic  war- 
fare, and  the  likeness  is  more  marked  in  Chinese  chess,  for 
there  are  the  general,  the  secretaries,  the  elephants,  horses, 
chariots,  cannon,  and  soldiers  ;  the  two  armies  are  also 
divided  by  a  river.  The  similarities  between  the  game  as 
played  in  the  West  and  China  are  obvious  ;  but  the  resem- 
blances between  that  played  in  China  and  in  other  Eastern 
countries  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  point  to  a  closer 
relationship.  There  are  sixty-four  squares,  as  on  the 
English  board,  with  sixteen  pieces  on  each  side ;  but  here 
the  general  points  of  resemblance  cease,  for  there  is  a  river 
running  through  the  middle  of  the  board,  and  the  squares 
are  uniform  in  colour,  the  pieces  not  being  placed  on  them 
but  on  the  intersections  of  the  lines  ;  nor  are  they  placed 
in  two  rows  of  eight  each,  but  the  first  row  contains  nine 
pieces,  consisting  of  the  principal  ones,  while  a  line  of  five 
soldiers  is  deployed  in  front,  near  the  river,  and  these  are 
supported  by  two  cannon  a  little  to  their  rear.  The 
knight,  in  the  English  tour  of  the  board,  can  only  have 
sixty-four  moves,  and  in  the  course  of  that  number  has 
touched  every  square  on  the  board  ;  but  were  the  Chinese 
equivalent  of  the  knight,  viz.,  the  horse,  to  go  on  such  a 
round,  he  would  have  nearly  half  as  many  moves  again, 
for  the  intersections  of  the  lines,  being  the  resting-places 
for  the  pieces,  increase  the  number  of  such  positions  to  a 
total  of  ninety.  The  general  and  his  two  secretaries  are 
confined  to  four  squares,  which,  unlike  the  other  squares 
on  the  board,  are  crossed  by  diagonal  lines  ;  along  these 
lines,  and  on  them  alone,  the  secretaries  move,  but  only 
across  one  square  at  a  time  ;  the  general  also  only  moves 
one  square  at  a  time,  in  a  straight  line,  but  not  diagonally. 
Though  these  pieces  are  confined  to  the  four  squares, 
they  have,  on  account  of  their  positions  being  placed 
at  the  intersections  of  lines,  more  than  four  places  that 
they  can  occupy ;  the  general  has  nine  points  he  can 

133 


Things  Chinese 

rest  on,  and  the  secretaries  five.  The  elephants,  which 
flank  the  secretaries  on  each  side,  are  also  restricted  in 
their  movements,  being  confined  to  their  own  side  of  the 
board,  not  being  allowed  to  cross  the  river,  but  they  have 
more  freedom  of  motion  within  such  limits,  being  per- 
mitted to  move  diagonally  through  two  squares,  both  back 
and  forward.  The  horses,  which  are  the  next  pieces,  have 
the  curious  combination  of  movement  peculiar  to  the 
knight  in  the  Western  game,  viz. : — a  straight  motion 
followed  or  preceded  by  a  diagonal  one,  but,  unlike  the 
English  game,  the  Chinese  equivalent  of  the  knight,  can 
only  move  one  point  forward,  sideways  or  backward,  and 
one  diagonally  ;  nor  can  the  horse  jump  over  any  other 
piece.  The  chariots  take  the  place  of  the  castles  in  the 
English  game,  occupying  the  same  position  on  the  board, 
having  the  same  moves,  and  they  are  the  most  powerful  of 
all  the  pieces ;  from  the  restricted  moves  of  the  general 
(  =  king),  castling  is  impossible.  The  cannoniers  have 
the  same  power  of  movement  as  the  chariots,  but,  curiously 
enough,  take,  only  when  a  piece  intervenes,  leaping, 
like  an  English  knight,  over  the  obstruction.  The  five 
soldiers  move  like  the  English  pawns,  only  forward  in 
the  first  brunt  of  battle  ;  they  gain  increased  power  of 
motion  on  crossing  the  river  into  the  enemy's  territory, 
when  they  move  sideways  as  well  ;  there  is,  however,  no 
merit  in  their  reaching  the  extreme  end  of  the  board,  for 
they  can  never  move  back,  and  there  is  no  changing 
them  for  a  higher  piece. 

The  chessmen  are  called  red  and  black,  but  the  black 
ones  are  the  natural  colour  of  the  wood — white.  They  are 
not  carved  to  represent  what  they  stand  for,  but  have  the 
names  cut  into  the  top  of  the  wood,  being  otherwise  exactly 
like  English  draughtsmen.  The  carved  ivory  chessmen, 
made  by  the  Chinese  workers  in  ivory  are  simply  meant 
for  the  foreign  market. 

The  longitudinal  lines  are  numbered,  but  not  the  trans- 
verse, and  by  the  use  of  the  names  of  the  chessmen,  and  of 
the  expressions  forward,  backward,  and  sideways,  a  game 

134 


Chess 

can  easily  be  played  from  the  book,  or  a  game  recorded  as 
it  is  played. 

In  taking  pieces,  the  captured  one  is  removed,  and  the 
capturing  one  is  placed  on  the  point  the  captured  occupied, 
except  in  the  case  of  the  cannonier.  The  object,  as  in  the 
English  game,  is  to  checkmate.  The  general,  though  con- 
fined to  headquarters,  i.e.,  the  four  squares  already  named, 
is  in  check  if  no  piece  intervenes  between  him  and  the 
opposite  general  on  the  same  straight  line.  He  cannot  be 
captured,  and,  like  the  English  king,  cannot  move  into 
check. 

The  limited  power  of  movement  of  a  number  of  the 
pieces,  as  well  as  the  want  of  a  queen,  due  naturally  to  the 
low  estimation  that  woman  is  held  in,  in  the  East,  restrict, 
it  is  said,  the  combinations  in  Chinese  chess  more  than  in 
the  Western  game.  Notwithstanding  all,  the  Chinese 
game 'has  its  own  elements  of  skill.'  The  equilibrium  of 
power  is  not  so  greatly  displaced  as  at  first  sight  might 
appear,  because,  of  the  sixteen  chessmen,  eleven  are  prin- 
cipal pieces,  and  only  five  soldiers,  though,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  chariots,  the  power  of  each  chessman  is  less 
than  in  the  Western  game. 

Literary  men  and  women  often  play  chess,  and  it  is 
quite  a  common  subject  of  Chinese  paintings  ;  but  it  is 
not  the  pastime  of  the  common  people  to  the  great  extent 
it  appears  to  be  in  Japan. 

Different  sorts  of  chess  have  been  played  at  different 
times  in  China  ;  and  there  is  still  another  game  in  vogue, 
perhaps  of  even  earlier  origin  than  the  common  chess, 
which  is  called  wai-k'ct,  or  '  blockade  chess.'  There  are 
324  squares,  or  361  positions  on  the  board,  and  300 
pieces,  which  are  black  and  white,  and  stand,  as  in 
the  common  chess,  on  the  crossings  of  the  lines.  We  have 
not  space  to  go  into  a  full  account  of  this  game,  but  will 
content  ourselves  with  saying  that  the  pieces  are  placed  by 
each  player  alternately  on  the  board,  and  the  object  is  to 
surround  the  opponent's  men  and  their  crossings,  '  or 
neutralise  their  power  over  those  near  them.' 

US 


Things  Chinese 

There  is  also  'a  three-handed  game  played  upon  a 
three-legged  board.  .  .  .  The  "  chess  of  the  Three 
Kingdoms." ' 

Books  recommended. — Journal  N.  C.  Br.  R.A.S.,  New  Series,  No.  3., 
Art.  8,  which  contains  a  description  of  Chinese  chess  and  two  printed  games. 
The  same  Journal,  New  Series,  No.  6.,  Art.  6,  compares  the  Chinese  game 
with  that  played  by  Western  nations.  Professor  Giles's  '  Historic  China  and 
other  Sketches,'  Article  on  '  Wei  Ch'i,'  or  the  Chinese  '  Game  of  War.' 

CHILDREN.— China  is  alive  with  children.  If  France 
is  at  one  extreme  as  regards  the  proportion  of  children  to 
adults,  China  is  at  the  other,  and  the  whole  Chinese  nation 
will  quite  agree  with  the  sacred  Hebrew  Psalmist  when  he 
sang'  Happy  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full  of  them,' 
though  they  would  qualify  the  statement  by  changing  the 
word  '  children  '  into  '  boys.'  Yes,  the  whole  land  is  swarm- 
ing with  them,  and  not  the  land  alone,  but  the  water  also. 
The  small  boats  in  Canton,  that  partly  take  the  place  of 
cabs  and  carriages  in  the  West,  will  not  only  have 
representatives  of  a  past  generation  (typified  by  an  ancient 
grandam  almost  too  antiquated  to  wield  an  oar),  of  the 
present  generation  in  the  buxom  mother,  but  also  of  the 
future  generation,  which  lasjt  is  represented  by  half  a  dozen 
boys  and  girls  of  all  ages  and  sizes,  from  the  little  pickaninny 
(who  is  carried  pick-a-back  by  a  sister  not  much  bigger 
than  himself)  to  the  eldest  sister,  who,  being  fifteen,  is 
engaged,  and  at  the  transition  stage  between  girlhood 
and  womanhood.  A  walk  on  shore  will  bring  one, 
at  every  village  and  hamlet,  into  a  swarm  of  youngsters, 
almost  as  numerous  as  the  swarms  of  gnats  and  mosquitoes 
over  one's  head.  The  wonder  is  where  they  come  from, 
and  where  and  how  they  live.  Clothing  does  not  cost 
much  ;  for  a  number  of  old  rags  for  swaddling  bands  is 
all  that  is  provided  for  the  new  arrival  at  first,  and  then 
in  the  country-side,  in  summer  at  all  events,  a  single  jacket 
is  enough,  or  in  many  cases  the  nut-brown  skin  of  the  little 
ones  is  considered  sufficient.  Clothing  is  added  with 
additional  years,  being  delayed  longer  in  the  case  of 
boys  than  in  that  of  girls. 

Childhood  does  not  appear  so  charming  to  our  Western 

136 


Children 

eyes  when  surrounded  by  all  the  squalor  and  dirt  incident 
to  Chinese  village  and  city  life ;  but,  amidst  all  their  filth 
and  wretchedness,  children  will  still  be  children  the  wide 
world  over,  and  they  have,  even  amongst  the  seemingly 
stolid  Chinese,  the  faculty  of  calling  forth  the  better  feelings 
so  often  found  latent.  Their  prattle  delights  the  fond 
father,  whose  pride  beams  through  every  line  of  his 
countenance,  and  their  quaint  and  winning  ways,  and 
touches  of  nature,  are  visible  even  under  the  disadvantages 
of  almond  eyes  and  shaven  crowns. 

The  relative  position  of  the  two  sexes,  at  their  start  in 
life,  is  clearly  shown  by  the  following  well-known  quotation 
from  the  Classics : — 

'  Sons  shall  be  his, — on  couches  lulled  to  rest. 

The  little  ones,  enrobed,  with  sceptres  play  ; 
Their  infant  cries  are  loud  as  stern  behest  ; 

Their  knees  the  vermeil  covers  shall  display. 
As  king  hereafter  one  shall  be  addressed  ; 

The  rest,  as  princes,  in  our  states  shall  sway. 

'  And  daughters  also  to  him  shall  be  born. 

They  shall  be  placed  upon  the  ground  to  sleep  ; 
Their  playthings,  tiles  ;  their  dress,  the  simplest  worn  ; 

Their  part  alike  from  good  and  ill  to  keep. 
And  ne'er  their  parents'  hearts  to  cause  to  mourn  ; 

To  cook  the  food,  and  spirit-malt  to  steep.1 

For  a  month  a  Chinese  baby  is  nameless  ;  then,  emerging 
from  the  state  of  being  a  mere  unit  in  babydom,  it  has  a 
feast  given  in  its  honour ;  a  tentative  name  is  bestowed 
on  it,  or  rather,  in  the  expressive  phraseology  of  the 
Chinese,  it  has  its  name  '  altered '  from  that  of  '  Baby,' 
or  '  Love,'  to  something  more  distinctive ;  and  its  head 
is  shaved, — a  most  wise  provision  in  a  country  where 
parasites  are  accepted  as  an  infliction  of  Providence  to 
teach  patience.  Severity  is  held  up  as  a  proper  treatment 
for  children  ;  natural  affection,  however,  often  carries  the 
day,  so  that  there  is,  as  the  outcome,  a  constant  conflict 
between  the  two  principles,  such  as  the  Persians  represent 
as  existent  between  the  principles  of  good  and  evil ;  neither, 
in  the  case  under  question,  being,  however,  an  unmitigated 
good  or  an  unqualified  evil.  If  the  child  cries,  as  a  rule 

137 


Things  Chinese 

everything  it  wants  is  given  to  it.  At  other  times,  the 
parents  give  way  to  violent  fits  of  temper  in  their  efforts 
to  bring  the  child  to  obedience,  when  it  is  beaten  with  great 
cruelty,  on  the  head,  or  anywhere,  with  sticks  of  firewood, 
or  anything  that  comes  handy,  and,  like  a  typhoon,  these 
violent  outbursts  upset  everything. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  trials,  as  well  as  the  theory 
that  play  is  a  waste  of  time,  the  Chinese  child  has  a  fair 
amount  of  enjoyment,  which  it  fully  appreciates,  and  makes 
good  use  of.  Marriages  galore,  and  funerals,  conducted  on 
the  most  approved  Salvationist  principles,  with  bands  of 
music  ;  processions  and  feasts  ;  toys,  primitive  in  construction 
and  cheap  in  material  to  be  sure — and  what  child  does  not 
know  how  to  enjoy  toys — are  all  specially  provided  for  his 
delectation,  and  how  he  enters  into  the  spirit  of  everything 
with  true  zest  needs  only  to  be  seen  to  be  understood. 

New  Year's  time  is  the  most  glorious  of  all  for  little 
John  Chinaman.  In  all  his  fine  toggery  he  trudges  along 
at  his  father's  side  to  pay  his  New  Year's  calls,  his  little 
brain  busy  at  work  calculating  how  many  cash  he  will 
get  in  presents  from  his  father's  acquaintances,  while  the 
old  gentleman  himself  is  thinking  of  the  good  bargains 
that  this  year  will  bring.  '  Kung-hei',  fat  ts'oi','  here  they 
are,  the  little  man  bowing  and  scraping  and  shaking  his 
chubby  little  fingers  in  exact  imitation  of  his  elders.  A 
veritable  chip  of  the  old  block,  he  takes  his  pleasures 
gravely,  but,  the  visits  over,  he  evidently  enjoys  the  fun 
to  the  full,  as  with  lighted  joss-stick,  as  assiduously  as 
a  chiffonnier,  he  carefully  turns  over  the  mass  of  smoking 
paper  fragments,  the  remnants  of  the  long  string  of 
crackers  his  big  brother  has  just  let  off,  to  be  rewarded 
by  half  a  dozen  which  have  missed  fire. 

But  before  many  years  the  boy's  free  childhood  is  over 
and  his  education  is  commenced ;  his  name  is  again 
'  altered '  to  a  new  one,  though  at  the  same  time  he 
keeps  his  childhood's  name,  or  '  milk  name,'  as  it  is 
expressed  sometimes,  through  life.  (See  Article  on 
Birthdays.) 

138 


China 

CHINA. — The  origin  of  the  name  by  which  this 
country  is  known  to  the  nations  of  the  West  is  not 
certain.  If  we  are  to  take  the  evidence  of  some  ancient 
Indian  books,  such  as  the  laws  of  Manu,  the  name  China 
was  in  use  in  the  twelfth  century  B.C.  It  has  also  been 
supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  family  of  Tsin,  but  this 
would  give  a  later  origin  to  it.  The  chief  of  this  family 
obtained  eventually,  after  having  made  history  for  some 
centuries,  sway  over  the  whole  of  China,  and  even  long 
anterior  to  that  period,  the  kingdom  subject  to  this  sept, 
being  situated  at  the  north-west  portals  of  China,  might 
have  had  its  name  given  by  strangers  to  the  rest  of  the 
land. 

Cathay  is  a  designation  of  a  much  later  date,  being 
derived  from  the  Ki-tah,  or  Khitan  (hence  Khitai,  Khata, 
or  Cathay),  who  ruled  the  North  of  China  in  the  tenth 
century.  This  name  was  used  for  nearly  a  thousand  years 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Central  Asia,  and  from  them  it 
spread  to  other  nations.  The  Russians  still  call  China, 
Khitai.  It  is  interesting  and  curious  to  notice  the  pairs 
of  names  which  have  been  applied  to  China,  those  that 
used  them  being  often  ignorant  that  they  were  one  and 
the  same  country :  one  being  '  the  name  of  the  great 
nation  in  the  Far  East  as  known  by  land/  and  learned 
from  overland  travellers,  the  other  its  name  as  known 
by  sea,  and  learned  from  navigators.  We  cannot  do  more 
here  than  just  name  them  in  couples, — Seres,  Sinae ; 
Khitai,  Machin  ;  Cathay,  China.  None  of  these  names 
are  used  by  the  natives  themselves.  The  '  Celestial 
Empire '  has  some  Chinese  excuse  for  its  origin  ;  'Pin- 
Chow,  which  Williams  translates  as  '  Heavenly  Dynasty,' 
being  used  to  a  slight  extent  in  the  sense  of  the  '  Kingdom 
which  the  dynasty  appointed  by  Heaven  rules  over,'  but 
not  being  a  term  of  general  application  among  the  common 
people.  The  latter  use  several  names  :  Cluing  Kivok,  '  The 
Middle  Kingdom' — and  it  is  possible  to  obtain  native 
maps  of  the  world  with  China  not  only  in  the  middle, 
but  monopolising  nearly  the  whole  of  the  map,  while 

139 


Things  Chinese 

England  and  other  countries  are  represented  as  small 
islands  or  single  cities  lying  round  its  borders.  Chung 
Kvvok  '  can  be  traced  back  to  more  than  a  thousand 
years  before  Christ.  In  those  far-off  days  it  was  used 
to  denote  the  province  of  Honan,  which  is  almost  the 
centre  of  China.  As  the  reigning  family  became  more 
and  more  powerful,  they  gave  the  name  to  the  whole 
country.'  Another  common  name  is  Tlong  Shdn,  '  The 
Hills  (or  Country)  of  T'ong ' ;  the  T'ong  (T'ang)  dynasty, 
being  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in  ancient  history,  the 
name  in  all  probability  took  its  rise  then.  From  the 
same  source  the  usual  name  in  vogue,  in  the  South  of 
China,  for  the  people,  is  T'ong  yan,  '  the  men  of  T'ong,' 
while  in  the  North  it  is  Han  jm,  '  the  men  of  Hdn,'  Hdn 
again  being  the  name  of  another  ancient  dynasty. 

The  following  names  also  appear  for  the  people  and 
country  in  literature,  viz.,  Lai  Man,  or  '  the  Black-haired 
Race' ;  Chung  WdKwok,  'The  Middle  Flowery  Kingdom,' 
in  contradistinction  to  Ngoi  Tei,  '  the  Outlying  Lands.' 

An  old  name  for  China  is  Wd  ffa,  '  The  Glorious  Ha ' ; 
Ha  again  being  an  ancient  dynasty,  while  the  most  modern 
name  is  Tai  Tsling  Kwok,  '  The  Great  Pure  Kingdom,'  so 
named  after  the  present,  or  Ts'ing  dynasty. 

It  appears  a  coincidence  to  find  a  name  which  means 
'  The  East '  applied  by  the  Chinese  to  their  own  land. 

Different  religions  have  also  bestowed  their  appellations 
on  this  much-named  country  ;  the  Buddhists  have  called  it 
by  the  Hindoo  name  of  Chin  Tan,  or  '  Dawn,'  and  Chin  Nd; 
and  the  Mohammedans,  J^ung  T'0,  or  '  Land  of  the  East.' 
The  former,  Edkins  says,  '  may  be  the  China  of  Ptolemy.' 
The  general  concensus  of  opinion  now  is  that  the  '  Land  of 
Sinim,'  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah,  is  China.  In 
modern  Latin,  that  used  by  learned  men  in  modern  times, 
Lingua  sinica  is  the  Chinese  language  ;  and  the  term  sino- 
logue is  one  applied  to  scholars  of  the  Chinese  language. 
Again  the  Seres  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  are  also  con- 
sidered to  be  the  Chinese. 

Books  recommended. — Edkins'a  '  Buddhism.'      Williams's  'Middle  King- 

I4O 


Chinese  Abroad 

dom.'  Gillespie's  '  Land  of  Siuim.'  See  also  Yule's  '  Travels  of  Marco  Polo,' 
vol.  i.,  introduction,  p.  11.  For  the  arguments  in  support  of  the  Seres 
being  the  Chinese,  see  Anthon's  'Classical  Dictionary,'  Article  'Seres,'  where 
numerous  authorities  are  quoted.  Roman  authorities  are  also  given  in 
Andrew's  'Latin-English  Dictionary,'  as  well  as  in  Cordier's  '  BiMiotheca 
Sinica.' 

CHINESE  ABROAD.  — How  well  adapted  John 
Chinaman  is  for  going  abroad,  the  following  quotation 
from  Sir  Walter  Medhurst's  pen  will  show : — 

'The  phases  of  character  in  which  the  Chinese  possess  the  most 
interest  to  us  Western  peoples,  are  those  which  so  peculiarly  fit  them 
for  competing  in  the  great  labour  market  of  the  world.  They  are 
good  agriculturalists,  mechanics,  labourers,  and  sailors,  and  they 
possess  all  the  intelligence,  delicacy  of  touch,  and  unwearying  patience 
which  are  necessary  to  render  them  first-rate  machinists  and  manu- 
facturers. They  are,  moreover,  docile,  sober,  thrifty,  industrious, 
self-denying,  enduring,  and  peace-loving  to  a  degree.  They  are  equal 
to  any  climate,  be  it  hot  or  frigid  :  all  that  is  needed  is  teaching  and 
guiding,  combined  with  capital  and  enterprise,  to  convert  them  into 
the  most  efficient  workmen  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  .  .  . 
Wherever  the  tide  of  Chinese  emigration  has  set  in,  there  they  have 
proved  themselves  veritable  working  bees,  and  made  good  their  footing, 
to  the  exclusion  of  less  quiet,  less  exacting,  less  active,  or  less  intelli- 
gent artisans  and  labourers.' 

It  is  not  only  in  recent  years  that  the  Chinese  have 
gone  abroad  :  they  go  now  as  emigrants,  but  records  show 
that  they  were  as  enterprising  and  daring  in  their  expedi- 
tions in  former  periods  as  any  Western  nations  were  at 
such  times.  The  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  enabled 
the  Chinese  to  put  to  sea  with  a  confidence  they  would 
otherwise  not  have  possessed  ;  for  it  came  in  as  a  dernier 
ressort  when  fogs  obscured  the  headlands  by  day,  or  mists 
clouded  the  stars  at  night.  The  compass  was  first  used  by 
the  geomancers  (see  Article  on  Fung  Shui),  who  even 
observed  its  variation.  A  simpler  kind  was  employed  at 
sea,  as  all  the  surrounding  concentric  circles,  with  the 
names  of  the  zodiacal  signs,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  were  unnecessary 
there ;  and  this  compass,  so  primitive  in  its  construction— 
and  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  it  was  originally  a  floating 
compass — has  been  used  by  the  Chinese  '  for  about  eight 
hundred  years.'  They  took  voyages  to  Japan  and  Corea 
— one  to  the  latter  country  being  undertaken  three  hundred 
and  seventy  years  before  Christopher  Columbus  launched 

141 


Things  Chinese 

his  frail  barques  in  search  of  the  new  world  across  the 
Atlantic. 

They  not  only  went  in  their  own  vessels,  but  during  the 
Tang  dynasty,  in  the  ninth  century,  the  Chinese  merchants 
at  Canton  '  were  in  the  habit  of  chartering  foreign — 
probably  Arab — vessels  with  foreign  sailing  masters  to 
trade  between  Canton  and  Colombo.  .  .  .  They  took 
carrier  pigeons  with  them,  and  sent  back  word  by  them 
to  their  charterers.' 

The  Mongols,  ruling  at  one  time  in  both  China  and 
Persia,  carried  on  intercourse  between  these  two  countries 
by  sea — thus  semi-circumnavigating  Asia — in  large  fleets, 
carrying  ambassadors  and  merchandise.  Aided  by  the 
compass,  and  taking  advantage  of  the  north-east  monsoon, 
they  started  on  their  long  and  hazardous  voyage,  returning 
with  the  favouring  gales  of  the  south-east  monsoon. 
Traffic  was  even  kept  up  to  recent  years,  within  the  memory 
of  the  writer,  with  the  numerous  islands  to  the  south-east 
of  Asia  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Straits  Settlements, 
Borneo  and  Celebes,  and  the  same  navigation  was  carried 
on  between  the  North  and  South  of  China  till  the  steamer 
traffic  drove  the  slow  and  unwieldy  junk  from  the  trade. 
In  olden  days,  however,  not  only  Java,  but  India,  Ceylon, 
the  Gulf  of  Persia,  and  Arabia  were  all  visited  by  the 
enterprising  and  commercial  Chinese.  '  All  this  was  done 
before  the  days  of  Vasco  de  Gama,  and  the  credit  of  the 
first  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  must  be  awarded  to  the 
Chinese.  The  Arabs  borrowed  it  from  them,  and  it  then 
passed  to  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean.' 

Marco  Polo  informs  us  that  the  Emperor  of  China  sent 
ships  to  the  southern  part  of  Africa. 

The  strong  opposition  to  the  Chinese  in  America  has 
drawn  special  attention  to  them  in  that  quarter  of  the 
globe,  but,  notwithstanding  so  much  talk  about  them,  the 
numbers  that  have  gone  over  are  not  so  large  as  one  would 
naturally  have  expected  (Chinese  workmen  first  went  to 
America  in  1855,  when  3,526  coolies  went  under  contract), 
for  in  the  United  States,  in  1880,  there  were  only  105,642, 

142 


Chinese  Abroad 

and  in  1890,  107475.  In  1894,  105,312  registered  them- 
selves, out  of  what  was  stated  to  be,  in  round  numbers, 
110,000.  About  8,000  registered  in  the  Pacific  States, 
6,247  m  NCW  York,  and  1,784  in  Pennsylvania.  New  York 
had  1,000  Chinese  laundries  in  1895.  There  is  a  regular 
Chinese  town  within  the  city  of  San  Francisco  with  a 
population  of  30,000,  two  theatres,  sixteen  opium  dens, 
and  one  hundred  and  ten  gambling  dens.  The  Chinese 
are  found  as  far  north  as  Alaska.  The  greater  number  of 
them  seem  to  be  in  the  Western  States.  In  1890,96,844, 
or  90' 1 1  per  cent,  were  in  the  Western  portion  of  the 
country.  The  rate  of  increase  since  1870  has  been  as 
follows:  1860  to  1870,  80-91  per  cent.;  1870  to  1880, 
66'88  per  cent,  1880  to  1890,  rpi  per  cent.,  or  an  increase 
of  2,01%  There  were  said  to  be  less  than  100,000  or 
120,000  in  the  States  in  1900.  Emigration  has  almost 
practically  stopped,  as  only  certain  classes  are  allowed  to 
enter,  such  as  bond  fide  merchants  (partners),  including 
shop-keepers,  travellers  for  curiosity,  and  genuine  students, 
not  simply  those  who  wish  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
English  for  business  purposes,  and  members  of  the 
diplomatic  and  consular  bodies.  The  wives  and  families  of 
those  resident  in  the  States  are  allowed  to  join  their 
husbands  and  fathers.  In  1901,  the  Chinese  had  decreased 
by  17,675,  the  number  being  89,800. 

'There  were  4,383  Chinese  in  Canada,  in  1881,'  and  1 1,000  in  1900. 
'  This,  however,  does  not  include  the  large  number  scattered  about  in  the 
outlying  parts  of  British  Columbia,  and  in  the  Yukon  mining  region,  for 
the  Chinese  are  great  placer  miners.'  '  Despite  the  poll-tax  of  850  Gold 
per  head,  which  is  exacted  from  every  Chinaman  entering  Canada,  .  .  . 
14,000  Chinese  immigrants  have  arrived  in  Canada  since  the  tax  was 
instituted  in  1886,  yielding  nearly  8700,000  to  the  federal  treasury. 
As  domestics,  market-gardeners,  and  laundrymen,  they  fill  so  important 
a  place  in  the  life  of  British  Columbia  that  repeated  agitation  for 
increased  restrictions  upon  their  entry  has  as  yet  failed  to  produce  any 
effect  at  Ottawa.  ...  A  monster  petition'  was  [in  July  1896]  'got  up, 
asking  the  Dominion  Government  to  increase  the  poll-tax  to  8500'— 
and  was  '  widely  signed  in  the  province,  reciting  that  Chinese  labour  is 
driving  out  white  labour  in  the  mining,  salmon  fishery,  and  other 
industries.' 

The  numbers  that  entered  the  Dominion  have  fluctuated 

H3 


Things  Chinese 

in  different  years :  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  3Oth  June 
1891,  it  was  2,1 14  ;  while  the  next  year  it  was  3,276.  They 
are  pretty  numerous  in  British  Columbia  and  Vancouver. 
Some  thirteen  years  ago  there  were  some  5,000  Chinese  in 
the  city  of  Victoria  alone.  '  It  was  with  their  aid  that  the 
Western  section  of  the  great  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  was 
constructed,  and  they  have  been  the  pioneers  of,  or  aids  to, 
many  valuable  industries  and  enterprises  being  opened  up.' 
The  construction  of  the  railroad  across  the  United  States 
was  also  largely  due  to  their  help, '  Chinese  workmen  form- 
ing the  bulk  of  the  labourers  on  the  Union  Pacific.' 

In  Trinidad  there  were,  about  twenty  years  ago,  4,000 
or  5,000  Chinese,  but  they  have  decreased  to  probably 
about  2,000  or  3,000,  [2,200  in  1900].  They  used  to  work 
in  sugar  plantations,  but  are  now  principally  shopkeepers, 
as  well  as  general  merchants,  miners  and  railway  builders, 
etc.  There  were  three  Chinese  males  in  Grenada  in  1891, 
out  of  a  population  of  53,209.  In  the  Leeward  Islands,  by 
the  census  of  1891,  there  were  83  males  and  39  females, 
natives  of  China,  making  a  total  of  122.  In  Antigua  the 
numbers  were  66  and  3,  making  a  total  of  69.  In  Jamaica, 
in  1891,  they  had  increased  to  males  373,  females  108,  total 
481,  of  whom  347  were  born  in  China  ;  thus  rising  from  -02 
of  the  total  population  in  1881,  to  -08  in  1891. 

In  British  Guiana,  by  the  census  of  1881,  there  were 
4,393  Chinese,  while  their  estimated  number  in  1887  was 
males  2,115,  females  1,061,  total  3,176;  and  in  1888, 
3,074.  In  1893,  there  seem  to  have  been  about  the  same 
number,  viz.,  3,000,  for  in  the  same  year  the  Legislature  of 
British  Guiana  offered  a  bounty  of  $25  a  head  for  5,000 
Chinamen  from  the  United  States.  They  were  wanted  to 
work  under  contract  on  sugar  plantations  and  in  gold  mines. 
It  was  stated  in  1900  that  there  were  2,900,  and  that  they 
were  decreasing  in  numbers. 

In  Surinam,  or  Dutch  Guiana,  with  a  population  of 
57,000  inhabitants,  there  is  a  sprinkling  of  Chinese. 

In  Chile,  in  1885,  the  Chinese  numbered  1,164,  now 
there  are  7,000. 

144 


Chinese  Abroad 

In  Peru  there  are  50,000  Asiatics  who  are  chiefly 
Chinese,  viz.,  47,000,  out  of  a  population  of  2, £00,000. 
They  are  said  to  be  pouring  into  Brazil  and  Mexico  in 
large  numbers. 

In  Mexico,  in  1893,  there  were  said  to  be  about  3,000 
Chinese,  of  which  number  600  were  employed  in  the  mines 
in  the  State  of  Sinaloa. 

In  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  in  1877,  there  were  43,811 
Chinese.  They  have  increased  till  now  there  are  90,000 
in  these  countries. 

In   Hawaii,  in    1884,  there    were    17,939   Chinese;    in 

1890,  15,000;  in  1896,  21,616  out  of  a  total  population  of 
109,020,  'the  native    Hawaiians  numbering  only   31,019.' 
In    1899  the  Chinese  were  estimated  'at  27,000;  6,000  of 
whom  were  employed  on  sugar  plantations.     Many  useless 
swamps'    in    these    islands   have   been    reclaimed    by   the 
Chinese  and  used  for  the  cultivation  of  rice.     '  Until   1886, 
Chinese   labourers   were    largely   employed    in   the   sugar 
plantations  of  Hawaii : '  after  that,  Japanese  took  the  places 
they   had    filled.      As   sugar    fell    in    price,    the   Chinese, 
being  cheaper  labourers,  were  taken  on  again,  and  hundreds 
of  them  arrived  in  the  Islands  for  that  purpose,  until,  in 
1893,  there  were  40,000  settled  in  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
Many  Chinese  hold  very  good  positions,  including  several 
Chinese  lawyers.     The  American  Exclusion  Act  against  the 
Chinese  now  applies  to  Hawaii. 

In   Mauritius  and  its  dependencies,  by  the  census  of 

1891,  there  was  a  total  of  3,151  Chinese,  of  whom  9  were 
females,  being  a  decrease  in  numbers,  as  the  previous  census 
showed  a  Chinese  population  of  3,558. 

In  1890  they  were  increasing  largely  in  numbers  in 
Kimberley,  having  established  themselves  in  75  shops, 
many  of  them  being  employed  as  masons,  carpenters,  and 
painters. 

In  India  and  Ceylon  there  are  some  Chinese  to  be 
found,  and  there  is  said  to  be  unmistakable  evidence  of 
their  presence  in  the  Mysore  in  ancient  times.  Quite  re- 
cently, even  further  evidence  of  their  work,  it  is  considered, 

145  K 


Things  Chinese 

has  been  discovered,  for  while  sinking  a  main  shaft  in  the 
Harnhalli  gold  mine,  a  number  of  mining  implements  of 
various  kinds  were  found  which  had  been  used  by  the  old 
miners  in  their  work  a  thousand  years  or  more  ago,  and  it 
is  supposed  that  the  workings  were  made  by  Chinese. 
The  tools  are  said  to  be  like  Chinese  ones,  and  unlike 
Hindoo  ones. 

In  Burmah  they  are  numerous.  The  whole  trade  of 
Burrnah  is  in  Chinese  hands.  Sir  L.  Griffin  considers  that 
the  future  of  Burmah  belongs  to  the  Chinese.  A  great 
proportion  of  the  trade  of  Rangoon  is  in  their  hands. 
'They  are  numerous  in  all  the  commercial  towns  up 
country,  such  as  Mandalay,  etc.,  and  have  increased  very 
rapidly  —  none  of  the  indigenous  races,  such  as  the 
Burmese,  Taliens,  or  Karens,  have  multiplied  so  greatly. 
They  are  wanted  in  such  places  where  the  population  is 
small.  They  possess  the  very  qualities  which  the  Burmese 
lack,  and  are  respectable  citizens.  .  .  .  They  are  the  best 
of  all  immigrants  in  the  East.'  For  centuries  past  the 
Western  Chinese  have  had  commercial  intercourse  with 
Burmah,  and  a  few  hundreds  were  '  settled  as  merchants  in 
Bhamo,  Mandalay,  Fangyan,  and  other  places/  but  the 
British  annexation  of  the  country  has  increased  their 
number :  so  that  there  are  now  probably  5,000  Yun-nan 
and  Sz-chuan  men  living  in  Burmah,  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  taking  Burmese  wives,  the  sons  of  these  unions  going  to 
school  in  Yun-nan  to  learn  Chinese,  and  learning  Burmese 
in  the  land  of  their  birth.  From  South-Eastern  China  the 
immigration  has  lasted  many  years,  but  in  small  numbers 
until  recently,  when  British  rule  afforded  greater  security. 
There  are  now  probably  some  35,000  Chinese  from  the 
Eastern  Coast  in  Burmah,  which,  with  the  5,000  already 
mentioned  as  from  the  West  of  China,  would  make 
not  far  short  of  40,000  Chinese  in  Burmah,  there  being 
io,coo  in  Mandalay,  while  there  are  probably  21,000  in 
Rangoon,  though  we  have  seen  it  stated  that  there  are 
40,000  in  the  latter  city  alone. 

There  were  about  1,000  Chinese  settled  in  Haiphong 

146 


Chinese  Abroad 

about  ten  years  ago,  '  where  they  have  monopolised  every 
pursuit  requiring  skill,  perseverance,  and  commercial 
acumen.'  In  Haiphong,  in  1890,  out  of  a  population  of 
1 5,000,  5,600  were  Chinese. 

In  the  City  of  Hu6,  in  the  capital  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Annam,  800  are  Chinese,  the  total  population  being 
estimated  at  100,000 ;  and  in  Tourane,  Haiphong,  and 
other  ports  in  Tonkin,  the  trade  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of 
the  Chinese. 

The  population  of  Cochin-China,  in  1889,  was  1,864,214, 
of  which  56,528  were  Chinese.  In  Saigon,  out  of  a 
population  of  16,213,  there  were  7,346  Chinese.  Now  by 
the  last  census  there  are  73,857  Chinese,  out  of  a  population 
of  2,252,034. 

In  the  town  of  Cholon,  four  miles  from  Saigon,  there 
were,  in  1889,  14,944  Chinese,  out  of  a  population  of 

37,441- 

'  The  people  [of  Cambodia]  are  apathetic  and  indolent, 
and  have  allowed  the  trade  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
Chinese.' 

There  are  nearly  one  million  and  a  half  of  Chinese 
subjects  resident  in  Siam  (the  latest  estimate  being 
1,350,000  ;  another  figure  is  1,400,000).  They  '  have  almost 
monopolised  the  local  trade,'  and  the  general  revenue  is 
farmed  out  to  them.  At  least  200,000  Chinese  from  the 
Island  of  Hainan  alone  are  believed  to  be  in  Siam.  The 
whole  population  of  Siam  is  estimated  at  from  six  to  ten 
millions.  Bangkok  is  'occupied  by  a  mixed  Siamese  and 
Chinese  population,  estimated  at  from  400,000  to  500,000 
[a  later  estimate  puts  it  at  350,000].  As  in  so  many  other 
parts  of  Further  India,  the  Chinese  have  here  almost 
monopolised  the  local  trade.' 

'We  point  with  just  pride  to  the  great  Chinese  trading  communities 
of  Hongkong  and  Singapore,  which  have  grown  up  under  our  fostering 
care.  The  annual  immigration  from  South  China  amounts  to  over 
200,000  per  annum,  while  about  three-fourths  of  that  number  annually 
return  to  their  native  land.  In  and  around  the  Straits  Settlements  we  are 
supposed  to  have  at  least  600,000  Chinese,  not  counting  those  in  Borneo, 
the  Dutch  colonies,  or  the  Philippines.  If  all  territory  under  direct 
British  rule  be  included,  they  slightly  outnumber  the  children  of  the  soil.' 

H7 


Things  Chinese 

For  scores  of  years  they  have  been  pouring  into 
Malaysia,  and  all  surrounding  islands.  An  early  inter- 
course between  China  and  these  islands  is  known  to  have 
existed.  One  work  ascribes  the  beginning  of  this  to  the 
fifth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  this  intercourse  was 
afterwards  renewed  in  the  tenth  century.  When  the 
Portuguese  first  arrived  in  this  part  of  the  world  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  they  found  Chinese  junks  lying  at 
Malacca,  and  what  was  evidently  a  prosperous  trade  being 
carried  on  by  the  Chinese.  From  all  that  can  be  gathered, 
they  seemed  in  these  early  days  to  have  been  simply  birds  of 
passage.  At  all  events,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that 
they  settled  down  amongst  their  new  surroundings  and 
became  inhabitants  of  the  land.  As  to  the  present 
day : — 

'  The  annual  influx  of  Chinese  emigrants  into  the  Peninsula  cannot 
be  ascertained  ;  but  some  notion  of  its  amount  may  be  formed  from 
the  number  which  lands  in  Singapore.  This,  on  an  average  of  years,  is 
about  100,000  (in  1894  it  was  over  137,000),  of  whom  about  one-fourth 
settle  in  the  island,  the  majority  being  sent  on  to  Penang  or  dispersed 
among  the  neighbouring  States.  The  number  that  return  yearly  to 
China  from  the  same  port  is  about  70,000,  most  of  them  resorting  to  it 
from  neighbouring  countries  for  the  convenience  of  a  passage. 

'  The  emigrants  from  China  are  all  from  the  four  maritime  provinces 
of  the  empire — Kvvongtung,  Fokien,  Chekiang  and  Kiangnan.  Four- 
fifths  of  the  whole  number  come  from  Amoy  and  Swatow,  and  about 
a  tenth  part  from  Canton  ;  the  emigrants  from  the  two  more  northerly 
provinces  forming  but  a  very  small  fraction.  Nearly  all  the  emigrants 
consist  of  the  labouring  classes — fishermen,  artisans,  and  common 
day-labourers.  They  usually  arrive  at  their  places  of  destination  in 
great  poverty,  and  are  obliged  to  mortgage  their  labour  to  their 
resident  countrymen  in  consideration  of  their  passage-money. 

'  From  the  nature  of  the  emigration,  the  proportion  of  males  to 
females  is  always  great.  .  .  .  The  result,  of  course,  is  that  the  increase 
of  the  Chinese  population  by  natural  means  is  very  slow.' 

This  paucity  of  women  is  one  of  the  peculiar  features  of 
Chinese  emigration.  Naturally  children  are  also  absent, 
for,  if  those  going  to  try  their  fortunes  abroad  have  wives 
and  children,  they  are  left  at  home,  where  they  are  con- 
sidered to  be  more  the  adjuncts  of  the  ancestral  abode 
than  the  peculiar  property  of  the  individual  himself,  to  say 
nothing  of  being  companions  of  the  father  and  husband. 
No  doubt  the  abject  poverty  of  most  of  the  emigrants  is 

148 


Chinese  Abroad 

also  one  cause  for  all  home  ties  being  sundered  ;  for  none 
of  the  middle  or  upper  classes  are  to  be  found  amongst 
them. 

The  total  population  of  the  Straits  Settlements,  in  1891, 
was  512,905.  The  increase  of  the  Chinese,  from  1881  to 
1891,  was  53,662  or  307  per  cent.,  while  the  Malays  and 
other  natives  only  increased  9-5  per  cent.  There  are  4,450 
Chinese  in  every  10,000  of  the  population.  They  are  Hok- 
kiens  (natives  of  the  Fuk-kien  province),  Teo  Chews 
(natives  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Swatow),  Cantonese, 
Hakkas  (see  Article  on  Hakkas),  or  Khehs  (as  the  Hakkas 
are  called  in  the  Amoy  or  Swatow  speech),  Hylams  (natives 
of  the  Island  of  Hainan),  and  Straits-born  Chinese.  The 
census  of  1891  gives  the  population  of  Singapore  Island  as 
184,544,  the  Chinese  being  121,908  and  the  Malays  35,992 
Penang  had  87,920  Chinese,  and  Malacca  18,161.  Penang 
has  now  over  90,000,  and  Malacca  29,000. 

The  increase  by  the  census  of  1901  amounts  to  53,944  or 
237  per  cent,  and  in  every  10,000  of  the  population  there 
were  4,927  Chinese.  The  Cantonese  have  increased  in  the 
ten  years  20^4  per  cent. ;  the  Hokkiens  25*5  ;  the  Teo  Chiu 
i,  and  the  Straits-born  Chinese  267  per  cent.  The  latter 
have  increased  in  greater  proportion  than  any  of  the  others, 
they  numbering  44,022  in  1901  as  against  34,757111  1891. 
During  the  ten  years  under  review,  the  disproportion 
between  the  sexes  has  been  reduced:  in  1891  it  was  in 
every  1,000  persons  over  15  years  of  age,  male  857,  females 
143  ;  in  1901  it  was  831  and  169  respectively. 

'  The  population  of  the  State  [of  Johore]  is  remarkable  for  contain- 
ing a  larger  number  of  Chinese  than  of  Malays.  The  exact  figures 
have  not  been  ascertained,  but  probably  come  to  200,000,  viz. :  Malays, 
35,000,  Chinese,  150,000  [that  is  three-quarters  of  the  population],  and 
Javanese,  15,000.  More  than  half  are  to  be  found  within  15  miles  of 
the  Singapore  Straits.  The  Chinese  are  chiefly  found  as  cultivators  of 
gambier  and  pepper,  spread  over  about  this  range  of  country  in  the 
extreme  southern  end  of  the  Peninsula,  nearest  to  Singapore,  of  which 
Johore  has  been  described  as  the  "  back  country."  These  cultivators 
go  from  Singapore,  the  capitalists  for  whom  they  cultivate  are 
Singapore  traders,  and  all  their  produce  and  most  of  their  earnings 
find  their  way  back  to  Singapore  again.' 

Hundreds   go   by   almost    every   steamer    from    China 

149 


Things  Chinese 

to  the  Straits  and  adjacent  countries.  More  than 
100,000  landed  in  Singapore  in  a  single  year ;  and,  not 
including  those  in  Borneo,  the  Dutch  Colonies  and  the 
Philippines,  there  are  a  million  Chinese  in  the  Straits 
Settlements  and  their  immediate  nighbourhood. 

In  Negri  Sembilan,  a  group  of  nine  small  States,  the 
entire  population  in  1891  was  41,617,  of  whom  about  5,511 
were  Chinese,  and  amongst  them  37  females.  It  is  now 
stated  that  over  one-third  of  the  population  is  Chinese.  Of 
them  Dr.  Dennys  says,  '  The  number  of  Chinese  engaged 
in  tapioca  estates  and  in  mines  have  greatly  increased,  and, 
for  years  to  come,  there  must  be  a  perceptible  monthly 
increase.' 

In  Sungei  Ujong,  with  a  total  population  in  1891  of 
23,000,  18,000  were  Chinese.  In  Jelebu  also,  the  Chinese 
form  a  large  proportion  of  the  population. 

In  1891,  the  census  gave  the  population  of  Selangor  as 
81,592,  of  whom  50,884  were  Chinese.  They,  both  as 
traders  and  miners,  form  the  most  important  element  of  the 
population,  and  are  emigrants  from  the  south  of  China, 
being  chiefly  composed  of  Hakkas  (Khehs)  and  Cantonese. 

'  At  Larut,  and  at  the  chief  mining  settlements  in  the 
interior '  of  the  State  of  Perak,  '  the  Chinese  form  a  large 
part  of  the  population.'  In  Perak,  in  1 89 1 ,  there  were  94,345 
Chinese,  or  44  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population.  The 
Perak  census  of  1901  shows  a  total  population  of  329,665, 
of  which  there  were  150,239  Chinese.  In  every  10,000 
of  the  population  the  Chinese  numbered  4,557.  'The 
Chinese  have  increased  enormously  in  the  Federated 
Malay  States  of  late,  but  there  is  still  a  vast  disparity 
between  the  sexes ;  so  great  in  fact  that,  in  the  total 
figures  for  the  States,  there  are  491,313  males,  of  all  races, 
to  only  185,825  females.'  In  Perak  they  have  increased 
363  per  cent,  since  1879,  and  are  nearly  equal  to  the 
Malay  population,  which,  in  1891,  was  96,719.  The  total 
population  of  the  State  was  214,254.  In  Pahang  there 
were,  in  1891,  3,241  Chinese,  out  of  a  total  population 
Of  57462. 

150 


Chinese  Abroad 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  demand  for  Chinese  (and 
Indian)  labour  in  the  Federated  Malay  States  has  grown 
so  great  that  wages  have  risen  sometimes  to  double  or 
treble  the  rate  paid  a  few  years  ago,  and  important  works, 
such  as  roads,  railways,  and  irrigation,  have  been  seriously 
delayed,  and  so  earnestly  is  John  Chinaman  wanted  in  that 
part  of  the  world  that  the  government  of  those  States  has 
actually  arranged  for  direct  steam  communication  with 
several  Chinese  ports  and  provinces  '  a  subsidy  of  $5  a  head 
for  every  Chinese  labourer  imported  by  this  means,  up  to  a 
certain  number  and  for  a  term  of  years.' 

'  Chinese  furnish  nearly  all  the  miners,  as  well  as  the  operators  [in 
the  Malay  Peninsula].  They  have  succeeded,  employing  primitive 
methods,  where  Europeans  have  failed,  and  mining  promises  to  remain 
in  their  hands.  That  accounts  for  the  great  increase  in  the  Chinese 
population,  from  163,000  in  1891  to  303,000  in  1901.  In  Perak  and 
Selangor,  the  great  tin-producing  States,  the  Chinese  outnumber  the 
Malays  by  78,000.  Malay  population  has  advanced,  however,  from 
230,000  in  1891  to  313,000  in  1901.' 

'  The  Chinese,  who  have  been  settled  in  most  Bornean 
towns  for  generations,  conduct  all  the  trading  operations,' 
the  natives  being  '  indolent  and  wanting  in  enterprise.' 
Sandakan,  the  capital  of  British  North  Borneo,  had  a 
population  of  7,132  in  1891,  of  whom  3,627  were  Chinese. 
There  are  now  stated  to  be  20,000.  There  is  room  for 
5,000,000,  and  they  would  be  received  gladly.  In  Labuan 
they  number  over  1,000,  'are  the  chief  traders,  and  most  of 
the  industries  of  the  Island  are  in  their  hands,'  the  total 
population  being  under  6,000.  The  Chinese  seem  destined 
to  be  the  future  inhabitants  of  this  part  of  the  world  ;  the 
demand  for  them  is  increasing.  They  land  as  coolies,  but 
their  industry  and  superior  qualities  to  those  of  the  natives 
raise  them  speedily  to  the  position  of  planters,  shopkeepers, 
and  merchants.  These  Chinese  are  mostly  Hakkas, 
Cantonese,  Hainanese,  Swatow,  and  Amoy  men. 

'  The  Dutch  East  Indies  possess  a  quarter  of  a  million 
Chinese  inhabitants.' 

'The  population  of  Java,  in  the  year  1890  .  .  .  amounted  to  over 
24,000,000,  of  whom  the  Chinese  mustered  only  242,000.  In  the  islands 
lying  beyond  Java,  the  Chinese  are  less  numerous,  numbering  about 


Things  Chinese 

210,000,  and  of  these  80,000  are  settled  in  Deli  and  on  the  East  coast 
of  Sumatra.  There  are  24,000  in  Rhio,  mostly  employed  in  cultivating 
the  pepper  and  gambier  gardens  of  the  Sultan  and  other  native  chiefs. 
In  Hanca  and  Billiton  there  are  35,000  engaged  in  tin-mining.  In  the 
western  division  of  Borneo,  there  are  32,000,  who  earn  a  living  by 
mining,  cultivation,  and  trade.  In  all  these  islands  the  Chinese  are 
found  to  be  not  a  dangerous  but  a  highly  useful  element  in  the 
population.  Without  Chinese  labour,  tobacco  growing  in  Deli  and 
tin-mining  in  Banca  and  Billiton  would  certainly  not  have  reached  the 
development  they  have  now  attained.  As  to  the  western  division  of 
Borneo,  where  the  Chinese  were  formerly  so  turbulent  and  rebellious, 
their  pride  has  been  so  thoroughly  taken  down  by  military  force  that 
during  the  last  forty  years  the  Government  has  effectually  kept  them 
in  check.  In  the  outlying  islands,  the  natives  are  of  a  harder  stamp 
than  the  Javanese,  and  do  not  allow  themselves  to  be  turned  to  undue 
profitable  account  by  the  Chinese.  In  Java,  this  is  otherwise,  and  the 
Chinese,  through  their  control  of  the  revenue  farming  system,  have  a 
wide  field  for  extortion  and  "squeezing"  among  the  people.  Danger 
from  the  Chinese  in  Java  arises  not  from  their  number,  but  from  the 
power  thus  put  into  their  hands.' 

In  the  Anamba  Islands  there  were,  in  1892,  it  is  said, 
about  1,500  Malays  and  600  Chinese. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  100,000  Chinese  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  (all  the  inland  trade  being  carried  on 
by  Chinese  pedlars),  '  of  which  upwards  of  40,000  dwell 
in  the  capital  and  its  environs.'  During  the  year  1892, 
5,273  Chinese  arrived  in  Manila  in  excess  of  those 
who  left  during  that  year.  The  number,  in  1890,  was 
8,867  arrivals  in  excess  of  departures.  There  were 
51,567  Chinese  in  Manila  in  1901,  of  whom  349  are 
women,  and  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  one-third  of 
the  180,000  inhabitants  of  Manila  are  of  Chinese  descent. 
The  American  Exclusion  Act  now  applies  to  the 
Philippines. 

The  total  number  of  Chinese  in  Japan,  in  1888,  was 
4,805.  In  1890,  Yokohama  had  a  Chinese  population  of 
2,625,  out  of  a  foreign  population  of  4,218,  and  Nagasaki 
684,  out  of  a  total  of  1,004  foreign  residents.  In  1889, 
Hakodate  had  33  Chinese  residents,  out  of  a  total  of  69 
foreigners.  Osaka  had  135  Chinese,  and  Kobe  767. 
There  are  now  7,000  Chinese  in  Japan.  In  Kobe  1,767  in 
1901  ;  another  account  gives  1,288  males  and  367  females, 
and  in  Tokyo,  181.  The  war  with  Japan  took  such  of  the 

152 


Chinese  Abroad 

Chinese  population  of  the  Island  of  Formosa  as  remained 
there  under  the  Japanese  flag. 

In  Corea  there  were,  a  few  years  ago,  only  100 ;  but 
immigration  has  been  extensive  enough  to  add  very 
materially  to  their  number,  so  that  there  were,  in  1890, 
1,057  Chinese,  in  1894,  1,234,  an<^  in  1899,  3,134. 

In  Siberia,  in  1882,  a  dozen;  they  are  now 'swarming 
along  the  auriferous  banks  of  the  Upper  Yenisei  River,' and 
number  there  3,500.  From  the  ist  of  January  1893  tJ"H 
the  23rd  of  April  of  the  same  year,  when  any  further 
arrivals  were  stopped,  10,260  Chinese  coolies  entered 
Vladivostock  with  passports  from  Chefoo.  The  Chinese 
in  Vladivostock  numbered  30,000,  in  1895,  and  carry  on 
various  businesses  in  a  small  way. 

The  total  population  of  Australia  is  about  4,000,000, 
out  of  which  there  are  some  40,000  of  Chinese  race — about 
one  Chinaman  in  every  hundred  of  the  population.  The 
last  estimate  reduces  the  number  to  between  25,000  or 
30,000. 

'  If  it  had  not  been  for  Chinese  industry  and  Chinese  labour  and 
enterprise,  many  parts  of  Australia  would  have  remained  worthless  to 
the  present  time,  and,  after  all,  the  Chinese  competes  with  the  European 
in  Australia  in  comparatively  few  trades.  By  the  Chinese  in  Australia 
the  heavy  poll-tax  is  felt  to  be  too  restrictive,  more  especially  to 
Chinese  having  places  of  business  in  two  or  more  of  the  Australian 
Colonies  [for  they  are  restricted  in  going  from  one  colony  to  another], 
while  it  is  contended  that  serious  hurt  is  done  to  the  shipping  interests 
on  account  of  the  veto  practically  established  against  Chinese  immigra- 
tion from  Hongkong  and  adjacent  ports.  Mr.  Way  Lee  maintains  that 
the  plea  set  up  by  our  Australian  cousins  that  the  Chinese  work  too 
cheaply  is  altogether  fallacious.  No  Chinaman,  he  says,  will  work 
for  less  than  £\  per  week  in  Australia  ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand, 
Japanese  labour  can  be  obtained  for  30  shillings  per  month,  and 
Kanaka  labour  for  the  astonishing  low  figure  of  /6  a  year  per  man. 
Added  to  this,  each  Chinese  landing  in  New  South  Wales  has  to  pay 
a  poll-tax  of  ^100;  in  Queensland  ^30  ;  in  Victoria,  South  Australia, 
Tasmania,  Western  Australia,  or  New  Zealand  £10-,  and  in  some  of 
these  Colonies  they  are  not  allowed  to  work  in  the  mines.' 

In  Western  Australia  further  legislation,  we  under- 
stand, has  been  taken  against  the  Chinese,  who  numbered 
in  that  Colony,  in  1893,  1,378. 

In  Queensland,  in  1890,  there  were  7,242,  of  whom  92 

153 


Things  Chinese 

were  females ;  the  proportion  of  Chinese  to  the  total 
estimated  population  has  steadily  decreased  in  numbers  for 
more  than  five  years,  for,  in  1884,  the  proportion  was  4/1 6 
per  cent. ;  in  1885,  375  per  cent;  in  1886,  2-87  per  cent. ; 
in  1887,  2-50  per  cent;  in  1888,  2-13  per  cent.;  in  1889, 
1*89  per  cent;  and  in  1890,  171  per  cent  The  death-rate 
of  Chinese  in  Queensland  is  lower  than  that  of  the 
European  races.  Two  Chinese  women  were  married  in 
1890  in  Queensland,  and,  considering  the  animus  felt 
against  the  Chinese  there,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that 
they  were  married  to  their  own  countrymen,  but  of  the  24 
Chinamen  married  during  the  same  period,  22  were  married 
to  natives  of  Queensland,  and  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish 
women. 

'  In  the  period  extending  from  1866  to  1885,  295  Chinamen  married 
in  Victoria  alone.  Of  their  brides,  only  four  were  from  their  own 
country.  Of  the  remainder,  138  were  natives  of  the  colony — all,  with 
five  exceptions,  white  women — 49  were  born  in  other  Australian 
colonies,  53  in  England  and  Wales,  15  in  Scotland,  24  in  Ireland,  2  in 
Germany,  and  2  in  the  United  States  ;  while  France  and  Spain  had 
the  distinction  of  each  furnishing  a  lady  unconventional  enough  to 
ally  herself  with  a  swain  from  the  Flowery  Land.' 

In  Victoria,  the  Chinese  are  likewise  decreasing  in 
numbers.  In  1881,  they  numbered  12,123,  while  in  1891 
the  figures  were,  including  half-castes,  9,377,  of  whom  605 
were  females.  There  were  said  to  be  9,000  in  Victoria 
(1900);  and  now  only  6,248. 

In  South  Australia,  in  1891,  there  were  2,734  ;  in  1900, 
3,000.  They  are  found  in  Northern  Australia,  where,  the 
Earl  of  Kintore  says,  they  have  '  had  the  greatest  share  in 
its  development,  so  far  as  it  has  gone '  ;  and  it  is  considered 
that  they  are  indispensable  for  its  further  development.  In 
the  Northern  Territory  of  South  Australia  there  were  in 
l%91,  3,392  Chinese,  out  of  a  total  population  of  4,898. 

The  entire  population  of  New  South  Wales,  by  the 
census  of  1891,  was  1,132,234,  of  which  the  Chinese  number 
14,156.  In  1901  it  was  stated  to  be  over  10,000,  of  which 
the  women  only  numbered  677.  The  first  genuine  Chinese 
paper  printed  in  Australia  was  started  in  Sydney  in  1895 
under  the  title  of  The  Chinese  Australian  Herald, 

'54 


Chinese  Abroad 

There  were  844  Chinese  in  Tasmania  in  1881. 

There  were  4,585  Chinese  in  New  Zealand  in  1889,  in 
1901  about  5,000,  but  the  poll-tax  of  £10  imposed,  in  1881, 
on  every  Chinese  new  arrival,  who  intended  to  be  a  resident, 
reduced  the  immigrants  from  1,029  m  !88i  to  23  in  1882. 
The  figures  rose  again  to  354  in  1887,  but  they  again  fell 
off;  and,  in  most  of  the  Australian  Colonies,  they  have  de- 
creased in  numbers — the  Northern  Territory  is  an  exception 
— owing  to  the  restrictive  legislation  against  them,  the  other 
Colonies  having  followed  suit  with  the  poll-tax.  Many 
of  them  are  shop-keepers  and  general  merchants,  miners 
and  railway  builders,  and  some  of  the  most  solid  men  in 
the  community.  There  have  been  178  Chinese  naturalised 
in  New  Zealand  during  the  ten  years  ending  in  1889, 
and  they  '  are  said  to  make  excellent  citizens ' ;  more  than 
9  per  cent,  of  those  naturalised  during  that  time  being 
Chinese,  they  occupying  the  fourth  place  on  the  list  of 
those  naturalised  ;  Germans,  Danes,  and  Swedes  taking  the 
lead.  Naturalisation  is,  however,  only  effective  in  the 
Colony  in  which  it  is  granted. 

They  are  to  be  found  in  the  Transvaal,  but  no  Chinese 
women  seem  to  have  gone  there. 

There  were  three  Chinese  in  British  New  Guinea  in 
1890-1891. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  what  numbers  of  them  are 
scattered  over  the  world.  Even  London  has  a  fluctu- 
ating population  of  them,  chiefly  sailors  and  firemen  of 
the  steamers  trading  with  China.  In  1898,  out  of  1,204 
received  into  the  Strangers'  Home  for  Asiatics  in  Lime- 
house,  nearly  half  were  Chinese. 

'  There  are  very  few  Chinese  in  England — only  767,  all  told, 
according  to  the  last  enumeration.  Yet  only  three  counties  are  wholly 
without  Chinamen— Hereford,  Rutland,  and  Westmoreland.  Most  of 
our  Orientals  live  in  London  or  its  neighbourhood.  There  are  302,  in 
all,  in  London.  The  South-Eastern  counties  are  favourites  with  these 
visitors  ;  Surrey  has  45,  Kent  has  49,  Sussex  has  36,  Hants  has  24. 
There  are  17  Chinese  in  Croydon,  5  in  Brighton,  4  in  Hastings.  5  in 
Reading,  3  in  Southampton,  and  4  in  Portsmouth.  Middlesex  has  45, 
and  Essex  28.  In  Gloucester  there  are  22  Chinese,  in  Lincolnshire  n, 
in  Cheshire  14,  in  Durham  10,  and  51  in  Lancashire.  But  many  of 

155 


Things  Chinese 

them  must  find  life  rather  lonely.  There  is  only  one  Chinaman  in  all 
Oxfordshire,  one  in  Huntingdon,  one  in  Derbyshire.  The  other 
counties  have  from  two  to  nine.  [Hereford,  Rutland  and  Westmoreland 
have  none].  In  many  of  the  large  towns  a  solitary  Chinaman  is  often 
found.  Norwich  has  one,  for  instance  ;  so  have  Coventry,  Bolton,  St. 
Helens,  Blackburn,  Preston,  and  South  Shields.  Birmingham,  Salford, 
and  Hanley  have  only  two  each.  In  all  Yorkshire  there  are  only  23. 
The  Chinese  seem  to  like  Ireland;  there  are  a  total  of  112  in  that 
island.  But  they  avoid  both  Scotland  and  Wales.  There  are  only 
29  Chinese  in  Scotland  and  16  in  Monmouthshire  and  Wales.  Most 
of  the  Chinese  in  Great  Britain  are  either  Government  officials, 
students,  or  domestic  servants,  and  the  females  are  to  the  males  as 
three  to  four.'  The  proportion  of  women  to  men  of  Chinese  nationality 
in  England  is  75  per  cent. 

'  The  Chinese  colony  is  quite  a  separate  section  of  Oriental  life  in 
London.  There  are  several  shops  in  Limehouse  Causeway  owned 
by  Chinese,  with  Chinese  hieroglyphics  over  their  doors,  and  run  in 
regular  Chinese  fashion.  The  very  reckoning  of  change  is  done  by 
enumerators  on  the  counter,  after  the  old  Roman  fashion.  With  some 
of  these  shops  gambling  dens  and  opium  rooms  are  regularly  main- 
tained.' 

The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  suggested,  a  few  years  ago, 
a  solution  of  the  modern  ever-present  '  servant-girl ' 
difficulty  to  be  found  in  their  employment  by  the  harassed 
English  matron,  as  household  servants.  It  has  been  said 
that  :— 

'  Many  native  labourers  in  Germany  have  been  displaced  by 
Chinese,'  while  a  Mecklenburg  paper  is  stated  to  have  'regularly 
advertised  contracts  for  Chinese  labour,  the  prevalent  term  of  agree- 
ment being  for  ten  years,  a  cash  payment  of  200  marks  being  made  in 
advance.'  The  Germans  in  East  Africa  have  imported  Chinese 
labour  '  for  agricultural  purposes,  as  the  natives  will  not  work  more 
than  is  absolutely  necessary  to  earn  a  bare  subsistence' ;  240  Chinese 
coolies  having  been  sent  from  Singapore.  '  The  planters  in  Portuguese 
Africa  have  resolved  to  engage  a  large  number  of  Chinese  contract 
labourers  for  their  fields  in  that  country,  owing  to  the  great  want  of 
labour.' 

'  In  Hamburg  there  are  many  Chinese  dock-labourers.' 

'  In  German  New  Guinea,  experience  has  taught  .  .  .  that  for 
plantation  work  no  other  labourers  can  compete  with  the  Chinese.' 
The  coolie  traffic  of  Holland  with  China  is  nearly  'half  a  million  per 
annum  ;  while  that  of  England  is  under  50,000  ;  of  Portugal,  a  few 
hundreds  ;  of  Germany,  Hawaii,  and  the  South  American  Republics, 
hardly  as  much.' 

The  last  census  (1891)  gave  the  Chinese  in  Cape  Colony 

156 


Chinese  People 

as  215  males  and  no  females  ;  this  number  has,  however, 
largely  increased  since.  In  November  1901,  the  Chinese  in 
Port  Elizabeth,  by  around  enumeration,  were  390,  of  whom 
6  were  women. 

Like  the  Briton,  the  Chinese  are  found  nearly  every- 
where ;  like  him,  the  Chinaman  has  the  faculty  of  making 
himself  at  home  abroad  ;  and,  like  the  Briton,  he  looks  for- 
ward, after  making  his  pile,  to  return  to  his  home  and 
spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  ease  and  comfort ;  and 
again,  like  the  Briton,  the  countries  he  blesses  by  his 
presence  owe,  in  some  cases,  their  salvation,  and  in  others 
incalculable  benefits  to  him. 

Books  recommended. — The  information,  where  not  original,  has  been 
culled  from  an  immense  variety  of  sources  too  numerous  to  particularise. 
Interesting  information  about  the  Chinese  in  the  Straits  Settlements  is  given 
in  Dr.  Denny's  'Descriptive  Dictionary  of  British  Malaya.'  The  Census 
Returns  of  the  Straits  Settlements  and  other  British  Colonies  may  also  be 
mentioned. 

CHINESE  PEOPLE,  CHARACTERISTICS  OF.— 
With  regard  to  the  physical  characteristics,  the  Chinese 
belong  to  the  Mongolian  family,  possessing  its  yellowish 
skin,  lank,  coarse,  black  hair,  and  almost  rudimentary  beard 
and  whiskers,  and  scanty  hair-growth  on  the  rest  of  the 
body,  prominent  cheek-bones,  eyes  almost  invariably  black, 
lack-lustre  in  expression — Punch  describes  them  as  '  like 
button-holes ' — and  obliquely  sloping  towards  the  nose,  there 
being  either  no  bridge  to  that  organ,  or  in  other  cases 
scarcely  any,  and  broad  nostrils  ;  there  is  also  '  a  small  flap  of 
skin  of  the  upper  eyelid  overlapping  just  above  the  inner ' 
angle  of  the  eye,  at  least,  in  South  China.  The  face  is 
round  ;  they  have  small  hands  and  feet,  and  long  tapering 
fingers.  The  ankles  of  many  of  the  common  boat-women 
are  very  neat.  '  They  are  well  built  and  proportioned,  but 
short  in  stature,  especially  in  the  South,  where  a  man  of 
six  feet  in  height  is  such  a  rarity  as  to  be  nicknamed 
"  Giant." '  The  average  height  in  the  North  is  a  few  in  ?hes 
above  that  in  the  South  ;  and  difference  exists  as  to  com- 
plexion in  the  different  parts  of  the  empire  and  between 
different  classes,  owing  to  exposure  to  the  sun  and  the 

157 


Things  Chinese 

weather,  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  some,  and  which  others 
escape.  This  is  most  strikingly  manifest  in  the  skin  of  the 
Cantonese  boatman,  which  will  be  well  browned  all  over 
the  body,  except  round  his  waist,  where,  being  constantly 
covered  by  his  rolled-up  trousers,  it  is  of  a  considerably 
lighter  hue.  The  Svvatow  fisherman  is  often  swarthy  almost 
to  blackness,  nor  is  there  a  mid-region  round  his  loins  of 
a  lighter  shade,  as  he  works  in  the  garb  of  old  Adam,  minus 
the  fig-leaves.  The  faces  of  some  of  the  ladies  are  fairer, 
shielded  as  they  are  from  all  exposure,  than  those  of  many 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  South  of  Europe.  With  a  dark 
skin  one  scarcely  expects  to  find  soft  texture,  but  that  of 
even  the  common  women  is  soft.  To  a  stranger,  newly 
arrived  from  Western  lands,  there  appears  a  remarkable 
sameness  in  all  the  people — all  are  black-haired,  black- 
eyed,  with  clean-shaven  heads  and  faces,  except  the  elders, 
who  cultivate  their  scanty  beards,  and  all  exemplifying  the 
same  general  characteristics — they  present  so  much  unifor- 
mity to  one  unaccustomed  to  such  a  mass  of  an  unknown  and 
distinct  type  that  the  question  often  presents  itself: — How 
do  those  who  are  brought  into  intimate  relationships  with 
them  distinguish  one  from  the  other?  And  a  ready 
answer  presents  itself  in  what  seems  to  the  uninitiated  the 
analogous  case  of  a  shepherd  knowing  each  sheep  under 
his  care.  A  few  months'  residence  and  familiarity  with  the 
new  type  shows  that  amidst  the  general  uniformity  there 
are  many  points  of  difference,  and  a  slight  appreciation  of 
what  constitutes  Chinese  beauty  is  occasionally  awakened. 
That  these  crude  opinions  of  Chinese  physical  sameness 
are  far  from  the  truth,  it  needs  but  to  instance  the  similar 
opinion  held  by  the  Chinese  as  to  ourselves. 

In  an  examination  of  Chinese  for  colour-blindness, 
1,200  men  and  women  were  tested  with  these  results: — 
Colour-blind,  20;  completely  green-blind,  14;  completely 
red-blind,  5  ;  and  one  partially  so.  The  Chinese  are  often 
unable  to  distinguish  between  green  and  blue,  their 
language  following  suit  to  a  great  extent,  for  there  is  one 
word  which  means  both  green  and  blue. 

158 


Chinese  People 


Notwithstanding  the  insanitary  conditions  of  their  life, 
not  a  few  of  the  Chinese  appear  to  attain  a  good  old  age  ; 
the  hard  life  and  exposure  to  which  most  of  the  labouring 
classes  are  subject  age  many  of  them,  on  the  other  hand, 
very  soon  ;  especially  is  this  the  case  with  the  women,  who 
are  scarcely  passed  the  bloom  of  girlhood  before  coarse 
features  show  the  strain  on  their  physical  powers. 

After  this  general  description  of  the  physical  character- 
istics of  the  Chinese,  we  give  a  scientific  account  of  the 
Ideal  Mongolic  type  compared  with  the  Ideal  Caucasic 
type,  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  Keene's  '  Asia,'  edited  by 
Sir  R.  Temple  : — 


IDEAL  MONGOLIC  TYPE* 

IDEAL  CA-C  si 

SHAPE  OF  HEAD    . 

Normally   brachycephalic, 

Normally   dolichocephalic, 

i.e.,  round  horizontally. 

i.e.,  long  horizontally. 

FACIAL  ANGLE 

Prognathous,    index    Nos. 

Orthognathous,  index  Nos. 

76  to  68. 

82  to  76. 

FEATURES 

Square,       angular,       and 

Rounded  off  and  oval. 

flattened. 

CRANIAL  CAPACITY 

1,200  to  1,300  cubic  cen- 

1,300 to  1,400  cubic  cen- 

timetres. 

timetres. 

CHEEK-BONES 

High  and  prominent. 

Low  and  inconspicuous. 

EARS 

Large    and    standing    out 

Small,  well  formed,  close 

from  the  head. 

to  the  head. 

MOUTH  . 

Large,  with  thick  lips. 

Small,    with    bright  -  red, 

moderately  thin  lips. 

NOSE 

Broad,     flat,     short,     and 

Long,        narrow,       high, 

somewhat  concave. 

straight     or     somewhat 

convex  —  tip   projecting 

beyond  the  nostrils. 

FORKHEAD       . 

Low,  receding,  narrow. 

Straight,      broad      below, 

fully  developed. 

EYE 

Small,      almond  -  shaped, 

Large,     round,     straight  ; 

oblique     upwards     and 

orbits  rather  close  set  ; 

outwards,    orbits     wide 

iris    normally    blue    or 

apart,  iris  black. 

grey,  but  very  variable. 

CHIN      . 

Very  small  and  receding. 

Full     and     slightly     pro- 

jecting. 

NECK 

Short  and  thick  set. 

Long,         slender,         and 

shapely. 

FIGURE  . 

Squat,     angular,      heavy, 

Symmetrical,  slim,  active, 

muscular,    inclining    to 

robust. 

obesity. 

HANDS  AND  FEET  . 

Disproportionately  small. 

Medium-sized  or  large. 

STATURE 

Below    the  average  —  5  ft. 

Medium      or     above     the 

to  5  ft.  4  in. 

average  —  5  ft.   4  in.   to 

5  ft-  9  in. 

159 


Things  Chinese 


IDEAL  MONGOLIC  1  VI*K. 

IDEAL  CAUCASIC  TYPE. 

COMPLEXION  . 

Pale-yellowish,   tawny   or 

Fair   or    white,    inclining 

olive,     inclining     to    a 

to  brown  and  swarthy  — 

leathery  -  brown        and 

normally     with     ruddy 

cinnamon  —  no   red    or 

tinge. 

ruddy  tinge. 

HAIR     . 

Dull  -black,    long,    coarse, 

Long,  wavy,  and  normally 

stiff,    and    lank,    cylin- 

light   brown,    but   very 

drical  in  section. 

variable  —  glossy,      jet- 

black,  flaxen,  red,  etc., 

elliptical  in  section. 

BEARD   . 

Very  scanty  or  absent. 

Full,    bushy,    often    very 

long. 

EYEBROWS 

Straight  and  scanty. 

Arched  and  full. 

EXPRESSION    . 

Heavy,   inanimate,  mono- 

Bright,     intelligent,      in- 

tonously uniform. 

finitely  varied. 

TEMPERAMENT 

Dull,      taciturn,     morose, 

Energetic,    restless,     fiery 

lethargic,      but     fitfully 

and  poetic. 

vehement. 

An  ethnological  study  and  comparison  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  different  parts  of  China  would  afford  much  interest 
and  instruction.  We  have  not  been  able  to  find  any 
statistics  on  the  subject,  though  we  understand  one  or  two 
have  made  some  researches  in  the  matter.  Through  the 
kindness  of  the  Hongkong  Government  we  have  been 
allowed  to  inspect  the  books  in  Victoria  Gaol,  and  we  find 
the  following  was  the  height  of  1000  Chinese  Male  prisoners 
(the  fractions  of  inches  have  been  omitted)  : — 


4  fet 

•t   6 

4    > 

9 

4 

10 

4 

ii 

5 

o 

5 

2 

5 

3 

6  inches  = 


5  feet    4  inches  — 

5          5 
6 


44 

77 

112 

172 


178 

164 

117 

62 

28 

13 

2 


We  discarded  from  our  investigations  all  under  the  age 
of  2 1  by  Chinese  reckoning,  which  is  a  year  or  two  less 
than  by  English  computation,  but  maturity  is  early 
attained  in  a  hot  climate.  Neither  does  the  fact  that  the 
measurements  are  those  of  prisoners  on  their  admission  to 
gaol  militate  against  them  being  reliable  as  average 
statistics  for  Chinese  in  this  part  of  China,  as  the  majority, 

160 


Chinese  People 


if  not  all  the  prisoners,  form  a  very  good  sample  of 
Southern  Chinese.  The  great  proportion  of  them  are 
artisans  and  coolies,  and  are  typical  of  the  whole  of  their 
class ;  a  few  of  the  better  class  of  Chinese  are  also  to  be 
found  amongst  them. 

The  height  of  100  female  prisoners  was  as  follows  : — 


4  feet    6  inches  =      I 

5  feet    o  inches  =  27 

4 

,    7 

5 

5 

i 

=    10 

4 

,    8 

—     4 

5 

2 

=  '3 

4 

.    9 

=     9 

5 

3 

=    5 

4 

,  10 

=    ii 

5 

4 

=      0 

4 

>  ii 

=   14 

5 

5 

=     i 

The  average  height  of  the  Chinese  is  said  to  be  5  feet  4 
inches,  while  the  average  of  the  English  is  5  feet  8£  inches. 

As  regards  their  mental  characteristics,  much  might  be, 
and  has  been,  written  ;  the  latter  largely  tinctured  by  the 
mental  media  through  which  the  various  observers  viewed 
their  idiosyncrasies. 

One  of  the  most  marked  peculiarities  is  their  wonderful 
memory  in  the  way  of  study.  Trained  for  centuries  in  this 
particular  groove,  the  result  has  been  that  books  are  easily 
learned  by  heart  and  repeated  from  beginning  to  end  with- 
out mistake.  Their  patience,  perseverance,  and  industry 
are  deserving  of  all  praise  ;  no  task  is  considered  too  trivial, 
no  labour  too  arduous  to  engage  in.  Their  politeness, 
peaceableness,  and  dread  of  giving  offence  are  often  carried 
to  an  extreme.  Their  economy,  credulity,  lack  of  sincerity 
and  sympathy  are  all  characteristics  on  which  page  after 
page  might  be  written. 

As  has  been  said  of  the  Japanese,  so  may  it  be  said 
equally  well  of  the  Chinese  : — 

'  His  very  politeness  may  compel  him  to  hide  a  disagreeable  truth, 
or,  at  the  utmost,  to  express  it  in  very  indirect  language.  His  native 
tongue,  with  its  elaborate  impersonal  forms  of  address  and  even  of 
command,  reflects  the  whole  social  sentiments  of  the  people.  It 
abounds  in  ...  negations,  in  honorifics  to  the  person  addressed,  in 
deprecatory  phrases  concerning  self,  or  self's  belongings.' 

These  assist  the  fatal  want  of  veracity  so  noticeable 
amongst  the  Chinese,  for  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
obligations  of  truth  are  not  so  binding. with  them  as  with  us. 

161  L 


Things  Chinese 

This  trait  of  character  is  constantly  exhibited  in  the  courts 
of  justice.  They  are,  however,  not  worse  than  most 
Orientals  in  this  respect ;  in  fact,  they  are  better  than 
many. 

Having  thus  lightly  touched  upon  a  few  of  the 
characteristics  of  this  wonderful,  little  understood,  much 
lauded,  as  well  as  much  decried  people,  we  will  ourselves 
retire  to  the  background  and  present  a  symposium  of 
opinions  of  residents,  authors,  statesmen,  missionaries, 
travellers,  and  others. 

'  It  is  an  abuse  of  terms,  to  say  that  they  are  a  highly  moral  people. 
...  A  morality  that  forgets  one-half  of  the  decalogue  must  be 
wonderfully  deficient,  however  complete  it  may  be  in  the  other.  ...  I 
think,  however,  we  may  affirm  .  .  .  that  the  moral  sense  is  in  many 
particulars  highly  refined  among  them.  .  .  .  Respect  to  parents  and 
elders,  obedience  to  law,  chastity,  kindness,  economy,  prudence,  and 
self-possession  are  the  never-failing  themes  for  remark  and  illustration. 
.  .  .  The  happiness  and  general  prosperity  of  the  Chinese  are  so 
conspicuous  that  they  merit  a  short  analysis.  Let  us  see  then  of  what 
elements  they  are  compounded  : — 

'(i)  An  habitual  readiness  to  labour.  (2)  Frugality  in  the  use  of 
worldly  goods.  (3)  Skill  competent  to  enable  the  people 
to  turn  all  advantages  to  the  best  account.  (4)  An  exact 
conception  of  money's  worth.' — Tradescant  Lay. 

'  In  the  Chinese  character  are  elements  which  in  due  time  must 
lift  her  [China]  out  of  the  terribly  backward  position  into  which  she 
has  fallen,  and  raise  her  to  a  rank  among  the  foremost  of  nations. 
Another  ground  of  hope  .  .  .  lies  in  the  matter-of-fact  habits  of  the 
Chinese,  their  want  of  enthusiasm  and  dislike  of  change,  which 
are  rather  favourable  than  otherwise  to  their  development  as  a  great 
community.' — Dr.  Wells  Williams. 

'The  mental  capacities  of  the  people  are  of  no  inferior  order. 
Their  administrative  powers  are  remarkable.  Sir  Frederick  Bruce  is 
reported  to  have  said  that  "  Chinese  statesmen  were  equal  to  any  he 
ever  met  in  any  capital  in  Europe."  .  .  .  Certain  it  is,  they  hold 
their  own  with  our  British  diplomatists.  Chinese  merchants  cope 
successfully  with  our  own  in  all  departments  of  trade  ;  in  fact,  are 
gaining  ground  on  them.  (See  Consul  Medhurst's  u  Report  on  the 
Trade  of  Shanghai,"  Bhie  Book  [China],  No.  7,  1870.)  .  .  .  Their 
literati  are  equal  to  any  intellectual  task  Europeans  can  set  before 
them.  .  .  .  The  common  people  are  shrewd,  painstaking,  and 
indomitable  ;  and  the  more  I  have  travelled  among  them  the  more 
have  I  been  impressed  with  their  mental  promise,  docility,  and  love 
of  order.  .  .  .  The  Chinese  have  always  been  the  imperial  race 
in  the  Far  East.  ...  It  is  true  that  at  present  they  are  in  a  most 
deplorable  condition.  Their  old  principles  of  government  are 
disregarded  ;  the  maxims  of  their  classics  utterly  ignored  by  the 
generality  of  their  rulers  ;  rapacity  and  corruptions  pervade  ever)' 

162 


Chinese  People 

department  of  the  State.  .  .  .  Absence  of  truth,  and  uprightness 
and  honour,—  this  is  a  most  appalling  void,  and,  unfortunately,  it  meets 
one  in  all  classes  and  professions  of  the  people.  I  do  not  refer  to 
money  matters,  for,  as  a  rule,  they  stand  well  in  this  respect.  .  .  . 
The  Chinese  are  not  naturally  an  anti-progressive  people.  They 
are  peculiarly  amenable  to  reason,  have  no  caste,  and  no  powerful 
religious  bias.  Their  history  shows  that  they  have  adopted  every 
manifest  improvement,  which  has  presented  itself,  for  these 
many  centuries.  .  .  .  The  truth  is,  the  Chinese  have  all  the  mental, 
moral,  and  religious  instincts  of  our  common  nature.  .  .  .  The 
fact  that  they  have  preceded  us  in  many  of  the  most  important 
discoveries  of  modern  times,  such  as  the  compass,  gunpowder, 
printing,  the  manufacture  of  paper,  silk,  porcelain,  etc.,  proves  their 
inventive  genius.  .  .  .  They  are  peaceable  and  civil  to  strangers.'— 
Dr.  Williamson. 

Here  are  a  few  extracts  from  older  writers  : — 
'Generally  speaking,    they    have    all    the    cunning,    deceit    and 
intrigue    of    the    French,    without    any   of    their    good    qualities.'— 
Dr.  Morrison. 

'  Such  Europeans  as  settle  in  China,  and  are  eye-witnesses 
of  what  passes,  are  not  surprised  to  hear  that  mothers  kill  or 
expose  several  of  their  children  ;  nor  that  parents  sell  their  daughters 
for  a  trifle,  nor  that  the  empire  is  full  of  thieves  ;  and  the  spirit  of 
avarice  universal.  They  are  rather  surprised  that  greater  crimes 
are  not  heard  of  during  seasons  of  scarcity.  If  we  deduct  the  desires 
so  natural  to  the  unhappy,  the  innocence  of  their  habits  would  corres- 
pond well  enough  with  their  poverty  and  hard  labour.' — Premare. 

'The  Chinese  are  so  madly  prejudiced  in  favour  of  their  own 
country,  manners,  and  maxims,  that  they  cannot  imagine  anything, 
not  Chinese,  to  deserve  the  least  regard.' — Chavagnac. 

'  So  unwilling  are  the  Chinese  to  allow  themselves  to  be  surpassed, 
or  that  any  other  people  possess  that  of  which  they  cannot  boast, 
that  they  fancy  resemblances  where  there  are  none,  and,  after  striving 
in  vain  to  find  them,  they  still  hope  that  such  there  are,  and  that 
if  there  should  happen  to  be  none,  they  are  of  no  importance,  or 
surely  they  would  have  been  there.'— _£>r.  Milne. 

'  The  superiority  which  the  Chinese  possess  over  the  other 
nations  of  Asia  is  so  decided  as  scarcely  to  need  the  institution  of  an 
elaborate  comparison.  ...  It  may  be  considered  as  one  proof  of 
social  advancement  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  that  the  civil 
authority  is  generally  superior  to  the  military,  and  that  letters  always 
rank  above  arms.  .  .  .  The  Chinese  are  bad  political  economists. 
.  .  .  The  advantageous  features  of  their  character,  as  mildness, 
docility,  industry,  peaceableness,  subordination,  and  respect  for  the 
aged,  are  accompanied  by  the  vices  of  specious  insincerity,  falsehood, 
with  mutual  distrust  and  jealousy.  .  .  .  The  superior  character 
of  the  Chinese  as  colonists  in  regard  to  intelligence,  industry,  and 
general  sobriety,  must  be  derived  from  their  education,  and  from  the 
influence  of  something  good  in  the  national  system.  .  .  .  The 
comparatively  low  estimation  in  which  mere  wealth  is  held,  is  a 

J63 


Things  Chinese 

considerable  moral  advantage  on  the  side  of  the  Chinese.  .  .  . 
Poverty  is  no  reproach  among  them.  .  .  .  The  peaceful  and 
prudential  character  of  the  people  may  be  traced  to  the  influence 
and  authority  of  age.  .  .  .  The  Chinese  frequently  get  the  better 
of  Europeans  in  a  discussion,  by  imperturbable  coolness  and  gravity. 
...  It  is  the  discipline  to  which  they  are  subject  from  earliest 
childhood,  and  the  habit  of  controlling  their  ruder  passions,  that 
render  crimes  of  violence  so  unfrequent  among  them.  .  .  .  Hereditary 
rank  without  merit  is  of  little  merit  to  the  possessor.' — Sir  John 
Davis. 

'As  a  direct  refusal  to  any  request  would  betray  a  want  of  good 
breeding,  every  proposal  finds  their  immediate  acquiescence  :  they 
promise  without  hesitation,  but  generally  disappoint  by  the  invention 
of  some  slight  pretence  or  plausible  objection  :  they  have  no  proper 
sense  of  the  obligations  of  truth.' — Barrow. 

'  The  Chinese  .  .  .  are  in  general  of  a  mild  and  humane 
disposition,  but  violent  and  vindictive  when  offended.' — Sir  George 
Staunton. 

1  Genius  and  originality  are  regarded  as  hostile  and  incom- 
patible elements.' — Gillespie. 

And  again  some  extracts  from  later  writers  : — 

'  Ingenuity  is  a  gift  largely  bestowed  upon  the  Chinaman  ;  it  is 
indeed  one  of  his  most  marked  characteristics, — but  it  is  ingenuity  of 
that  peculiar  kind  which  works  with  very  slender  materials.  .  .  . 
Almost  every  Chinaman  is,  by  a  kind  of  natural  instinct,  good  both 
at  cooking  and  at  bargaining.' — Archdeacon  Cobbold. 

'  This  mysterious  race,  which  with  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  the 
Russians  will  divide  the  earth  a  hundred  years  hence.  .  .  .  Hard- 
working, frugal,  and  orderly  when  their  secret  societies  are  kept 
under  due  control,  they  are  admirable  and  trustworthy  men  of 
business,  while  as  artisans  their  industry  is  only  exceeded  by  their 
skill  and  versatility.' — Sir  Lepel  Griffin. 

'  The  love  of  antiquity  is  inborn  in  the  Chinese,  they  live  in  the 
past.  .  .  .  To  them  the  past  is  not  a  mass  of  musty  records,  filled 
with  the  suffocating  odours  of  decay,  as  it  appears  often  to  us,  but  a 
rich  treasure-house  fragrant  with  the  aroma  of  purest  wisdom  and 
noblest  example.  .  .  .  They  are  exclusive  to  the  extremest  degree. 
.  .  .  Conservatism  has  been  carried  to  such  an  extreme  that  the 
whole  nation  has  become  fossilised.  .  .  .  Closely  connected  with  this 
spirit  of  exclusiveness  is  an  overweening  pride  and  absurd  conceit  in 
their  own  superiority,  and  an  unreasoning  hatred  of  everything  foreign. 
.  .  .  Taking  the  people  as  a  whole,  their  fundamental  qualities  of 
industry,  stability,  and  readiness  to  submit  to  authority,  contain  the 
promise  of  cheering  results  in  the  future.' — Rev.  B.  C.  Henry. 

'  The  Chinaman  and  the  mosquito  are  the  two  great  mysteries  of 
creation.' — H.  Nonnan. 

'  One  of  the  most  remarkable  national  peculiarities  of  the  Chinese 
is  their  extraordinary  addiction  to  letters,  the  general  prevalence  of 

164 


Chinese  People 


iterary  habits  among  the  middling  and  higher  orders,  and  the  very 
honourable  pre-eminence  which  from  the  most  remote  period  has 
been  universally  conceded  to  that  class  which  is  exclusively  devoted 
to  literary  pursuits.  ...  I  have  left  the  country  with  the  conviction 
that  the  Chinese  nation,  as  a  whole,  is  a  much  less  vicious  one 
than,  as  a  consequence  of  opinions  formed  from  a  limited  and  unfair 
field  of  observation,  it  has  been  customary  to  represent  it  ;  further, 
that  the  lower  orders  of  the  people  generally  are  better  conducted, 
more  sober  and  industrious,  and,  taken  altogether,  intellectually 
superior  to  the  corresponding  class  of  our  own  countrymen.' — Dr. 
Rennie. 

'  I  find  here  a  steady  adherence  to  the  traditions  of  the  past,  a 
sober  devotion  to  the  calls  arising  in  the  various  relations  of  life,  an 
absence  of  shiftlessness,  an  honest  and,  at  least,  somewhat  earnest 
grappling  with  the  necessities  and  difficulties  which  beset  men  in 
their  humbler  stages  of  progress,  a  capacity  to  moralise  withal,  and 
an  enduring  sense  of  right  and  wrong.  These  all  form  what  must  be 
considered  an  essentially  satisfactory  basis  and  groundwork  of  national 
character.  Among  the  people  there  is  practical  sense  ;  among  the 
gentry,  scholarly  instincts,  the  desire  for  advancement,  the  disposition 
to  work  for  it  with  earnestness  and  constancy.  Amongst  the  rulers, 
a  sense  of  dignity,  breadth  of  view,  considering  their  information, 
and  patriotic  feeling.  Who  will  say  that  such  a  people  have  not  a 
future  more  wonderful  even  than  their  past.' — G.  F.  Seivard. 

'The  moral  character  of  the  Chinese  is  a  book  written  in  strange 
letters,  which  are  more  complex  and  difficult  for  one  of  another  race, 
religion,  and  language  to  decipher  than  their  own  singularly  com- 
pounded word-symbols.  In  the  same  individuals,  virtues  and  vices, 
apparently  incompatible,  are  placed  side  by  side.  Meekness,  gentle- 
ness, docility,  industry,  contentment,  cheerfulness,  obedience  to 
superiors,  dutifulness  to  parents,  and  reverence  for  the  aged,  are  in 
one  and  the  same  person,  the  companions  of  insincerity,  lying, 
flattery,  treachery,  cruelty,  jealousy,  ingratitude,  avarice,  and  distrust 
of  others.  The  Chinese  are  a  weak  and  timid  people,  and  in 
consequence,  like  all  similarly  constituted  races,  they  seek  a  natural 
refuge  in  deceit  and  fraud.  But  examples  of  moral  inconsistency  are 
by  no  means  confined  to  the  Chinese,  and  I  fear  that  sometimes  too 
much  emphasis  is  laid  on  the  dark  side  of  their  character,  .  .  . 
as  if  it  had  no  parallel  amongst  more  enlightened  nations.  Were 
a  native  of  the  empire,  with  a  view  of  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  English  people,  to  make  himself  familiar  with  the  records  of 
our  police  and  other  law  courts,  the  transactions  that  take  place  in 
what  we  call  the  "  commercial  world,"  and  the  scandals  of  what  we 
term  "society,"  he  would  probably  give  his  countrymen  at  home  a 
very  one-sided  and  depreciatory  account  of  this  nation.' — ArcJtdeacon 
Gray. 

'  I  find  the  Chinese  most  polite.  .  .  .  The  only  thing  no  man 
can  accuse  the  Chinese  of  is  love  of  change.' — Mrs  Gray. 

'The  earnest  simplicity  and  seriousness  with  which  an  amiable 
and  lettered  man  in  China  will  sit  and  propound  the  most  prepos- 
terous and  fantastic  theories  that  ever  entered  a  human  brain,  and 

I65 


Things  Chinese 

the  profound  unconsciousness  he  shows  of  the  nonsense  he  is  talking, 
affect  one  very  curiously.  .  .  .  There  are  few  things  in  which  the 
Chinese  do  not  claim  pre-eminence,  and  it  is  this  habit  of  self- 
complacency  which  renders  them  so  very  much  averse  to  being 
enlightened  on  those  points  on  which  they  habitually  are  found 
wanting.  The  belief  in  their  own  infallibility  cannot  but  be  a  standing 
obstacle  to  the  progress  of  the  people  in  all  departments  where  it 
prevails,  and  the  difficulty  of  getting  a  Chinaman  to  acknowledge  that 
he  is  beaten  in  an  argument  is  but  another  phase  of  the  same  pheno- 
menon. It  is  a  sufficient  answer,  for  him,  that,  however  useless  or 
hurtful  a  given  practice  may  be,  it  is  the  "custom"  of  the  country  ; 
and  the  belief  that  all  the  customs  which  have  descended  from 
generation  to  generation  are,  for  that  very  reason,  incapable  of 
improvement,  renders  him  a  very  hopeless  subject  to  deal  with.  .  .  . 
There  are  few  things  more  amusing,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
exasperating,  to  a  European  than  the  utter  confusion  of  thought  which 
characterises  the  Chinese  as  a  race.  .  .  .  There  seems  a  looseness 
of  reasoning  ;  a  want  of  consecutiveness,  in  the  mental  process  of 
the  Chinese  which  argues  an  inherent  defect  in  their  constitutions.'— 
Balfour. 

'  The  truth  is  that  a  man  of  good  physical  and  intellectual  qualities, 
regarded  merely  as  an  economic  factor,  is  turned  out  cheaper  by  the 
Chinese  than  by  any  other  race.  He  is  deficient  in  the  higher  moral 
qualities,  individual  trustworthiness,  public-spirit,  sense  of  duty,  and 
active  courage — a  group  of  qualities  perhaps  best  rendered  in  our 
language  by  the  word  manliness  ;  but  in  the  humbler  moral  qualities 
of  patience,  mental  and  physical,  and  perseverance  in  labour,  he  is 
unrivalled.' — Consul  F.  S.  A.  Bourne. 

'John  Chinaman  is  a  most  temperate  creature.  .  .  .  During  the 
whole  course  of  my  many  years'  residence  in  the  country,  I  do  not 
remember  to  have  seen  a  dozen  instances  of  actual  drunkenness.  .  .  . 
They  are  a  sociable  people  amongst  themselves,  and  .  .  .  their 
courtesies  are  of  a  most  laboured  and  punctilious  character.  .  .  . 
The  Chinese  are  essentially  a  reading  people.  .  .  .  The  Chinese 
have  not,  it  is  true,  that  delicate  perception  of  what  the  claims  of  truth 
and  good  faith  demand,  which  is  so  highly  esteemed  among  us 
Westerners,  but  they  know  and  prize  both  characteristics,  and  practical 
illustrations  thereof  are  constantly  observable  in  their  relations  one 
with  another,  and  with  foreigners.  .  .  .  Honesty  ...  is  by  no 
means  a  rare  virtue  with  the  Chinese.  ...  As  regards  the  question 
of  courage,  again  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Chinese  possess  more 
of  the  quality  than  they  have  hitherto  had  credit  for.  .  .  .  Both 
kindliness  and  cruelty,  gentleness  and  ferocity,  have  each  its  place  in 
the  Chinese  character,  and  the  sway  which  either  emotion  has  upon 
their  minds  depends  very  much  upon  the  associations  by  which  they 
are  for  the  moment  surrounded.  When  in  their  own  quiet  homes, 
pursuing  undisturbed  the  avocations  to  which  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed, there  are  no  more  harmless,  well-intentioned,  and  orderly 
people.  They  actually  appear  to  maintain  order  as  if  by  common 
consent,  independent  of  all  surveillance  or  interference  on  the  part  of 
the  executive.  But  let  them  be  brought  into  contact  with  bloodshed 
and  rapine,  or  let  them  be  roused  by  oppression  or  fanaticism,  and  all 

166 


Chinese,  Professors  of 

that  is  evil  in  their  disposition  will  at  once  assert  itself,  inciting  them 
to  the  most  fiendish  and  atrocious  acts  of  which  human  nature  has 
been  found  capable.  .  .  .  There  is  no  more  intelligent  and  manage- 
able creature  than  the  Chinaman,  as  long  as  he  is  treated  with  justice 
and  firmness,  and  his  prejudices  are,  to  a  reasonable  extent, 
humoured.' — Sir  Walter  Medhurst. 

'There  exist  no  more  honourable,  law-abiding  and  industrious 
citizens  than  the  Chinese.'  —Earl  of  Kintore. 

Here  are  opinions  then  as  diverse  as  possible.  What 
more  pat  than  the  following : — '  The  Chinese  must  be 
a  strange  people,  from  the  varying  accounts  which  are 
given  of  them  by  different  observers.  They  are  over-esti- 
mated in  some  things  and  undervalued  in  others,  mis- 
understood in  most.' — What  is  the  truth  ?  We  believe  it 
to  consist  in  a  true  mean.  If  a  man  or  woman  will  view 
this  people  with  a  mental  calmness,  not  on  the  one  hand 
carried  away  with  too  great  an  enthusiasm — a  fault 
easily  committed,  owing  to  the  wonderful  antiquity  and 
many  good  points  in  their  character — and  on  the  other 
nand,  if  prejudice  is  resolutely  banished,  their  good  points 
will  be  seen,  while  their  failings  will  also  be  noticed. 

CHINESE,  PROFESSORS  OF,  ABROAD.-There 
have  been  Professorships  of  Chinese  at  a  few  of  the  leading 
Universities  in  England  for  some  years.  On  Dr.  Legge's 
retirement  from  Hongkong,  a  number  of  his  friends  and 
admirers  subscribed  towards  the  foundation  of  a  Chair 
of  Chinese  at  Oxford,  with  the  proviso  that  he  should 
be  the  first  occupant.  He  held  it  for  many  years,  until 
his  death  a  few  years  ago.  The  income  is  about  £95  a 
year.  The  post  is  at  present  filled  by  Professor  Bullock. 

Prior  to  this  there  was  a  Professorship  of  Chinese  in 
King's  College,  London,  Professor  Summers,  an  old 
resident  in  China  many  years  ago,  taking  the  classes. 
Professor  Douglas  is  the  present  occupant  of  the  Chair. 
A  number  of  years  ago  Mr.  Kidd  was  Professor  of  Chinese 
at  University  College,  London,  and  later  the  late  Professor 
Terrain  de  la  Couperie. 

Recently  a  Professorship  of  Chinese  has  been  established 

167 


Things  Chinese 

at  Cambridge,  with  Dr.  Giles  as  Professor,  he  having  filled 
some  similar  appointment  at  Aberdeen  for  a  short  time 
previously. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Parker  has  been  Reader  in  Chinese  at 
University  College,  Liverpool,  for  several  years,  and  is  now 
occupying  the  position  of  Professor  of  Chinese  at  Owen's 
College,  Manchester.  This  Chair  has  been  established 
tentatively  by  the  Lancashire  County  Council,  by  special 
grant  and  subscriptions  made  towards  it,  in  view  of  the 
large  trade  between  the  County  and  China. 

'  The  University  of  London  proposes  to  establish  a 
special  department,  called  the  Department  of  Practical 
Chinese,  the  objects  of  which  will  be  :— 

'  ( i )  To  provide  courses  of  instruction  in  modern  Chinese, 
organised  with  a  view  to  the  needs  of  (a)  persons  engaged, 
or  about  to  engage,  in  business  in  China  as  clerks,  merchants, 
etc. ;  (b)  officers  employed,  or  about  to  be  employed,  in  the 
Diplomatic,  Consular,  Military,  and  Customs  Services  in  or 
connected  with  China ;  (c)  civil,  railway,  and  mining 
engineers  about  to  be  employed  in  China,  and  other  classes 
to  whom  a  knowledge  of  colloquial  Chinese  is  important. 

'  (2)  To  encourage  study  and  research  in  connection 
with  modern  Chinese  questions  and  existing  Chinese 
institutions,  etc. 

'  Mr.  George  Brown,  late  British  Consul  at  Kiukiang, 
will  be  appointed  Director  of  the  department,  and  be  directly 
responsible  to  the  University  for  its  organisation.  The 
course  of  instruction  will  be  given  by  Mr.  Brown,  assisted 
by  one  or  more  native  Chinese  teachers,  and  such  other 
persons  as  it  may  be  desirable  to  appoint.  The  University 
will  provide  suitable  accommodation  for  the  work  of  the 
department  at  the  University  Buildings,  South  Kensington. 

'  The  China  Association  has  undertaken  to  guarantee  a 
sum  of  £500  a  year  for  five  years  for  the  expenses  of  the 
department,  and  to  take  steps  to  raise  a  fund  for  its 
permanent  endowment.' 

M.  Papov,  late  Consul-General  and  First  Dragoman  of 
the  Russian  Mission  at  Peking,  is  the  Professor  of  Chinese 

1 68 


Chop-Sticks 

Language  and  Literature  at  the  University  of  St. 
Petersburg. 

Public  Classes  for  the  study  of  Chinese  were  started 
in  Lyons  in  1900,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  that 
city  and  the  Government  of  Indo-China  assisting.  The 
Professor  is  Mr.  Courant.  M.  Vissiere  is  the  Professor 
at  L'Ecole  des  Languages  Oriental  in  Paris.  He  was 
First  Interpreter  at  Peking,  in  the  French  Legation. 
The  Professor  in  Le  College  de  France  at  Paris  is  M. 
Chavannes.  He  was  attacht  at  the  French  Chinese 
Students'  Mission  in  Peking.  Mr.  Schlegel  is  Professor  of 
Chinese  at  Leyden.  There  are  Chairs  for  Chinese  at  a 
dozen  European  Universities. 

In  the  United  States  there  are  several  ;  the  late  Dr. 
S.  Wells  Williams  having  filled  one  at  Yale  for  a  number 
of  years  ;  Mr.  Fryer,  late  of  Shanghai,  occupies  a  similar 
position  in  San  Francisco  ;  and  the  latest  development  is 
the  donation  of  $100,000,  for  a  Chinese  Professorship  at 
Columbia  University,  New  York.  Dr.  Hirth,  late  of  the 
Customs  Service  in  China,  fills  the  Chair. 

CHOP-STICKS. — Lansdell  thus  describes  these  useful 
adjuncts  to  the  Chinese  table  :— 

'  Chop-sticks  are  a  pair  of  cylindrical  [square  or  squarish  at  the 
holding  part]  rods,  rather  longer  [they  are  really  a  good  deal 
longer]  and  not  quite  so  thick  as  lead  pencils,  which  are  held  between 
the  thumb  and  fingers  of  the  right  hand  and  are  used  as  tongs  to 
take  the  food  and  carry  it  to  the  mouth — an  operation  by  no  means 
easy  to  the  unpractised.' 

No  knives  appear  at  a  Chinese  table,  the  food  being 
already  carved  and  cut  up  into  pieces  either  large  enough 
for  a  mouthful,  or  so  well  cooked  that  the  chop-sticks  can 
easily  separate  them,  or,  again,  the  chop-sticks  lift  the 
small  piece  of  quail  or  duck  to  the  mouth  and  a  bite  is 
taken  off.  With  rice,  the  edge  of  the  bowl  is  pat  to  the 
under  lip,  and  the  chop-sticks  shovel  it  into  the  mouth, 
along  with  the  tiny  bits  of  meat  and  vegetables  that  have 
already  been  picked  up  by  them  and  placed  on  the  top  of 
the  rice.  To  our  Western  ideas,  every  one  using  their  own 

169 


Things  Chinese 

chop-sticks  to  clip  into  the  dishes  on  the  table  is  not 
pleasant ;  nor  is  the  use  again  of  the  earthenware  spoons 
in  the  soups  and  broths  so  liked  by  the  Chinese,  to  ladle 
out  from  the  central  dish  or  big  bowl  into  one's  own  little 
bowl,  to  our  taste  either.  Tiny  wire  forks  are  used  for 
sweetmeats  at  the  table. 

Chop-sticks  are  of  ivory,  bone,  bamboo,  etc. 

CICADA. — This  noisy  insect  is  very  common.  'Their 
strident  noise  is  overpowering,  and  most  annoying  to 
invalids.  The  bodies  measure  about  3  inches  in  length.' 
They  are  caught  with  some  species  of  bird-lime,  made  of 
the  ashes  of  the  China  fir,  glutinous  cooked  rice,  and 
water.  This  is  stuck  on  to  the  end  of  a  bamboo  pole, 
which  is  then  pushed  up  amongst  the  branches  of  the  trees, 
and  the  insect  caught  by  its  sticky  nature.  Chinese  boys 
play  with  cicadas,  holding  them  in  their  hands,  or  tying 
them  to  a  piece  of  string. 

The  cast  skin  of  the  cicada  (toil  shim)  is  used  as 
medicine  for  convulsions,  and  fever  in  children.  It  is 
boiled  in  water  with  a  creeper  called  ngaii  fang,  the 
hooked  creeper,  and  the  rush,  which  is  used  as  a  lamp-wick, 
and  sometimes  in  serious  cases  a  little  bit  of  sycee,  about  a 
mace  in  weight,  is  put  into  the  water.  These  are  boiled 
together  for  half  an  hour,  and  then  the  water  is  forced 
down  the  child's  throat,  as,  being  bitter,  the  child  will  not 
drink  it  willingly. 

The  cicada  in  one  stage  of  his  existence  passes  two 
years  underground.  It  is  only  the  male  which  is  able  to 
give  vent  to  its  passion  of  love  in  the  curious  ear-arresting, 
noisy,  strident,  loudly  sibilant,  and  distracting  song,  though 
song  is  a  word  too  suggestive  of  harmony  to  be  applied  to 
the  scissors-grinding  cicada.  It  sounds  like  the  loud  force- 
ful emission  of  the  two  consonants  s  and  z,  viz.,  sz sz, 

and  this  is  continued  for  half  a  minute  or  a  minute,  and 
having  been  raised  to  a  loud  crescendo,  it  ends  abruptly  with 
a  'shish-jick,'  to  be  started  again  apparently  in  a  few  seconds. 
The  horrors  of  a  sultry  summer  day  are  increased 

170 


Cities 

to  fatigued  and  exhausted  man  by  the  intermittingly 
continued  songs  of  half  a  dozen  or  a  dozen  cicadas,  en- 
sconced in  the  neighbouring  trees.  The  musical  apparatus 
consists  '  of  two  membranes  over  air-tubes  in  '  the  '  throat, 
with  hollow-sounding  cavities  behind  each,  which  increase 
the  volume  of  its  notes.  .  .  .  Cicadas  are  neither  crickets, 
locusts,  nor  grasshoppers.'  Their  bodies  look  as  if  headless, 
and  are  blunt.  The  male  lives  a  short  time,  leaving  the 
female,  who  gorges  herself  on  green  leaves,  and  finally  lays 
many  eggs  on  twigs  and  branches.  The  larvae  burst  from 
their  eggs,  and  burrow  through  the  tree  to  the  ground, 
eating  as  they  go,  and  remain  for  two  years  as 
chrysalides. 

CITIES. — Cities  are  divided  into  three  classes  in 
China :  provincial  cities,  prefectorial,  or  departmental 
cities,  and  district  cities.  The  fact  of  them  being  capitals 
and  the  seats  of  Government  doubtless  constitutes  them 
cities.  Every  city  is  protected  with  a  wall  (or  walls), 
except  Hii-i  Hien  in  Anhui,  the  extent  and  size  being 
conditioned  by  its  grade,  or  rank,  as  above.  The  largest 
cover  within  their  circumference  a  considerable  extent  of 
ground,  which  is  not  all  thickly  covered  with  houses, 
but  even  contains  market-gardens,  etc.,  as  well  as  private 
parks  attached  to  the  yamens,  or  official  residences.  In 
fact,  a  bird's-eye  view  of  a  native  city  from  its  walls  is 
often  very  picturesque,  with  the  fine  trees  adding  grace  to 
the  mass  of  red-tiled,  low-lying  houses,  broken  every  now 
and  then  by  a  pagoda,  or  the  lofty  buildings  above  the 
city  gates. 

The  walls  round  Peking  are  a  little  over  20  miles  in 
circumference.  The  city  proper  in  Canton  is  about  6 
miles  round.  One  of  the  smallest  and  most  recent  cities 
in  China  is  probably  that  of  Kowlung,  now  in  British 
territory. 

Many  cities  have  large  suburbs  lying  outside  the 
walls.  Cities  have,  however,  not  a  monopoly  of  walls 
in  China,  as  robbers,  and  the  disturbed  state  of  many  parts 

171 


Things  Chinese 

of  the  country,  cause  even  villages  to  be  walled  and 
surrounded  with  moats. 

A  cathedral  is  not  one  of  the  constituent  factors  in 
determining  a  place  to  be  a  city,  but  every  city  has  one 
temple  to  Confucius,  at  least ;  and  it  often  happens  that  a 
city  is  not  only  a  district  capital,  but  also  that  of  a 
department,  and  sometimes  that  of  a  province  as  well.  In 
such  cases  there  must  be  a  temple  for  each  :  so  in  Canton, 
which  is  the  capital  for  two  districts,  one  department  and 
one  province,  there  are  consequently  no  less  than  four 
Confucian  temples. 

Besides  this,  at  all  events  in  a  large  city,  there  is  a  City 
Temple  to  the  God  of  the  City.  There  are  also  examina- 
tion halls  in  most  cities. 

CLAN. — This  division  of  the  people  in  China  is 
analogous  to  that  of  the  Scotch  clan  in  many  respects,  and 
is  productive  of  feud  and  disaster  to  themselves  and  others 
sometimes,  as  well  as  of  protection  at  other  times  to  those 
belonging  to  the  same  clan,  as  a  few  generations  ago  was 
the  case  among  the  Highland  clans  of  Scotland.  The 
nucleus  round  which  the  clan  gathers  is  the  ancestral  temple 
and  worship  ;  here  are  the  headquarters  for  all  who  are 
descendants  of  a  remote  ancestor.  Genealogies  are  kept, 
often  with  the  greatest  care,  in  which  are  noted  all  the 
migrations  of  the  family  ;  and  so  particular  are  the  Chinese 
with  regard  to  this  point,  that  on  the  tombstones,  in  some 
places,  are  put  the  numbers  of  the  generations  since  the 
family  came  to  that  country-side. 

In  many  villages  all  the  inhabitants  belong  to  one  clan, 
just  as  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  one  part  of  the  country 
will  be  found  almost  entirely  peopled  by  one  clan  alone. 
As  in  China  the  unit  of  the  population  or  nation  is  not  the 
individual,  but  the  family,  it  may  be  easily  understood  of 
what  paramount  importance  the  clan  is  ;  and  it  is  one  of 
the  greatest  disgraces  possible  for  a  man  to  be  disowned  or 
put  out  of  the  clan,  even  if  it  be  only  temporarily.  It  is 
worse,  of  course,  to  be  punished  for  a  generation,  and  worst 

172 


Climate 

of  all  if  the  punishment  is  for  ever — that  is  to  say,  if  his 
branch  of  the  family  is  excluded  from  the  clan  for  ever. 

Disputes  often  take  place  between  members  of  different 
clans,  and  lead  to  quarrels,  reprisals,  and  fights,  into  which 
the  whole  clan  is  dragged  ;  and  eventually,  the  soldiery, 
after  perhaps  some  lives  have  been  lost  on  both  sides,  are 
sent  to  put  a  stop  to  the  internecine  strife  ;  in  fact  these 
petty  wars  are  waged  so  fiercely,  that  in  some  instances 
they  approach  the  vindictiveness  displayed  in  the  Italian 
vendetta. 

It  should,  however,  be  observed  that  the  system  of  clans 
is  more  marked  in  the  South  of  China,  and  most  especially 
so  in  the  Kwang-tung  and  Kwang-si  provinces. 

The  secret  societies,  especially  in  the  Straits  Settle- 
ments, take  their  rise  in  the  clan  system  to  a  great 
extent. 

Books  recommended. — Two  articles  on  the  comparative  history  of  clans, 
by  Rev.  Hilderic  Friend,  in  the  Chinese  Recorder  and  Missionary  Journal, 
entitled  'Tsung  tsuh  eld  lai  lih,'  vol.  ix.  Nos.  4  and  5.  Williams's  'Middle 
Kingdom,'  vol.  i.  p.  482  et  seq.  Also  see  Chinese  Repository,  vol.  iv.  p. 
411. 

CLIMATE. — In  a  land  of  such  vast  dimensions,  it  may 
readily  be  understood  that  the  climate  varies  with  each 
part  of  the  country,  and  almost  any  variety  of  climate  may 
be  found  in  different  parts  of  China.  The  extremes  of  cold 
and  heat  are  not  only  found  in  the  extremes  of  the  North 
and  South,  but  in  the  North  are  even  found  together  ;  for 
China,  like  the  eastern  sea-board  of  the  Northern  States  of 
America,  has  a  winter  in  the  North  approaching  an  Arctic 
one  for  severity,  while  the  summer  heat  is  tropic  in  its 
intensity,  even  greater  for  a  short  period  than  it  is  in  many 
parts  far  South. 

In  some  places  the  atmosphere  is  saturated  with  mois- 
ture during  a  large  part  of  the  year,  while  in  other  regions, 
except  in  the  rainy  season,  the  air  is  dry  and  clear. 

The  climate  at  Newchwang  is  more  moderate  than  at 
some  of  the  ports  further  down  the  coast.  It  is  said 
that  both  Chefoo  and  Japan  '  have  a  much  higher  average 
temperature  .  .  .  ;  the  thermometer  rarely  goes  above 


Things  Chinese 

88°  and  the  nights  are  always  cool :  often  chilly.'  The 
climate  of  Chefoo  has  been  described  as  'scarcely  different 
from  that  of  New  York,  Boston,  or  Edinburgh.' 

The  extremes  of  range  in  Peking  are  104  and  zero 
Fahrenheit.  The  rainfall  is  generally  lower  than  16  inches 
in  the  year,  but  little  snow  falls,  and  it  does  not  remain  on 
the  ground  more  than  a  few  days ;  the  rivers  are  locked  in 
ice  for  three  months.  As  the  heat  increases,  sand  and  dust 
is  blown  about  with  great  force,  forming  dust-storms. 
September  and  October  are  the  two  most  delightful 
months  at  Peking. 

The  summer  heat  of  Wei-hai-wei  is  thus  described  : — 

'  It  is  a  cooler  place  than  Japan,  />.,  the  ports  in  Japan  where  the 
fleet  goes.  Our  maximum  heat  this  summer  has  been  about  87°  in 
the  shade,  and  this  only  on  one  or  two  days.  For  a  month  or  so  it 
ranged  about  82°  in  the  hottest  part  of  the  day,  cooler  at  nights, 
and  now  and  then  a  drop  of  8°  to  10°  in  the  day.  And  this  has 
been,  in  that  matter,  an  average  summer.  On  Liiikungtao,  cricket 
and  other  games  have,  during  the  whole  time,  been  freely  indulged 
in.  It  is  certainly  a  cooler  place  to  spend  August  and  September  in 
than  Chefoo,  and  in  time  Wei-hai-wei  may  take  away  much  of  the 
popularity  of  that  place  as  a  summer  resort.' 

Of  Ningpo  it  has  been  said  that  the  winters  may  be 
compared  to  the  winters  in  Paris,  and  the  summers  for  a 
short  season,  to  those  of  Calcutta.  The  climate  is  very 
damp,  the  ground  being  marshy,  and  the  extremes  are 
greater  than  at  Shanghai.  The  range  of  the  thermometer 
is  from  24^  to  107  ,  and  a  fall  or  rise  of  20°  in  two  hours  is 
not  unusual. 

In  Shanghai  the  great  heat,  while  it  lasts,  is  very  trying, 
but  fortunately  it  is  not  of  long  duration. 

The  riverine  ports  are  very  hot  in  summer  :  Kiukiang 
gets  the  name  of  being  'the  hottest  place  in  all  China';  the 
heat  in  the  month  of  August  there  is  dreaded,  for  there  is 
'a  succession  of  cloudless  and  intensely  hot  and  oppressive 
weather.'  At  the  end  of  July  1892,  the  thermometer  was 
at  102°  in  the  shade.  It  even  reached  104"  Fahrenheit 
on  the  1 3th,  I4th,  I5th  and  i8th  August  1900,  and  24°  on 
the  Qth  January  of  the  same  year.  It  is  also  very  hot  in 
Nanking  in  July  and  August.  These  hot  dog-days  last 

'74 


Climate 

for  about  thirty  days,  but,  after  they  are  over,  the  nights 
get  cooler.  As  an  instance  of  the  degree  of  heat  experienced 
at  such  times  we  may  mention  that  at  the  end  of  July 
1892,  the  thermometer  kept  pretty  regular  at  96".  Towards 
the  end  of  July  1892,  the  thermometer,  at  Hankow,  at 
midnight,  registered  97°. 

Of  the  West  of  China  a  recent  writer  says  :— 

'  Rains  are  frequent,  and  heavy  clouds  cover  the  heavens  three- 
fourths  of  the  year  ;  and,  in  absence  of  clouds,  a  smoky  mist  veils  the 
earth  from  the  piercing  rays  of  the  sun.  The  climate  is  equable,  and 
even  the  summer,  although  long  and  severely  hot  in  July  and  August, 
is  modified  by  frequent  showers.  .  .  .  The  winters  are  very  mild  ; 
while  frost  is  seldom  seen,  and  snow  is  almost  unknown,  except  upon 
the  mountains.  Experience  shows  the  climate  to  be  fairly '  healthy, 
'  and  no  more  trying  than  that  of  Central  China.' 

The  climate  of  Amoy  has  been  described  as  '  delight- 
ful.' But  the  word  '  delightful '  must  be  taken  as  comparing 
it  with  the  climate  of  some  other  parts  of  China  less 
fortunately  situated.  The  thermometer  ranges  from  40° 
to  96°.  The  author  spent  three  months  in  that  port  in  the 
summer  of  1889,  and  experienced  what  the  temperature 
was  at  93°  for  a  day  or  two  ;  the  heat  was  intense,  but 
fortunately  it  was  a  dry  heat.  This  dry  heat  in  Amoy  is 
generally  moderated  by  a  fresh  sea-breeze  which  springs 
up  nearly  every  day  in  the  course  of  the  forenoon  and  dies 
down  in  the  evening.  The  heat  during  the  night  is  very 
great,  until  the  sea-breeze,  rising  with  the  tide,  slightly 
cools  the  atmosphere. 

At  Swatow  the  heat  is  great  in  summer,  ranging  nearly 
as  high  as  at  Amoy.  The  author  also  experienced  a  few 
days  of  it  during  June  1892,  when  the  thermometer  was 
between  90°  and  92^°  ;  but,  as  in  Amoy,  sea-breezes  spring 
up  and  make  the  heat  more  bearable,  while  at  Double 
Island,  at  the  entrance  to  the  estuary  on  which  Swatow  is 
situated,  the  evenings  are  cool  in  summer,  though  the  days 
are  hot. 

The  heat  at  the  three  cities  of  Hongkong,  Canton,  and 
Macao,  is  of  long  continuance,  but  not  of  so  excessive  a 
character  as  further  up  the  coast,  where  its  duration  is 

175 


Things  Chinese 

shorter.  In  Canton,  the  thermometer  ranges  from  about  40° 
or  50°  to  88°  or  thereabouts,  and  it  rarely  rises  higher  or  falls 
lower.  The  sea-air  moderates  the  climate  at  Macao  and 
Hongkong.  The  rainfall  of  the  latter  place  is  greater  than 
at  Macao  and  Canton,  and  occasionally  attains  the  extra- 
ordinary figure  of  30  inches  in  24  hours,  the  annual  mean 
for  21  years  being  over  86  inches;  for  1891  it  was  very 
abundant,  the  total  for  the  twelve  months  being  117.30. 
Drought  occurs  in  some  seasons,  and  rain  does  not  fall  for 
months  to  any  appreciable  extent  The  climate  in  Hong- 
kong in  summer  is  often  of  a  hot,  muggy  nature,  and  while 
it  lasts,  harder  to  bear  than  a  dry  heat  of  even  higher 
temperature.  In  the  mountain-sheltered  town,  and  on  the 
lower  levels,  the  thermometer  will  rarely  rise  higher  than 
88°  and  89°,  though  it  very  occasionally  registers,  on  two 
or  three  days,  93°  in  the  hottest  part  of  Queen's  Road,  while 
on  the  Peak  levels,  free  to  the  sea-breezes,  and  cooled  by  the 
high  elevation  of  from  1,500  to  1,800  feet,  the  mercury  falls 
from  4°  to  10°  lower,  according  to  the  season  of  the 
year,  the  greatest  difference  between  the  two  levels  being  in 
summer.  These  higher  levels  are,  however,  subject  to 
mountain  mist  and  fog.  Fogs  rarely  visit  Macao.  The 
winter  months  in  these  three  ports  form  the  most  delightful 
season  of  all  the  year,  especially  is  this  the  case  in  October, 
November  and  December,  and  even  in  January.  Clear  cool 
weather,  with  Italian  skies,  provides  the  beau  ideal  of 
existence.  The  Peak  climate  is  said  to  be  even  finer  than 
that  of  Chefoo — the  sanitarium  for  foreign  residents  in  the 
North  of  China. 

The  climate  of  China,  especially  in  the  North,  is  also 
said  to  have  moderated  considerably  from  what  it  was  some 
centuries  or  thousands  of  years  ago.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  reckless  denudation  of  the  hills  of  wood  and  forest,  by 
the  inhabitants,  has  doubtless  had  a  considerable  effect  in 
increasing  the  dryness  and  parched  aspect  of  everything 
during  certain  seasons  of  the  year  in  China.  It  has  been 
noticed  that,  in  Hongkong,  since  extensive  tree-planting  has 
been  carried  on,  the  summers  appear  to  be  somewhat  cooler. 

176 


Cockroach 

The  mere  range  of  the  thermometer  does  not  form  a 
fair  criterion,  in  this  land  of  the  heat,  of  the  way  in  which 
the  temperature  affects  the  human  frame.  Humidity  and 
other  considerations  have  to  be  taken  into  account. 

In  the  South  of  China  the  climate  seems  adapted,  as 
a  rule,  for  children  of  foreign  parents  up  to  the  age  of 
eight  or  ten,  but  after  that  they  are  inclined  to  shoot  up 
like  hot-house  plants,  and  require  a  more  bracing  air. 
The  climate  in  China  gets  the  blame  of  much  that  should 
be  laid  to  indiscretions  in  diet,  and  careless  exposure  to 
the  sun,  or  neglect  of  a  fair  share  of  exercise.  If  all  these 
points  are  carefully  attended  to,  a  man  or  woman  may, 
and  often  does,  with  of  course  some  exceptions,  enjoy  very 
good  health.  Some  constitutions  appear  unable  to  stand 
the  climate,  while  occasionally  others  thrive  better  than  in 
their  own  lands. 

The  Chinese,  as  a  race,  are  physically  weaker  than  the 
English,  but  this  should  not  all  be  laid  to  the  account  of 
the  climate;  insanitary  surroundings,  ignorance  of  the  laws 
of  health,  no  Sunday  rest,  and  other  causes  also  having  a 
share  in  it. 

COCKROACH  (Blatta  orientalis}.— '  This  disgusting 
insect '  is  found  in  large  numbers,  especially  in  storerooms 
and  sideboards.  It  is  very  destructive,  eating  holes  in 
coats,  trousers,  and  dresses  where  a  stain  of  food  may 
have  attracted  them,  and  nibbling  the  edges  of  shirt-cuffs 
and  collars,  so  that  they  soon  get  ragged.  They  trail 
over  dishes  in  the  pantry,  giving  an  unpleasant  taste  to 
tl\e  soup  if  the  plates  have  not  been  washed  clean  im- 
mediately before  using.  With  books,  they  are  especially 
annoying,  staining  the  covers  of  cloth-bound  ones  as  if 
spots  of  rain  had  fallen  on  them  ;  they  are  extremely  fond 
of  some  colours — books  bound  in  red  and  blue  suffer  most 
as  a  rule,  the  whole  covers  being  stained  with  them.  (See 
Article  on  Insects.)  Some  of  the  big  active  ones  are  very 
vigorous  and  rapid  in  their  flight  about  a  room  at  night, 
and  annoying,  especially  to  nervous  ladies,  though,  except 

1 77  M 


Things  Chinese 

for  the  unpleasantness,  they  do  no  actual  bodily  harm  as  a 
rule  in  China.  The  forcible  application  of  the  sole  of  a 
shoe  seems  to  be  the  most  effective  means  of  exterminating 
these  pests. 

Cockroaches  are  pounded  up,  and  an  infusion  of  them 
with  boiling  water  is  made  in  the  same  way  as  tea  is 
infused.  The  water  is  then  given  to  children  suffering 
from  fever. 

CONFUCIUS  AND  CONFUCIANISM.— One  feels 
a  certain  amount  of  difficulty  in  approaching  such  a  vast 
subject,  for  Confucianism  is  so  entwined  and  blended  with 
all  that  concerns  China,  that  it  is  hard  to  know  where  to 
begin  or  where  to  leave  off.  We  will  simply  preface 
our  account  by  saying  that  Confucianism  is  a  system 
of  philosophy  and  ceremonial  observances  to  which  its 
founder  and  followers  ascribe  the  highest  possibilities,  if 
carried  out  rigidly  and  faithfully  to  every  minute  jot  and 
tittle.  Its  originator  was  par  excellence  the  sage  of  China. 

Confucius's  father  '  was  a  military  officer  eminent  for 
his  commanding  stature,  his  great  bravery,  and  immense 
strength.'  The  birth  of  the  sage  has  been  surrounded  by 
mythical  legends.  '  From  his  childhood  he  showed  ritual- 
istic tendencies,'  and  '  delighted  to  play  at  the  arrange- 
ment of  sacrificial  vessels  and  at  postures  of  ceremony.' 
He  '  bent  his  mind  to  learning.'  He  married  young,  his 
experience  of  the  married  state  not  being  a  happy  one, 
nor  did  he  appear  to  bestow  much  affection  on  his  son. 
Confucius  early  took  public  service  in  the  State,  holding 
different  offices  at  different  times,  such  as  Keeper  of  the 
Stores  of  Grain,  Guardian  of  the  Public  Fields  and  Lands, 
Magistrate,  Assistant  Superintendent  of  Works,  and 
Minister  of  Crime ;  and  applied  his  principles  to  the 
government  with  the  most  signal  success. 

These  appointments  were  not  all  held  in  succession,  but 
were  interspersed  and  followed  by  years  spent  in  imparting 
instruction  to  disciples  (at  one  time  as  many  as  3,000),  in 
gaining  knowledge  himself,  and  in  the  compilation  and 

178 


Confucius  and  Confucianism 

editing  of  books,  as  well  as  in  journeyings  amongst  the 
different  petty  States  into  which  the  China  of  that  time 
was  divided,  in  the  hope  that  the  rulers  would  give  him 
the  opportunity  of  putting  his  principles  of  government 
to  the  test,  when,  such  confidence  had  he  in  them,  that 
he  was  convinced  that,  instead  of  anarchy  and  confusion, 
peace  and  harmony  would  reign  supreme.  He  died, 
feeling  that  he  was  unappreciated,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two.  His  disciples  had  the  highest  admiration  for  him, 
and  exhausted  attributes  in  the  expression  of  it. 

The  best  title  which  has  ever  been  bestowed  on  him  is 
that  of '  The  Throneless  King.' 

'  Probably  no  man  has  been  so  contemned  during  his  lifetime, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  worshipped  by  posterity,  as  Confucius.  In 
both  extremes  there  has  been  some  exaggeration.  His  standard  of 
morality  was  high,  and  his  doctrines  were  pure.  Had  he,  therefore, 
had  an  opportunity  of  exercising  authority,  it  could  but  have  resulted 
in  good  to  an  age  when  the  notions  of  right  and  wrong  were  strangely 
confused,  and  when  both  public  and  private  morality  were  at  the 
lowest  ebb.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  the  secret 
of  the  extraordinary  influence  he  has  gained  over  posterity,  and 
the  more  the  problem  is  studied  the  more  incomprehensible  does  it 
become,' when  viewed  from  a  European  standpoint.  'His  system  of 
philosophy  is  by  no  means  complete,  and  it  lacks  life  (if  we  may 
venture  to  say  so),  in  face  of  the  fact  that  it  has  supplied  the  guiding 
principles,  which  have  actuated  the  performance  of  all  that  is  great 
and  noble  in  the  life  of  China  for  more  than  twenty  centuries.' 

It  is  impossible  in  the  short  space  of  this  article  to 
give  a  digest  of  the  doctrines  of  the  sage.  We  will  content 
ourselves  with  giving  a  summary  of  the  essential  points  as 
adapted  to  the  requirements  of  modern  everyday  Chinese 
life  by  the  great  Emperor  K'ang  Hi : — 

'  I.  Esteem  most  highly  filial  piety  and  brotherly  submission, 
in  order  to  give  due  prominence  to  the  social  relations. 

'  2.  Behave  with  generosity  to  the  branches  of  your  kindred,  in 
order  to  illustrate  harmony  and  benignity. 

'3.  Cultivate  peace  and  concord  in  your  neighbourhoods,  in  order 
to  prevent  quarrels  and  litigations. 

'4.  Recognise  the  importance  of  husbandry  and  the  culture  of 
the  mulberry-tree,  in  order  to  ensure  sufficiency  of  clothing  and  food. 

'  5.  Show  that  you  prize  moderation  and  economy,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  lavish  waste  of  your  means. 

'6.  Make  much  of  the  colleges  and  seminaries,  in  order  to  make 
correct  the  practice  of  the  scholars. 

'"].  Discountenance  and  banish  strange  doctrines,  in  order  to 
exalt  the  correct  doctrine. 

1/9 


Things  Chinese 

'8.  Describe  and  explain  the  laws,  in  order  to  warn  the  ignorant 
and  obstinate. 

'9.     Exhibit  clearly  propriety  and  yielding  courtesy,  in  order  t 
make  manners  and  customs  good. 

1  10.  Labour  diligently  at  your  proper  callings,  in  order  to  give 
settlement  to  the  aims  of  the  people. 

'ii.  Instruct  sons  and  younger  brothers,  in  order  to  prevent  them 
from  doing  what  is  wrong. 

'  1 2.  Put  a  stop  to  false  accusations,  in  order  to  protect  the 
honest  and  the  good. 

'  13.  Warn  against  sheltering  deserters,  in  order  to  avoid  being 
involved  in  their  punishment. 

'  14.  1'romptly  and  fully  pay  your  taxes,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
urgent  requisition  of  your  quota. 

'15.  Combine  in  hundreds  and  tithings,  in  order  to  put  an  end 
to  thefts  and  robbery. 

'  1 6.  Study  to  remove  resentments  and  angry  feelings,  in  order 
to  show  the  importance  due  to  the  person  and  life.' 

These,  with  commentaries,  are  read  to  the  people  on  the 
1st  and  1 5th  of  the  month. 

Divine  honours  are  paid  to  the  sage  by  the  Emperor 
twice  a  year,  and  by  every  school-boy  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 

Confucius  is  generally  represented  in  the  temples  to  him 
by  a  wooden  tablet  with  his  name  and  titles  on  it,  but  in 
some  cases  there  is  an  image  of  him.  There  is  a  temple  in 
every  district  city  and  one  in  every  departmental  city, 
consequently  there  are  three  in  Canton  :  in  two  of  these 
there  is  a  tablet,  in  the  third,  an  image.  In  the  district  city 
of  Kit  Yong,  in  the  Ch'ao  Chaii  Department,  the  author  saw 
both  an  image  and  a  tablet.  The  image  represents  a  sage 
as  black  as  a  negro,  for  he  is  described  as  being  of  a  swarthy 
complexion.  Besides  Confucius  himself,  his  disciples,  to 
the  extent  of  some  hundred  and  seventy,  are  also  honoured 
by  images  or  tablets  in  the  immediate  presence  of 'The 
Perfect  Sage '  himself,  or  in  the  precincts  of  the  same 
temple  that  he  occupies,  and  they  are  likewise 
worshipped. 

Books  recommended.  —  'Confucianism  and  Taoism,'  bv  Professor 
Douglas.  Professor  Ledge's  'Religions  of  China.'  The  same  author's 
'IiujK-rinl  Confucianism,1  and  his  master-work,  'The  Chinese  Classics." 
'The  three  Religions  of  China,'  by  Du  Bose.  Faber's  'Digest  of  the 
Doctrines  of  Confucius.'  and  a  review  of  the  latter  in  the  China  Review, 
vol.  i.  p.  260.  'Confucius,  The  Great  Teacher,'  by  Major  -  General 
G.  G.  Alexander.  'A  Guide  to  the  Tablets  in  a  Temple  of  Confucius' 
by  T.  Walters. 

1 80 


Cormorant  Fishing 

CORMORANT  FISHING.— The  Chinese  have  long 
used  cormorants  for  fishing  purposes  ;  for  the  journal  of 
the  friar  Odoric  (A.D.  1286-1331)  mentions  this  strange 
method  of  fishing,  and  it  is  largely  carried  on  at  the 
present  day  in  some  parts  of  China.  To  show  the 
admirable  adaptation  of  this  bird  for  the  pursuit,  we  quote 
from  a  lengthy  article  in  The  Encyclopedia  Americana: — 

'The  cormorant  is  most  admir.ibly  adapted  for  swimming,  .  .  . 
having  the  great  toe  united  to  the  others  by  a  common  membrane, 
.  .  .  yet  they  are  among  the  very  few  web-footed  birds  capable  of 
perching  on  the  branches  of  trees,  which  they  do  with  'great  ease 
and  security.'  Cormorants,  of  which  there  are  quite  a  number  of 
species  distributed  over  different  parts  of  the  world,  are  closely 
allied  to  the  pelicans  in  conformation  and  habits.  They  '  are  very 
voracious  feeders.  .  .  .  They  dive  with  great  force,  and  swim  under 
water  with  such  celerity,  that  few  fish  can  escape  them.  .  .  .  Should  a 
cormorant  seize  a  fish  in  any  other  way  than  by  the  head,  he  rises  to 
the  surface,  and,  tossing  the  fish  into  the  air,  adroitly  catches  it  head 
foremost  as  it  falls,  so  that  the  fins,  being  properly  laid  against  the 
fish's  sides,  cause  no  injury  to  the  throat  of  the  bird.' 

Their  use  is  not  confined  to  one  part  of  the  country. 
Amongst  other  places  where  they  may  be  found  at  work 
may  be  mentioned  the  North  River  above  Canton,  the 
river  above  Ch'do-Chau-fii  and  the  river  above  Foochow. 
Though  we  have  seen  a  small  catamaran-like  boat,  with 
several  cormorants  on  it,  in  one  of  our  trips  into  the  interior, 
we  have  not  actually  seen  them  employed  :  we  therefore 
copy  at  length  from  Miss  Gordon-Cumming's  '  Travels  in 
China,'  as  to  their  fishing  : — 

'The  simplest  form  of  fishery  is  when  a  poor  fisherman  has 
constructed  for  himself  a  raft  consisting  only  of  from  four  to  eight 
bamboos  lashed  together.  On  this  he  sits  poised  (crowned  with  a 
large  straw  hat),  and  before  him  are  perched  half-a-dozen  of  these 
odd  uncanny-looking  black  birds  waiting  his  command.  The  cage 
in  which  they  live  and  the  basket  in  which  he  stores  his  fish  complete 
his  slender  stock-in-trade.  The  marvel  is  how  he  contrives  to  avoid 
overturning  his  frail  raft.  Sometimes  several  fishers  form  partnership, 
and  start  co-operative  business.  They  invest  in  a  shallow  punt,  and 
a  regiment  of  perhaps  twenty  or  more  of  these  solemn,  sombre  birds 
sit  on  perches  at  either  end  of  the  punt,  each  having  a  hempen  cord 
fastened  round  the  throat  just  below  the  pouch,  to  prevent  its 
swallowing  any  fish  it  may  catch.  Then,  at  a  given  signal,  all  the 
cormorants  glide  into  the  water,  apparently  well  aware  of  the 
disadvantage  of  scaring  their  prey. 

181 


Things  Chinese 

'Their  movements  below  the  surface  are  very  swift  and  graceful 
as  they  dart  in  pursuit  of  a  fish  or  an  eel,  and  giving  it  a  nip  with 
their  strong  hooked  beak,  swallow  it,  and  continue  hunting.  Some- 
times they  do  not  return  to  the  surface  till  they  have  secured  several 
fish,  and  their  capacious  pouch  is  quite  distended,  and  sometimes  the 
tail  of  a  fish  protrudes  from  their  gaping  bill.  Then  they  return 
to  the  surface,  and  at  the  bidding  of  their  keepers  disgorge  their 
prey,  one  by  one,  till  the  pouch  is  empty,  when  they  again  receive 
the  signal  to  dive,  and  resume  their  pursuit. 

'  Some  birds  are  far  more  expert  than  others,  and  rarely  fail  to 
secure  their  prize,  but  sometimes  they  catch  a  fish,  or  more  often 
an  eel,  so  awkwardly  that  they  cannot  contrive  to  swallow  it,  and 
in  the  effort  to  arrange  this  difficulty,  the  victim  manages  to  escape. 
If  one  bird  catches  a  large  and  troublesome  fish,  two  or  three  of  its 
friends  occasionally  go  to  the  aid  of  their  comrade,  and  help  him 
to  despatch  it.  Such  brotherly  kindness  is,  however,  by  no  means 
invariable,  and  sometimes,  when  a  foolish  young  bird  has  captured 
a  fish,  the  old  hands  pursue  and  rob  him  of  his  prize.  At  other  times 
a  bird  fails  in  its  trick,  and  after  staying  under  water  for  a  very  long 
period,  comes  up  quite  crestfallen  without  a  fish. 

'When  the  birds  are  tired  the  strap  is  removed  from  their  throat 
and  they  are  rewarded  with  a  share  of  the  fish,  which  they  catch 
as  it  is  thrown  to  them.  It  is  reckoned  a  good  day's  fishing  if 
eighteen  or  twenty  cormorants  capture  a  dollar's  worth  of  fish  ;  and 
as  so  many  birds  represent  about  half-a-dozen  owners,  it  is  evidently 
not  a  very  lucrative  business. 

'  The  birds  are  quite  domestic,  having  all  been  reared  in  captivity. 
Curiously  enough,  the  mothers  are  so  careless  that  they  cannot  be 
trusted  to  rear  their  own  young  ;  and  furthermore,  the  said  young 
are  so  sensitive  to  cold  weather  that  only  the  four  or  five  eggs  laid 
in  early  spring  are  considered  worth  hatching,  as  only  these  can  be 
reared  in  the  warm  summer.  They  are  taken  from  the  cormorant  and 
given  to  a  hen,  who  apparently  must  be  colour-blind,  as  she  calmly 
accepts  these  green  eggs  in  lieu  of  her  own.  She  is  not,  however, 
subjected  to  the  misery  of  seeing  her  nurslings  take  to  the  water,  as 
they  are  at  once  removed  from  her  care,  when  after  a  month's 
incubation,  the  poor  little  fledgelings  make  their  appearance.  They 
are  then  transferred  to  baskets  which  are  kept  in  a  warm  corner  ; 
the  young  birds  being  buried  in  cotton  wool  and  fed  with  pellets 
of  raw  fish  and  bean-curd. 

'  When  they  are  two  months  old  their  nursery  days  are  over,  and 
the  sorrows  of  education  must  begin.  They  are  therefore  offered  for 
sale,  a  female  bird  being  valued  at  from  35.  to  53.,  and  a  male  bird  at 
double  the  price.  This  difference  is  due  to  the  superior  strength  of 
the  latter,  which  enables  it  to  capture  larger  fish.  Thenceforth  the 
professional  trainer  takes  them  in  hand  ;  and  fastening  a  string  to  one 
leg,  he  drives  them  into  the  water  and  throws  small  live  fishes,  which 
they  are  expected  to  catch.  They  are  taught  to  go  and  return  subject 
to  different  calls  on  a  whistle,  obedience  being  enforced  by  the  per- 
suasive strokes  of  a  bamboo  —the  great  educational  factor  in  China  ! 
When  thoroughly  trained,  a  male  bird  is  valued  at  from  205.  to  305., 
and  its  fishing  career  is  expected  to  continue  for  five  years,  after  which 
it  will  probably  become  old  and  sulky.' 

182 


Cotton 

Cormorant  fishing  was  practised  in  both  France  and 
England  in  the  seventeenth  century  ;  and  an  attempt  to 
revive  it  has  lately  been  made  in  England. 

COSMETICS.  —  These  were  largely  used  by  the 
Chinese,  no  girl  or  woman  above  the  very  menial  classes 
being  considered  as  dressed  without  a  plentiful  application 
of  rouge  to  the  lips  and  patches  of  it  on  the  cheeks.  A  sign, 
even  if  others  were  wanting,  that  the  present  race  of  Chinese 
have  descended  to  the  warmer  regions  of  the  south  of  China 
from  a  climate  where  rosy  cheeks  and  ruby  lips  were  natural. 
No  art  was  displayed  in  applying  the  rouge,  nor  was  conceal- 
ment ever  dreamt  of.  At  the  first  glance,  a  Chinese  lady 
was  seen  to  be  painted  by  the  coarse  big  daub  on  each  side 
of  her  face.  On  festivals  and  gala  occasions  it  was  even  more 
freely  applied.  White  powder  was  also  used  to  render  their 
dark  faces  more  fair.  The  lavish  use  of  cosmetics  spoils 
whatever  complexion  a  Chinese  lady  may  possess.  Within 
the  last  few  years,  however,  a  change  has  come  over  the 
fashion  ;  a  little  line  across  the  lower  lip  in  the  middle 
serves  for  the  lips  in  the  way  of  rouge,  if  rouged  at  all,  and 
the  cheeks  are  now  left  to  their  natural  colour,  as  a  rule. 

COTTON. — The  introduction  of  cotton  as  a  textile 
plant  into  China  is  an  interesting  subject.  '  The  art  of 
spinning  and  weaving  cotton,  as  far  as  Central  China  is 
concerned,'  is  traced  to  'a  lady  of  high  rank,  who  intro- 
duced the  art  B.C.  400.'  It  has  been  supposed  that  the 
ancient  Shii  King  (The  Book  of  History)  mentions  cotton, 
but  '  the  weight  of  proof  is,  however,  strongly  adverse  to 
this  view.'  There  is  no  doubt  that  a  historical  notice, 
about  A.D.  500,  '  refers  to  cotton  robes,'  and  in  A.D.  670  we 
find  it  bearing  the  name  of  Kih-pei,  derived  from  the  Sanscrit 
Karpasi.  This  early  knowledge  of  cotton  amongst  the 
Chinese  was  confined,  it  is  believed,  to  what  was  brought 
into  the  empire  as  tribute,  for  it  was  not  until  the  Sung 
dynasty  that  the  plant  was  grown  in  China. 

'  Early  in  the  eleventh  century  the  plant  was  brought  over  and 
cultivated  in  the  north-western  provinces  by  persons  from  Khoten. 

I83 


Things  Chinese 

.  .  .  The  opposition  to  cotton  cultivation  on  the  part  of  silk  and  hemp 
growers  was  so  persistent  that  the  plant  had  not  fairly  won  its  way 
into  favour  until  the  Yuen  dynasty.  The  great  cotton  region  is  the 
basin  of  the  Yangtsz  Kiang,  where  the  white  and  yellow  varieties  grow 
side  by  side.  The  manure  used  is  mud  taken  from  the  canals  and 
spread  with  ashes  over  the  ploughed  fields,  in  which  seeds  are  sown 
about  the  2oth  of  April.  The  seeds  are  planted,  after  sprouting,  five  or 
six  in  a  hole,  being  rubbed  with  ashes  as  they  are  put  in,  and  weeded 
out  if  necessary.  After  the  winter  crops  have  been  gathered,  cotton 
fields  are  easily  made  ready  for  the  shoots,  which,  while  growing,  are 
carefully  tended,  thinned,  hoed,  and  weeded  until  the  flowers  begin  to 
appear  about  August.  As  the  pods  begin  to  ripen  and  burst,  the 
cultivator  collects  them  before  they  fall,  to  clean  the  cotton  of  seed 
and  husks.  The  weather  is  carefully  watched,  for  a  dry  summer  or  a 
wet  autumn  are  alike  unpropitious,  and  as  the  pods  are  ripening  from 
August  to  October,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  crop  to  be  partially 
lost.  The  seeds  are  separated  by  a  wheel  turning  two  rollers,  and  the 
cotton  sold  by  each  farmer  to  merchants  in  the  towns.  Some  he 
keeps  for  weaving  at  home  ;  spinning-wheels  and  looms  being  common 
articles  of  furniture  in  the  houses  of  the  peasantry.  Cotton  is  culti- 
vated in  every  province,  and  most  of  it  is  used  where  it  grows. 
Around  Peking  the  plant  is  hardly  a  foot  high  ;  the  bolls  are  cleaned 
for  wadding  to  a  great  extent,  while  the  woody  stalks  supply  fuel  to 
the  poor.  Minute  directions  are  given  in  Su's  "Encyclopaedia  of 
Agriculture"  respecting  the  cultivation  of  this  plant,  whose  total  crop 
clothes  the  millions  of  the  empire.' 

'Cotton  is  not  cultivated  in  China  as  in  the  United  States.  The 
preparation  of  the  soil  and  the  planting  and  cultivation  are  different. 
The  ridges  are  wide,  like  the  ridges  of  an  American  wheat  field,  and 
the  seed  is  sown  as  an  American  farmer  sows  wheat.  Consequently 
the  plants  are  very  thick,  and  the  Chinese  cotton-farmer  cultivates 
every  plant  to  the  full  maturity  possible.  The  necessity  for  sufficient 
space  for  the  plant  to  grow  and  branch  is  not  admitted,  and,  when 
matured,  the  stalk  is  small  and  the  limbs  comparatively  few.  This 
thickness  of  growth  necessarily  results  in  small  bolls  and  a  short 
staple.  To  look  at  an  acre  of  Chinese  cotton  when  full-grown,  leaves 
an  impression  favourable  to  great  yielding  capacity,  which  the  actual 
yield  is  far  from  fulfilling.  The  thickness  of  the  plants,  standing  so 
close  together,  keeps  off  the  action  of  the  sun,  and  causes  many  of  the 
bolls  to  wither  in  the  shade,  and  also  prevents  many  from  maturing. 
The  hoe  used  for  working  cotton  is  very  narrow,  in  order  that  the 
labourer  may  thread  his  way,  as  it  were,  between  the  thick  standing 
plants.  When  the  Chinese  are  taught  the  advantage  of  properly 
spacing  their  cotton  rows  and  thinning  the  cotton  plant,  so  that  the 
warm  air  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  can  freely  penetrate,  the  change 
from  the  present  system  of  cultivation  will  be  rewarded  by  an  increased 
yield  per  acre  and  a  much  finer  staple.' 

'The  durable  cotton  cloth  made  in  the  central  provinces  called 
Nankeen  by  foreigners,  because  Nanking  is  famous  for  its  manufacture, 
is  the  chief  product  of  Chinese  looms.'  'The  so-called  "Nankeen" 
cottons  are  said  to  be  "colour  variations"  of  the  herbaceous  cotton 
plant.'  '  It  is  now  seldom  sent  out  of  the  country,  and  the  natives  are 

184 


Cotton 

even  taking  to  the  foreign  fabric  in  its  stead.  Cotton  seed  in  that 
part  of  China  is  sown  early  in  June,  about  eighty  pounds  to  an  acre  ; 
in  a  good  year  the  produce  is  about  two  thousand  pounds,  diminishing 
to  one-half  in  poor  seasons.  It  is  manured  with  liquid  bean-cake, 
often  hoed,  and  the  bolls  gathered  in  October,  usually  by  each  family 
in  its  own  plot.  The  seeds  are  separated  by  passing  the  pods 
between  an  iron  and  wooden  roller  on  a  frame,  which  presses  out  the 
seeds  and  does  not  break  them.  The  clean  cotton  is  then  bowed 
ready  for  spinning,  and  the  cloth  is  woven  in  simple  looms  by  the 
people  who  are  to  wear  it  after  it  is  dyed  blue.  The  looms  used  in 
weaving  cotton  vary  from  twelve  to  sixteen  inches  in  width  ;  they  are 
simple  in  their  construction  ;  no  figures  are  woven  in  cotton  fabrics, 
nor  have  the  Chinese  learned  to  print  them  as  chintz  or  calico.  .  .  . 
The  only  attempt  to  estimate  the  product  has  been  in  Kiangnan,  at 
28,500  tons,  a  figure  below  rather  than  above  the  truth.' 

'Owing  to  the  great  difficulty  of  obtaining  any  reliable  statistical 
information,  it  is  impossible  to  give  anything  approaching  accuracy  as 
to  number  of  pounds  of  cotton  produced  annually,  or  number  of  acres 
devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  cotton  plant'  in  China.  'There  has 
been  within  recent  years  a  great  increase  in  the  weight  of  the  cotton 
crop  as  well  as  in  the  acreage.  The  type  of  plant  most  generally 
cultivated  is  the  herbaceous,  and  the  cotton  resulting  is  only  poor  in 
quality.  Little  or  no  preparation  is  made  before  sowing  seed,  which 
is  generally  done  broadcast.  As  a  result  there  is  much  overcrowding, 
and  as  is  inevitable,  there  is  produced  a  stubby  plant  with  small  bolls 
and  much  unripe  cotton.  On  the  terraces  of  the  hillsides  something 
approaching  cultivation  is  pursued,  with  the  result  of  a  better  crop. 
Usually  twenty  weeks  intervene  between  planting  and  picking,  this 
latter  operation  being  mostly  the  work  of  children  and  women.  The 
old  cotton  stalks  are  afterwards  collected  and  dried  for  fuel.  Very 
few  large  plantations  exist  in  China,  most  of  them  being  only  a  few 
acres  in  extent.' 

The  cotton  plant  is  grown  all  over  China  at  the  present 
day.  It  has  been  thought  that  it  may  have  been  intro- 
duced '  by  foreigners  trading  with  the  Chinese  '  '  by  way  of 
the  southern  sea '  '  as  well  as  by  the  Mongol  usurpers 
coming  in  from  the  north-west,'  for,  though  first  cultivated 
during  the  Sung  dynasty,  it  was  only  under  the  Mongols 
that  it  was  grown  to  any  extent.  One  writer  describes 
the  spread  of  the  cotton  plant  in  China  as  being  very  rapid 
on  account  of  its  being  able  to  stand  the  northern  winters 
and  the  southern  mildness  of  climate.  So  common  has 
it  become  now  that  it  is  the  staple  article  for  dress  in 
China,  especially  amongst  the  poorer  classes,  as  it  can  be 
more  cheaply  made  than  silks.  Not  content  with  their 
own  native  produced  article,  cotton  and  cotton  goods  form 
the  largest  import  into  China,  and  an  import  which  is 

185 


Things  Chinese 

continually  increasing  in  value.  In  1892  it  was  represented 
in  value  by  53,290,200  taels,  grey  and  white  shirtings  from 
England  accounting  alone  for  15,693,081  taels  of  that 
amount.  The  Indian  yarn  thus  imported  'is  suited  to 
make  coarse  fabrics  which  are  strong  and  wear  well.' 
'  China  greatly  values  cheapness,  and,  if  she  procure  these 
[Indian  yarns],  she  will  supply  her  own  coarse  textile 
fabrics  for  the  time  by  the  cottage  loom  system,  and  suit 
her  own  taste  in  strength  and  quality.'  But  a  new  phase 
recently  came  over  the  cotton  industry,  and  a  number  of 
mills  fitted  with  the  latest  appliances  for  the  manufacture 
have  sprung  up  at  Shanghai,  and  a  few  other  important 
centres  of  trade  and  industry  in  China  ;  this  is  accompanied 
by  an  increased  cultivation  of  cotton.  It  would  seem  that 
the  Indian  yarn  is  better  suited  for  manufacture  than  the 
native. 

'  Mr.  Tratman,  referring  to  the  manufactures  of  the  Hupeh  cotton 
mill  at  Wuchang,  says  : — "These  goods  have  had  a  fair  trial  through- 
out these  provinces  during  the  past  few  years,  but  they  are  not 
appreciated  to  anything  like  the  same  extent  as  similar  goods  of 
foreign  manufacture.  The  yarn  is  short  and  difficult  to  work  with  the 
primitive  appliances  in  use  here.  The  shirtings  have  not  the  same 
toughness  as  even  the  most  common  kind  of  English  goods,  and  they 
tear  very  easily.  This  inferiority  of  the  Hupeh  goods  is  not,  I  am 
told,  to  be  in  any  way  attributed  to  the  manufacture,  but  simply  to  the 
fact  that  the  cotton  used  is  much  below  the  standard  of  Indian  cotton." ' 

Though  of  short  staple,  Chinese  cotton  '  is  suitable  for 
mixing  with  other  qualities.'  The  Hon.  T.  H.  Whitehead, 
from  whom  we  have  quoted  the  last  sentence,  in  his  speech 
at  the  Royal  Colonial  Institute  in  1895,  proceeds  to  say  : — 

'  In  the  Shanghai  River  in  December  1893,  there  were  at  one  time 
no  less  than  five  ocean-going  steamers  taking  in  cargoes  of  China- 
grown  cotton  for  transportation  to  Japan,  there  to  be  converted  by 
Japanese  hands  into  yarn  and  cotton.'  'The  Chinese  have  millions 
of  acres  of  land  admirably  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  cotton.' 

The  starting  of  these  cotton  mills,  to  which  we  have 
already  referred,  will  obviate  the  necessity  of  carrying  the 
cotton  to  Japan  and  then  bringing  the  yarn  back  to 
China,  since  the  conversion  of  it  into  yarn  can  be  carried 
out  on  the  spot.  Shanghai,  being  the  centre  of  the  cotton 
growing  districts,  bids  fair,  if  the  industry  is  not  throttled 

186 


Cotton 

by  Chinese  officialdom  and  officialism,  to  '  be  one  of  the 
greatest  manufacturing  centres  in  the  world.'  It  has  already 
proved  a  commercial  success  in  Shanghai,  and  companies 
for  starting  mills  at  other  places  are  every  now  and  then 
being  promoted ;  some  time  ago  it  was  announced  that  a 
'  weaving  enterprise  on  a  somewhat  large  ^>cale '  would 
'  shortly  be  inaugurated  in  Honam,  Canton.'  There  are 
now  (1898)  fifteen  mills  running  in  Shanghai  and  Northern 
China  with  about  400,000  spindles. 

In  the  last-mentioned  city  there  are  over  1,000  em- 
ployed in  the  native  primitive  method  of  weaving  cotton- 
cloth.  It  takes  about  twelve  days  to  make  one  piece  of 
1 1  chang  in  length  (about  43  yards),  and  the  pay  for  this  is 
380  cash,  the  masters  providing  board  and  lodging  for  the 
workmen,  but  charging  them  for  it.  The  cotton  is  carded 
by  means  of  a  large  bow  several  feet  in  length,  which  is 
held  by,  or  fastened  to  the  body  of,  the  workman  who 
vibrates  the  string  amidst  the  cotton,  thus  producing  a  very 
light  floss. 

The  war  in  the  North  of  China  seriously  affected  the 
cotton  mill  industry  in  China,  and  other  troubles,  incident 
to  new  ventures  of  the  kind  in  China,  have  handicapped  it, 
but  '  other  industries,  as  silk  and  sugar,  have  had  the  same 
difficulties  to  surmount,  and  have  surmounted  them  success- 
fully,' and  cotton  would  probably  have  done  the  same  but 
for  the  war.  These  initial  trials  over,  the  industry  will 
probably  become  a  permanent  one  in  China. 

The  cotton  tree  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  cotton 
plant.  It  is  a  large,  splendid  tree,  growing  to  a  considerable 
size,  with  immense  limbs  branching  out  from  it,  and  in 
spring  it  has  a  large  red  flower.  A  white  silky  down  covers 
the  seeds,  whence  its  name.  This  cotton  is  '  equally  good 
looking '  as  the  true  cotton,  its  staple  is  too  short  to  be  woven 
into  cloth  ;  consequently  it  is  only  used  to  stuff  cushions, 
etc.  A  rough  cloth  is  capable  of  being  produced  from  it, 
so  it  is  said,  but  this  statement  is  doubtful. 

Books  recommended. — Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom.'  Dr.  Porter  Smith's 
'Chinese  Materia  Medica  and  Natural  History,' and  Dr.  Edkins's  'Modern 
China.' 

I87 


Things  Chinese 

CREMATION, — Cremation  is  opposed  to  the  principles 
of  the  Chinese.  They  believe  that  unless  the  whole  body 
goes  intact  into  the  next  world,  it  will  not  be  in  a  perfect 
condition  in  a  future  state  of  existence.  It  is  only  Buddhist 
monks  whose  bodies  are  thus  disposed  of  at  the  present 
day.  It  was,  however,  a  common  practice,  in  some  parts 
of  China,  at  all  events,  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  for  Marco  Polo  says :  '  The  people  have  paper- 
money,  and  are  idolaters  and  burn  their  dead.'  Ibn  Batuta 
also  says : — '  The  Chinese  are  all  infidels  :  they  worship 
images,  and  burn  their  dead  just  like  the  Hindoos.'  A 
memorial  was  presented  against  it  in  A.D.  1261  to  the 
Emperor,  '  praying  that  the  erection  of  cremation  furnaces 
might  thenceforth  be  prohibited.'  It  is  a  great  pity  that 
the  practice  was  not  continued,  as  the  neighbourhood  of  a 
Chinese  city  is  converted  into  a  vast  necropolis,  to  say 
nothing  of  solitary  graves  scattered  over  the  hills  and 
mountains,  even  at  a  distance  from  human  habitations. 
There  is  no  intramural  burial.  No  places  of  worship  are 
turned  into  charnel-houses,  to  the  detriment  of  future  living 
worshippers,  as  with  us,  but  an  equally,  or  even  more, 
reprehensible  custom  is  in  vogue  of  preserving  the  coffin  in 
the  house  or  some  convenient  temple  for  weeks,  months, 
and  years,  until  either  a  favourable  site  with  propitious 
influences  is  found,  or  until  the  family  can  afford  the  ex- 
penses of  a  funeral  befitting  their  social  position.  This  is 
in  the  South ;  in  the  central  portions  of  China,  as  at 
Shanghai,  one  sees  coffins  standing  even  in  the  corners,  or 
centres,  of  fields.  All  these  insanitary  customs  would  have 
been  done  away  with  had  the  more  scientific  and  health- 
preserving  practice  of  cremation  been  allowed  to  continue. 
The  Mantsz  aborigines  in  Western  Sz-chuen  cremate  their 
dead.  The  bodies  are  placed  in  a  sitting  position  and 
bound  with  cords.  The  funeral  pyre  is  built,  and,  after  the 
body  is  burned,  the  ashes  and  unburned  wood  are  buried 
on  the  spot. 

Archdeacon  Gray  thus  describes  a  cremation  at  Honam 
Temple  : — 

188 


Currency 

'As  I  entered  the  inner  gates  my  attention  was  directed  to  an 
apartment,  the  doors  of  which  were  crowded  by  a  number  of  priests 
arrayed  in  sackcloth,  and  wearing  white  bandages  round  their  fore- 
heads. The  corpse,  attired  in  a  cowl,  and  with  the  hands  fixed  in  the 
attitude  of  prayer,  was  placed  in  a  bamboo-chair  in  a  sitting  posture, 
and  carried  to  the  pyre  by  six  secular  monks.  All  the  monks  were  in 
attendance,  and  walked  two  abreast,  immediately  behind  the  remains 
of  the  departed  friar.  As  the  long  procession  advanced,  the  walls  of 
the  monastery  echoed  with  the  chanting  of  prayers  and  the  tinkling  of 
cymbals.  When  the  bearers  reached  the  pyre,  they  placed  the  chair 
containing  the  corpse  upon  it,  and  the  fagots  were  then  kindled  by 
the  chief  priest.  Whilst  the  body  was  enveloped  in  flames,  the 
mourners  prostrated  themselves  upon  the  ground  in  obeisance  to  the 
ashes  of  one  with  whom  they  had  been  accustomed  to  join  in  prayer 
and  praise.  When  the  fire  had  burned  itself  out,  the  attendants 
collected  the  charred  bones  and  placed  them  in  a  cinerary  urn,  which 
was  then  deposited  in  a  small  shrine  within  the  precincts  of  the 
monastery.  The  cinerary  urns  remain  in  this  shrine  until  the  ninth 
day  of  the  ninth  month,  when  the  ashes  which  they  contain  are 
emptied  into  bags  of  red  cloth,  which  are  then  sewn  and  thrown  into 
a  large  ossuary,  or  species  of  monastery  mausoleum.  These  edifices, 
built  of  granite,  are  called  by  the  Chinese  Poo-Toong-Tap,  and  are 
upon  an  extensive  scale.  That  belonging  to  the  monastery  of  Honam 
is  a  noble  piece  of  masonry,  and  is  divided  into  compartments,  one 
being  for  the  ashes  of  monks,  and  the  other  for  those  of  nuns.  The 
bags  of  red  cloth,  with  their  contents,  are  consigned  to  these  re- 
ceptacles through  small  apertures  just  sufficiently  large  for  their 
admission.' 


CURRENCY. — China  presents  the  curious  spectacle  of 
an  empire  without  a  gold  or  silver  currency  in  general 
use  throughout  the  land.  For  centuries,  with  but  slight 
exceptions,  the  medium  of  exchange  has  been  the  cash,  a 
small  copper  coin  of  the  size  of  an  English  halfpenny,  but 
only  a  half  or  a  third  as  thick,  with  a  square  hole  in  its 
centre  for  convenience  in  stringing.  It  has  a  raised  broad 
rim  round  the  circumference  as  well  as  one  round  the  square 
hole  in  the  centre.  In  the  sunk  space  between  these  two 
rims  are,  on  the  obverse,  four  raised  Chinese  characters,  two 
of  which  are  the  style  of  the  Emperor's  reign,  and  two  are 
the  equivalent  of  'current  coin.'  At  the  present  day  the 
majority  of  the  coins  also  have  on  the  reverse  two  raised 
Manchu  characters,  one  denoting  the  provincial  mint  at 
which  the  coin  has  been  cast,  and  the  other  the  equivalent 
of  the  word  '  currency.'  For  some  centuries  before  Christ, 
and  until  the  present  time,  this  has  been,  in  its  general 

189 


Things  Chinese 

features,  the  circulating  medium  of  China.  Larger  coins 
of  the  same  character  have  also  been  coined,  but,  as  a  rule, 
it  may  be  said  that  China  has  had  no  gold  or  silver  coinage. 
A  few  attempts  to  coin  silver  have  been  made  once  or 
twice  in  the  past,  but  they  have  been  failures.  Edkins 
says  '  Arabian  trade  brought  to  China  the  use  of  silver  by 
weight,  as  European  trade  at  a  later  period  brought  the 
dollar.'  '  A  thousand  years  ago  the  people  in  Central 
China  kept  their  accounts  in  copper  cash.'  It  is  now  the 
general  practice,  at  all  events  in  the  South,  for  accounts  to 
be  kept  in  silver — taels,  mace,  candarins,  and  It  (a  decimal 
system  :  ten  //  making  one  candarin  ;  ten  candarins,  one 
mace ;  and  ten  mace,  one  tael) ;  there  being  actually  no 
such  coins  in  existence.  But  in  Hongkong  and  places 
where  the  dollar  is  common,  they  are  often  kept  in  dollars 
and  cents.  Hence  arises  sometimes  a  curious  mixture,  the 
shop-keeper  at  times  puts  down  some  of  the  items  in  taels, 
etc.,  and  in  other  parts  of  his  books  items  will  occur  in 
dollars  and  cents.  Paper  notes  have  at  different  periods 
been  issued  by  the  Government,  and  in  later  times  by 
private  firms.  They  have  been  much  in  use  in  certain  parts 
of  China — Foochow  for  example.  Marco  Polo  devotes  a 
whole  chapter  to  an  account  of  the  paper-money  in  use  in 
China  in  his  time.  (See  Article  on  Banks  and  Bank- 
notes). The  Chinese  readily  used  the  Mexican,  South 
American,  and  other  dollars — half  a  century  ago  Spanish 
dollars  took  the  place  that  the  Mexican  subsequently  held, 
but,  except  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hongkong,  and  often 
there  as  well,  they  always  weighed  them,  and  they  were 
generally  stamped,  as  they  passed  through  the  hands  of 
merchants  and  shop-keepers,  with  a  private  mark  of  the 
firm,  till  they  fell  into  pieces  and  became  what  is  known  as 
broken  silver,  and  had  to  be  weighed  as  each  transaction 
took  place  to  know  their  value.  For  this  purpose  a  small 
money  scale  is  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  every  one  going 
shopping ;  in  time,  no  doubt,  a  regular  silver  coinage  will 
drive  this  practice  out.  The  Japanese,  Hongkong,  and 
Straits  Settlements  subsidiary  coins,  such  as  the  five,  ten, 

190 


Currency 

and  twenty  cent  pieces,  have  been  much  in  circulation, 
especially  in  Hongkong  and  its  neighbourhood.  The 
Japanese  yen  and  Hongkong  dollar  are  also  used  more 
now.  Within  the  last  few  years  a  mint  has  been  estab- 
lished at  Canton.  This  mint  is  a  very  fine  one,  and  in 
one  respect,  that  of  stamping  machines,  is  the  largest  in 
the  world.  It  is  under  the  superintendence  of  a  Scotch- 
man, but  all  the  other  officials  and  workmen  are  natives. 
The  following  extracts  from  Consul  Brennan's  Report 
may  prove  of  interest  in  this  connection  : — 

'This  mint  has  not  so  far  [1893]  taken  upon  itself  the  duty  of 
providing  the  people  with  a  standard  of  value  at  the  expense  of  the 
Government.  It  only  cares  to  work  at  a  profit.  .  .  .  No  assayer  is 
employed,  and  the  provincial  treasury  silver  is  taken  to  be  pure,  the 
Canton  dollar  [few  of  which  have  been  coined]  is  not  of  even  fineness. 
Some  of  the  first  dollars  coined  there  were  found  in  the  London  mint 
to  be  actually  884  instead  of  900  fine.  .  .  .  There  is  a  steady  demand 
[for  the  subsidiary  coins]  because  of  the  convenience,  their  passing 
above  their  intrinsic  value  being  an  exemplification  of  Ricardo's 
proposition  that  the  value  of  a  coin  depends  on  demand  and  supply. 
.  .  .  There  is  certain  to  be  in  time  an  immense  demand  for  such  small 
silver  pieces  all  over  the  Empire.' 

(Sir  Thomas  Wade,  a  former  British  minister  to  Peking, 
actually  recommended  that  Hongkong  should  coin  taels 
when  it  was  proposed  to  issue  a  Hongkong  dollar, 
and  this  when  the  Chinese  were  familiar  with  foreign 
dollars. 

The  Chinese,  as  will  be  seen  below,  have  given  in  their 
adhesion  to  the  use  of  the  dollar  themselves.) 

The  coins  issued  by  the  Canton  mint  have  been  dollars, 
half  dollars,  twenty,  ten,  and  five  cent  pieces  in  silver, 
copper  cents  and  cash.  The  Government  of  the  Fokien 
Province  had  a  large  quantity  of  silver  coins  minted  for  them 
at  this  establishment  in  Canton.  The  same  Viceroy,  Chang 
Chih-tung,  who  introduced  this  first  mint  into  China,  also 
established  one  at  Wuchang  for  the  benefit  of  the  Hupeh 
and  Hunan  Provinces.  The  Central  Provinces  will  pro- 
bably be  supplied  from  Nanking  with  a  new  coinage,  while 
the  Northern  Provinces  are  also  minting  their  own  silver 
money,  Anhwei,  for  one,  having  a  mint  of  its  own.  Indeed 

191 


Things  Chinese 

so  rapidly  have  these  new  mints  been  springing  up  in 
China  within  the  last  few  years  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep 
count  of  them  all.  Other  mints  will  soon  doubtless  supply 
other  portions  of  the  empire  with  silver  coins.  The  ten 
and  twenty  cent  pieces  issued  by  the  Canton  mint  are 
largely  in  circulation  in  Hongkong,  though  not  now 
received  at  the  Government  offices,  such  as  the  Post 
Office,  etc. 

CUSTOMS,  IMPERIAL  MARITIME.— In  1853, 
owing  to  the  T'ai  P'ing  rebels  capturing  Shanghai,  the 
collection  of  customs  duties  on  foreign  bottoms  entering  that 
port  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  foreigners,  as  a  temporary 
measure  until  order  should  be  restored  ;  but  what  was  in- 
tended as  a  modus  vivendi  for  the  time  being,  proved  so 
well  adapted  for  the  purpose,  that  it  became  a  permanency, 
and  has  increased  with  the  extension  of  trade  and  the 
opening  of  new  treaty  ports,  until  it  is  now  a  most  im- 
portant department,  with  a  large  and  efficient  staff  recruited 
from  most  of  the  European  nations,  though  the  English 
are  in  the  majority. 

The  following  is  the  personnel  of  the  establishment : — 
At  the  head  of  all  are  the  Inspector-General  and  the 
Deputy  Inspector-General ;  immediately  below  them  are 
the  Commissioners,  40  in  number,  who  are  generally  in 
charge  of  each  Custom-house.  They  are  assisted  by 
Deputy  Commissioners,  of  whom  there  are  19,  including  6 
extra  for  Likin  ;  the  next  ranks  being  Chief,  First,  Second, 
Third  and  Fourth  Assistants,  of  whom  there  are  194  ;  Clerks 
number  12  ;  under  the  heading  of  Miscellaneous  there  are 
12  names  ;  and  there  are  29  Surgeons  connected  with  the 
Customs,  who  have  private  practice  as  well,  making,  with 
the  279  of  the  Indoor  Staff,  a  total  of  308  foreigners.  The 
foreign  Outdoor  Staff  number  551,  the  ranks  being  Tide 
Surveyors,  Assistant  Tide  Surveyors,  and  Boat  Officers  ; 
Chief  Examiners,  Examiners,  and  Assistant  Examiners ; 
Tide  Waiters,  and  Watchers,  and  Miscellaneous,  etc.  There 
are  also  five  armed  cruisers  built  in  England,  most  of 

192 


Customs,  Imperial  Maritime 

them  by  Armstrong,  commanded  and  officered  by  Euro- 
peans, and  styled  the  Coast  Staff  (46  in  number),  and 
manned  by  Chinese ;  also  belonging  to  this  Coast  Staff 
is  a  small  fleet  (10)  of  armed  launches  with  19  officers, 
and  an  Engineer's  Staff,  7  in  number.  The  lighthouses  on 
the  China  coast,  with  the  exception  of  those  kept  up  by 
the  Hongkong  and  Macao  Governments,  owe  their  incep- 
tion and  maintenance  to  this  same  department,  employing 
58  foreigners  and  222  Chinese.  There  is  a  Marine  Staff 
as  well ;  the  Lighthouse  Staff  coming  under  the  heading 
of  Marine  makes  a  total  of  129  foreigners.  There  is  a  small 
Educational  Department  (7  foreigners),  and  a  Postal  one 
with  65  foreigners.  This  then  gives  us  a  total  of  1,093 
foreigners  ;  a  few  hold  two  appointments,  one  sometimes 
in  connection  with  the  Postal  Service,  so  that  the  total  is 
a  little  less  ;  with  all  deductions,  however,  there  are  more 
than  1,050  foreigners,  and  over  5,000  Chinese  (some  5,038) 
in  the  whole  Customs  employ  under  Sir  Robert  Hart ;  but 
the  numbers,  of  course,  fluctuate  from  year  to  year,  and, 
with  the  opening  of  new  treaty  ports  and  the  extension  of 
the  postal  system,  the  numbers  tend  towards  an  increase. 
The  Nationality  of  the  staff  some  years  since  was  roughly 
stated,  as  follows  : — There  are  about  550  British,  about  125 
Germans  ;  American,  80 ;  French,  about  40  ;  Danish,  30 ; 
Norwegian,  some  30  or  so  ;  Portuguese,  nearly  30  ;  Swedish, 
20 ;  Russian,  Spanish,  Italian,  Belgian,  Austrian,  Dutch, 
Siamese,  Turkish,  Hungarian,  and  Venezuelan  below  20 
each,  some  nations  having  only  one  in  the  service. 

About  ^"400,000  a  year  was  allowed  by  the  Chinese 
Government  for  the  support  and  upkeep  of  this  entire 
service  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  but  the  sum 
has  doubtless  been  increased,  as  the  establishment  is  con 
stantly  growing  and  the  expenses  increasing.  The  patron- 
age is  in  the  hands  of  the  Inspector-General,  whose 
nomination  is  required  for  appointment. 

Mr.  H.  N.  Lay  was  the  former  Inspector-General,  but 
he  came  to  grief  in  1863  over  the  Sherard  Osborne  fleet, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Robert  Hart,  who  has 

193  N 


Things  Chinese 

performed  the  onerous  and  multifarious  duties  connected 
with  his  position  with  great  tact  and  ability,  winning 
not  only  the  good  opinion  of  the  Chinese  government, 
but  that  of  the  mercantile  community  in  China  as  well. 
The  receipts  of  a  most  important  department  are  thus 
handed  over  intact  to  the  Chinese,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  large  salaries  necessarily  paid  to  the  foreign  em- 
ployes, the  Chinese  government  reaps  a  larger  benefit 
from  it  than  it  would  from  one  in  purely  native  hands, 
so  difficult  is  it  for  money  once  in  the  hands  of 
Chinese  Mandarins  to  leave  their  possession  without 
a  large  percentage  being  deducted  for  the  benefit  of 
each  one  who  has  had  to  do  with  it.  This  revenue 
is  likewise  honestly  collected,  a  thing  impossible  of 
accomplishment  were  natives  employed,  as  bribes  and 
presents  are  in  continual  use  in  China.  Could  this 
same  system  be  enlarged  and  extended  to  the  collec- 
tion of  the  whole  of  the  Customs  revenue  of  China, 
it  would  prove  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  nation  ; 
but  the  Provincial  authorities  are  opposed  to  this,  the 
Provincial  and  Imperial  authorities  being  mutually  sus- 
picious of  each  other.  (See  Article  on  Li  Kin.) 

A  further  advantage  of  this  service  is  the  moral 
lesson  it  gives  to  Chinese  officials.  Hong  Yau-wai, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Chinese  Reform  Party,  speaking 
of  the  enormous  loss  of  revenue  that  occurs  in  China, 
stated  that  in  his  own  native  district,  that  of  Namhoi, 
out  of  a  total  amount  of  8240,000  a  year,  only  some- 
thing over  820,000  reached  the  Imperial  Purse.  It  is 
also  exerting  an  improving  influence  on  the  government 
system  of  keeping  accounts.  An  accuracy  and  care  is  now 
exercised  over  them,  supposed  to  be  the  result  of  the 
publication  quarterly  of  the  Foreign  Customs  accounts  ; 
and  public  accounts  'are  now  frequently  printed  in  the 
Peking  Gazette,  which  is  a  hopeful  novelty.' 

CUTTLE-FISH. — This  is  a  most  common  article  of 
diet  amongst  the  Chinese,  and  is  eaten  both  fresh  and  dried. 

194 


Decorations  and  Presentations 

'  In  the  latter  case  the  ink-bag  is  cut  away,  and  all 
impurities  having  been  removed  by  water,  the  animal  is 
submitted  to  pressure  and  then  dried  in  the  sun.  Bundles 
of  one  catty  each  are  tied  up  and  placed  in  cases  holding 
ten  catties  or  more  each,  for  export'  (Dennys)  from  the 
Straits  Settlements. 

The  fresh  cuttle-fish  is  fried  over  a  quick  fire,  while 
dried  cuttle-fish  is  boiled  to  prepare  it  for  the  table. 

A  curious  idea  was  prevalent  at  one  time  in  the  West, 
that  the  so-called  Indian  ink  (really  Chinese  ink)  was 
prepared  from  the  colouring  matter  of  the  cuttle-fish,  instead 
of  being  made  from  lampblack  as  its  principal  ingredient. 

CYCLE. — From  a  remote  antiquity  the  Chinese  have 
used  a  cycle  of  60  years.  This  sexagenary  cycle  is  formed 
of  two  sets  of  characters  :  one  set  consisting  of  twelve  and 
the  other  of  ten,  which  are  combined  together  in  sets  of 
two,  i.e.,  each  year  of  the  sixty  is  represented  by  two 
characters  which  distinguish  it  from  the  other  fifty-nine. 
A  sexagenary  division  also  existed  in  early  times  in  India 
and  Babylon. 

The  Chinese  employ  both  this  cycle  as  well  as  the  year 
of  the  reign  of  the  sovereign.  The  latter  is  preferable,  as  at 
times  the  use  of  the  former  causes  some  uncertainty.  For 
example,  if  a  book  has  the  name  of  one  of  the  years  of  the 
cycle  on  the  title-page  as  the  date  of  its  being  written  or  of 
its  publication,  the  question  may  arise  as  to  which  series  of 
sixty  years  the  date  refers — whether  it  is  the  year  in  the 
present  cycle  of  sixty,  or  the  year  in  the  last,  or  a  former 
cycle  of  sixty  years.  There  is  not  the  precision  about  it, 
under  any  and  every  circumstance,  which  there  ought  to  be 
in  anything  connected  with  dates. 

DECORATIONS  AND  PRESENTATIONS.- 
Mayers,  who  is  the  great  authority  on  all  matters  connected 
with  Government  titles,  etc.,  says  most  justly  that : — 

'Although  rewards  for  distinguished  service,  or  marks  of  Imperial 
favour,  the  conception  of  which  resembles  in  some  degree  that  of  the 

195 


Things  Chinese 

European  system  of  Royal  or  National  Orders  and  Medals  of 
Distinction,  are  to  be  found  in  China,  nothing  in  the  shape  of  an 
actual  Order  of  Merit  approximating  to  the  European  type  has  been 
adopted  by  the  Chinese  Government.  .  .  .  Isolated  distinctions  have 
indeed  been  conferred  in  China  on  foreigners  of  various  nationalities, 
principally  for  services  rendered  in  the  command  of  the  drilled  troops 
during  the  T'ai  P'ing  rebellion,  and  subsequently  in  the  collection  of 
the  Customs'  revenue,  .  .  .  but  as  these  are  bestowed  for  the  most 
part  by  provincial  authorities,  and  without  the  sanction  of  any 
established  rule  or  recognised  statutes,  such  as  are  required  to 
constitute  what  is  commonly  known  as  an  "  Order,"  the  badges  thus 
conferred  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  having  a  real  value  as  authentic 
marks  of  distinction.' 

There  is,  however,  of  late  years  the  newly  established 
Order,  in  its  various  grades,  reserved  solely  for  foreigners, 
namely,  the  Order  of  the  Double  Dragon  ;  it  is  divided 
into  five  grades,  the  first,  second,  and  third  being  sub- 
divided into  three  classes.  Sir  Robert  Hart,  the  dis- 
tinguished and  able  head  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs 
in  China,  has  a  decoration  of  a  First  Class  of  the  Second 
Division  of  this  Order,  and  many  of  the  Customs  officials 
have  the  different  classes  of  it.  Major  von  Henneken  and 
several  of  the  Europeans  employed  as  officers  in  the 
Chinese  navy  were  decorated  with  it  during  the  war  with 
Japan,  and  Mr.  Matheson  received  it  in  recognition  of  his 
excellent  services  in  the  construction  of  the  Formosan 
Railway.  The  officers  of  the  ill-fated  German  gunboat  Iltis, 
which  was  lost  some  years  ago  in  a  typhoon,  had  the  Order 
of  the  Double  Dragon  conferred  upon  them  for  having 
rescued  a  number  of  Chinese  soldiers  from  the  '  Kow  Shing.' 

The  purely  native  decorations  and  privileges  are  many 
in  number.  We  note  a  few  of  them  below. 

The  Riding  Cape  or  Yellow  Riding-Jacket  (ma  k'wa), 
though  so  styled  is  not  necessarily,  but  at  the  present  day 
is  generally,  of  that  colour.  It  is  only  worn  '  when  in 
personal  attendance  upon  the  sovereign,  in  the  field,  or 
upon  journeys.'  Only  two  Europeans  have  been  honoured 
with  its  bestowal — General  Gordon  and  M.  Giquel.  '  It 
is  in  colour  of  a  gorgeous  golden  hue,  lined  with  sleeves  of 
peacock  blue— all  of  the  richest  silk.  It  is  very  capacious 
.  .  .  reaching  down  far  below  the  waist.' 

196 


Decorations  and  Presentations 

Another  honorary  distinction,  conferred  upon  eminent 
public  functionaries,  is  the  privilege  of  being  allowed  to 
ride  on  horseback  '  for  some  distance  within  the  outer 
gateways  of  the  palace,  when  summoned  to  an  audience.' 

Another  class  of  distinctions  is  that  of  the  feather.  The 
feathers  allowed  are  those  of  the  peacock  and  the  crow. 
They  are  placed  in  the  back  of  the  hat,  and  stick  out,  slop- 
ing downwards.  The  peacock  feathers  are  three-eyed, 
double-eyed,  or  single-eyed.  The  first  is  conferred  on 
Imperial  princes,  'nobles  of  the  higher  degrees,  or  for  the 
most  signal  military  achievements' ;  the  second  is  reserved 
for  lower  officials  or  dignitaries  ;  and  the  third  '  is  bestowed 
as  an  ordinary  form  of  reward  for  public  service,  and  during 
the  last  few  decades  has  been  indiscriminately  obtainable 
by  purchase.'  The  Crow  Feather  or  Blife  Plume  is  for  the 
soldiers  of  the  Imperial  Guards,  and  officials  of  the  seventh, 
eighth,  and  ninth  degrees  of  rank  are  rewarded  by  it.  The 
peacock  feather  has  been  conferred  upon  Europeans, 
amongst  its  recipients  being  Sir  Robert  Hart  and  his 
brother,  the  late  Mr.  James  Hart,  of  the  Imperial  Maritime 
Customs  Service,  and  some  of  the  foreign  officers  of  the 
Chinese  Navy. 

A  peculiar  feature  in  connection  with  these  distinctions 
amongst  the  Chinese  is  the  withdrawal  of  them  as  a  sign 
of  Imperial  impatience  or  displeasure.  A  notable  instance 
of  this  lately  was  in  the  case  of  the  late  Viceroy  Li  Hung- 
chang  in  connection  with  the  troubles  with  Japan,  his 
three-eyed  peacock  feather  and  yellow  riding-jacket  were 
the  honours  of  which  he  was  deprived  temporarily  ;  for 
1  the  slight  is  often  quickly  repaired,'  not  only  by  the  re- 
bestowal  of  the  lost  honours  but  by  the  fresh  granting  of 
even  greater  ones. 

General  Yeh,  who  distinguished  himself  in  battle,  was 
ordered  by  the  Throne  to  be  rewarded  with  '  Imperial  gifts 
consisting  of  a  white  peacock-feather-holder,  a  small  knife, 
a  pair  of  large  purses,  and  a  couple  of  tinder-boxes.' 

The  Bat'uru  Distinction,  derived  from  the  Manchu  word 
for  '  brave,'  is  something  like  the  French  Legion  cfhonneur 

197 


Things  Chinese 

1  and  is  conferred  solely  for  active  service  in  the  field.' 
There  is  no  outward  sign  of  its  possession,  but  each 
recipient  gets  a  distinguishing  title  either  in  Manchu, 
Mongolian,  or  Chinese,  the  first  being  the  most  honourable. 
The  title  given,  for  instance,  might  be  '  IMt'uru,  with  the 
title  Magnanimous  Brave.'  The  bestowal  of  the  title 
gives  the  right  to  wear  the  peacock's  feather,  though  the 
brave  soldier  has  generally  obtained  that  privilege  before. 
Enhanced  allowances  are  also  the  result  of  the  Bat'uru, 
when  on  active  service.  General  Mesny,  who  was  in  the 
service  of  the  Chinese  army,  is  the  only  European  who  has 
obtained  this  honour  ;  it  was  bestowed  on  him  for  services 
in  the  province  of  Kwei-chow. 

Another  privilege  is  the  Manchu  one,  of  having  the 
sword-scabbard  c6vered  with  yellow  bark  from  the  Robinia 
pygmcea — a  tree  belonging  to  the  Acacise  family.  The 
Seventh  Prince,  on  the  accession  of  the  Emperor,  Kwong 
Sui,  had  this  bestowed  on  him. 

Another  honour  granted  is  '  the  permission  to  use 
scarlet  or  purple  reins  when  riding  ...  on  horseback 
.  .  .  and  to  use  the  same  colour  for  the  props  of  the 
sedan-chair.'  These  privileges  '  were  believed  to  be  reserved 
exclusively  for  the  Imperial  family,'  but  the  Viceroy  Li  had 
them  conferred  on  him.  Yet  another  honour  bestowed  on 
the  same  high  official  was  a  robe  made  of  throat-skins  of 
sables,  sent  as  a  birthday  present  to  him  by  the  Empress 
Dowager ;  special  permission  from  the  Throne  is  required 
for  the  wearing  of  such. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  interesting  to  notice  two 
distinctions  conferred  on  Sir  Robert  Hart  :  the  Inspector 
General  '  will,  however,  receive  a  piece  of  silk  with  the 
names  of  his  three  ancestors  inscribed  thereupon  in  five 
colours.  This  is  a  higher  honour  than  the  yellow  jacket. 
Another  special  decree  also  '  conferred  buttons  of  the  first 
rank '  on  his  immediate  three  ancestors  '  for  his  able 
administration  of  the  Customs.'  Again  '  the  Emperor 
of  China  has  by  Imperial  Rescript'  done  similar  honour 
to  the  three  generations  of  ancestors  of  Sir  Halliday 

198 


Decorations  and  Presentations 

Macartney,  the  Secretary  of  the  Chinese  Legation  in 
London.  These  are  the  only  two  Europeans  who  have 
been  thus  honoured. 

The  title  of  Instructor  of  the  Emperor '  is  a  posthumous 
one,  and  it  is  said  '  is  never  given  a  man  in  his  lifetime,  and 
only  to  the  most  distinguished  officers  after  death.'  The 
great  Tseng  Kwo-chuan,  deceased,  and  his  brother  had  it : 
'  it  is  unprecedented  in  history  that  two  brothers  should  be 
so  honoured.' 

Among  the  honours  conferred  upon  the  late  energetic 
Admiral  (and  General)  Fong  by  the  Throne  was  the  Order 
of  the  Yellow  Flag — '  an  honour  possessed  only  by  some 
half-dozen  recipients  in  the  whole  Empire.  It  carried  with 
it  the  despotic  power  to  order  the  execution  of  any  subject, 
if  of  subordinate  rank,  without  reference  to  Peking.' 

Presentations  or  testimonials  to  officials  by  the  people 
take  a  different  form  in  China  from  what  they  do  in  the 
West. 

There  is  the  presentation  of  the  official  umbrella,  which  is 
a  distant  cousin  of  the  Italian  Baldacchino.  It  is  a  circular 
canopy  with  a  deep  border  and  fringe  dependent  from  it. 

'  It  is  made  of  scarlet  silk,  and  on  the  deep  borders  which  encircle 
it  are  embroidered  in  yellow  or  black  silk  the  names  of  the  donors.' 

'At  other  times,  tablets  bearing  complimentary  inscriptions  are 
given  as  testimonials,  and  these  are  much  prized  by  the  recipients, 
and  used  to  decorate  their  best  receiving  rooms.' 

'Another  and  more  comical  method  of  exhibiting  the  public 
estimation  of  official  probity  and  worth  is  for  a  deputation  of  the 
inhabitants  to  wait  upon  a  mandarin  at  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city 
at  the  moment  of  his  making  his  farewell  exit,  and  to  beg  the  gift 
of  his  boots,  which  are  thenceforth  reverently  cherished  in  some 
temple  as  public  property.' 

The  latest  decorations  of  foreigners  has  been  through 
the  instrumentality  of  the  Viceroy  Yuan  Shi-k'ai  of  a 
number  of  missionaries,  mostly  Roman  Catholic,  in 
connection  with  the  rendering  and  settling  of  the  missionary 
claims  arising  out  of  the  Boxer  disturbances  of  1900 — 
buttons,  peacocks'  feathers,  and  stars — stars  doubtless  of 
the  double  dragon. 

199 


Things  Chinese 

DEMONIACAL  POSSESSION.  —  The  Chinese 
believe  that  madness  and  many  forms  of  disease  are 
due  to  possession  by  evil  spirits. 

The  idea  of  evil  spirits  and  their  wicked  machinations 
pervades  the  whole  of  Chinese  society :  it  crops  up  in  all 
sorts  of  unexpected  places,  and  permeates  and  pervades 
their  whole  round  of  existence.  Does  a  parent's  love  go 
out  towards  some  little  child,  and,  as  year  by  year  goes  by, 
increase  in  strength,  until  suddenly  some  disease  takes  the 
little  darling  away  from  the  home  it  has  made  bright  and 
happy?  Then  the  miserable  solace  the  bereaved  parents 
have,  is  that  it  was  not  a  proper  child  of  their  own  at 
all,  but  some  spiteful  spirit,  that,  after  ingratiating  itself 
into  their  affections,  ruined  all  their  fond  hopes,  and 
dashed  their  anticipations  of  future  bliss  by  suddenly 
showing  itself  in  its  true  colours  in  returning  whence 
it  came. 

More  than  twenty  years  ago  some  most  curious  instances 
of  apparent  demoniacal  possession  forced  themselves  upon 
the  attention  of  the  missionaries  and  their  native  assistants 
in  the  South  of  China,  bearing,  seemingly,  a  close  analogy 
to  those  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament  in  the  time  of 
Christ.  Some  of  the  native  preachers  treated  these  cases 
in  the  same  way  that  the  Apostles  did,  and  in  several 
instances  with  marked  results  of  improvement. 

At  Foochow,  according  to  Doolittle,  yellow  paper  charms 
are  used,  with  different  devices  on  them,  in  a  number  of 
various  ways,  to  counteract  the  evil  influences  when 
sickness  is  believed  to  be  caused  by  an  evil  spirit ; 
and,  in  the  same  part  of  the  country,  whips  made  of 
branches  of  the  peach  or  willow,  or  a  scourge,  made,  in 
the  shape  of  a  snake,  out  of  hemp,  are  employed  to  beat 
the  bed,  and  drive  away  the  evil  spirit. 

There  are  several  different  kinds  of  demoniacal 
possession,  according  to  the  Chinese.  There  is,  first, 
the  possession  of  the  body,  produced  by  demons,  who 
are  capable  of  inducing  any  of  the  ordinary  diseases  to 
which  flesh  is  heir  in  China.  Vows  and  offerings  to  the 

2OO 


Demoniacal  Possession 

gods  are  the  remedies  for  those  who  suffer  thus  involuntarily. 

The  next  form  is  more  serious,  for  the  demon  in  this  class 

is  supposed  to  actually  dwell  within  the  possessed,  whose 

case  is,  however,  diagnosed  by  the  sapient  (?)  Chinese  as 

being  different  from  that  of  an  ordinary  lunatic.     Dennys 

in  his  '  Folklore  of  China,'  quoting  from  an  article  by  Mr. 

Gardner,  treats  at  some  length  of  these,  and  his  account 

tallies  in  several  respects  with  those  given  in  the  Bible  of 

the  demoniacs  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour.     A  still  worse 

case  is  that  of  those  who,  thus  possessed,  yield  to  the  demon, 

the  consequence  being  that  on  their  worship  of  him   riches 

flow  in  ;    but,  notwithstanding  all,  ill-luck,   in   the  way  of 

retributive  justice,  follows  such  ;  and  the  ill-gotten  gains 

take   to   themselves    wings   and    flee    away.        There    are 

besides    'devil-dancers'    or   spiritual    media,   who    profess 

to  be  possessed,  going   into  '  a  sort  of  ecstatic  frenzy,  and, 

when  in  this  state,  they  answer. questions  as  to  the  disease 

and  remedies  to  be  applied  for  the  relief  of  those  on  whose 

behalf  they  are  consulted.'     They  also  believe  in  demons, 

who  to  all  outward  appearance  are  mortals,   and  who  are 

missionaries    from    the    nether   world    to   warn     mankind, 

amongst   whom    they    live,   of  the    evil    consequences   of 

indulgence  in  wrongdoing. 

China  would  appear  to  present  a  better  field  for  the 
manifestation  of  such  delusions,  as  the  people  are  so 
ignorant  and  superstitious  and  are  naturally  susceptible. 
Mania,  dementia,  and  hysteria,  will  probably  account  for  all, 
or  nearly  all,  so-called  instances  of  demoniacal  possession. 

1  Many  of  these  cases  of  possession  are,  doubtless,  due  to 
suggestion.  Persons  of  susceptible  temperament,  seeing  or  hearing 
of  others  so  afflicted,  are  tempted  to  worry  or  annoy  their  friends,  and 
are  carried  away  and  frightened  by  their  own  emotions  into  an 
hysterical  state  bordering  on  actual  mania.' 

Story  after  story  might  be  given  under  these  different 
heads,  as  well  as  of  superstitions  about  foxes,  which  last 
prevail  more  in  the  North  than  in  the  South  of  China,  but 
for  the  latter  see  the  article  on  Fairy  Tales. 

Books  rf commended. —  Dennys's  'Folklore  of  China, '  chap.   viii.     Cliuiete 

2O I 


Things  Chinese 

Recorder,  Jan. -Feb.  1881,  p.  16.  Chinese  and  Japanese  Repository,  3rd 
September  1863.  Doolittle's  '  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese.'  Professor  Giles's 
1  Strange  Stories  from  a  Chinese  Studio,'  vol.  i.  pp.  25,  26,  168  ;  vol.  ii.  p.  300. 
'The  Chinese,  their  Present  and  Future  ;  Medical,  Political,  and  Social,'  by 
R.  Coltmun,  Jr.,  M.D.,  pp.  149-151.  '  Demon  Possession  and  Allied  Themes,' 
by  Rev.  J.  L.  Nevius,  D.I). 


DIALECTS. — When  one  travels  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  one  expects,  every  few  hundred  miles,  to  find  a 
different  language  spoken,  but  because  an  extent  of  country 
larger  than  Europe  is  all  part  of  one  empire,  it  is  generally 
supposed  that  one  language  (the  Chinese)  is  spoken  through- 
out its  length  and  breadth.  It  is  quite  true  that  it  is  Chinese 
that  is  spoken  in  Peking,  as  well  as  in  Canton,  and  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  inhabitants  of  Shanghai,  Foochow,  and 
Amoy  as  well,  all  speak  Chinese ;  but  it  is  also  true  that 
not  one  of  the  inhabitants  from  any  of  those  places  could 
understand  those  from  the  others  any  more  than  a  Londoner 
could  a  Berliner  ;  or  a  Parisian,  a  Dutchman  ;  or  a  Spaniard, 
an  Italian.  It  might  convey  a  livelier  sense  of  the  difference 
to  suppose  that  the  speech  in  Liverpool  was  as  different  from 
that  in  London  as  one  European  language  is  from  another, 
so  that  any  merchants  from  London,  who  settled  in 
Liverpool,  would  have  to  learn  the  language  of  the  people 
of  that  city,  and  would  be  strangers  in  a  strange  land,  as 
far  as  the  speech  was  concerned.  Again,  suppose  that 
Gaelic  was  the  speech  in  Edinburgh  or  Glasgow,  a 
native  of  those  cities  settling  in  London  would  find  that 
to  be  understood  he  had  to  pick  up  the  language  of  the 
South  of  England.  Again,  let  Welsh  be  the  only  language 
spoken  in  the  principality,  a  Welshman  would  then  not 
be  understood  in  York,  or  anywhere  else  in  England  or 
Scotland. 

Such,  then,  represents  the  position  of  the  Chinaman  in 
his  own  land,  for  different  so-called  dialects  are  spoken 
in  it.  It  is  a  pity  that  they  have  received  this  name,  for  it 
gives  such  a  wrong  impression  as  to  their  range,  the  number 
of  people  that  speak  them,  and  the  very  great  difference 
that  exists  between  them. 

202 


Dialects 

As  the  lamented,  but  talented,  Carstairs  Douglas  says  in 
speaking  of  one  of  them  : — 

'  But  such  words  as  "  Dialect "  or  "  Colloquial "  give  an  erroneous 
conception  of  its  nature.  It  is  not  a  mere  colloquial  dialect  or  patois ; 
it  is  spoken  by  the  highest  ranks  just  as  by  the  common  people,  by 
the  most  learned  just  as  by  the  most  ignorant ;  learned  men  indeed 
add  a  few  polite  or  pedantic  phrases,  but  these  are  mere  excrescences 
(and  even  they  are  pronounced  according  to  the'  so-called  dialect  of 
that  part  of  the  country)  '  while  the  main  body  and  staple  of  the 
spoken  language  of  the  most  refined  and  learned  classes  is  the  same 
as  that  of  coolies,  labourers,  and  boatmen.  Nor  does  the  term 
"dialect"  convey  anything  like  a  correct  idea  of  its  distinctive 
character  :  it  is  no  mere  dialectic  variety  of  some  other  language  ;  it 
is  a  distinct  language,  one  of  the  many  and  widely  differing  languages 
which  divide  among  them  the  soil  of  China.  .  .  .  They  are  cognate 
languages,  bearing  to  each  other  a  relation  similar  to  that  which  sub- 
sists between  the  Arabic,  the  Hebrew,  the  Syriac,  the  Ethiopic,  and 
the  other  members  of  the  Semitic  family;  or  again  between  English, 
German,  Dutch,  Danish,  Swedish,  etc.' 

To  generalise  then,  there  are  throughout  China  the  fol- 
lowing main  divisions  of  speech  or  language,  generally  called 
dialects.  We  arrange  them  with  some  attempt  at  relative  age, 
or  the  greater  or  less  remains  of  age  contained  in  them  :— 

i.  The  Cantonese.  5.  The  Hainanese. 

Hakka.  6.      ,,     Shanghai. 


3.  „     Amoy. 

4.  „     Swatow. 


Ningpo. 
Mandarin. 


(In  the  Straits  Settlements  No.  2  is  known  as  the  Kheh, 
No.  4  as  Tfu  chi'u,  and  No.  5  as  Hylam,  in  this  pronun- 
ciation following  that  of  the  Swatow  and  Amoy  people.) 

Mandarin  and  its  cognate  branches  being  the  youngest, 
it  will  thus  be  seen  that  another  fallacy,  viz.,  that  Mandarin 
is  the  language  of  China,  and  the  others  dialects  of  it,  is 
untenable.  Cantonese  being  more  akin  to  the  ancient 
language  of  China  (spoken  about  3,000  years  ago)  than  the 
Mandarin,  while  the  Hakka  also  contains  traces  of  a  high 
antiquity,  and  is  supposed  to  mark  a  period  long  anterior  to 
that  represented  by  Mandarin,  but,  in  some  respects,  sub- 
sequent to  that  period  of  which  the  Cantonese  contains 
remains,  although  in  other  points  it  has  traces  of  as  high,  or 
nearly  as  high,  an  antiquity.  This  is  true  also  to  some 
extent  of  Swatow,  Amoy,  and  Shanghai,  as  well  probably 
of  others ;  so  that  it  may  rather  be  said  that  the  languages 

203 


Things  Chinese 

spoken  in  the  South-East  of  China  have  traces  of  the 
ancient  speech,  whereas  the  Mandarin  is  modern  ;  in  fact, 
one  appears  to  have  '  elements  in  it  which  seem  to  be 
remnants  of  a  dialect  of  greater  antiquity  than  even  the" 
Cantonese  '  can  boast  of.' 

Having  thus  spoken  of  the  grand  divisions,  we  have 
further  to  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that,  besides  these 
main  divisions,  there  are  lesser  ones,  into  which  they  are 
subdivided,  for  which,  if  we  give  the  main   divisions  the 
name  of  languages,  we  have  the  more  fitting  term  of  dialects  ; 
for  to  adapt  what  we  wrote  some  years  since  in  '  Cantonese 
Made  Easy,'  they  have  their  real  dialects,  some  of  which 
are  spoken  by  tens  of  thousands  or  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  natives,  and  which,  if  they  were  spoken  by  the  inhabitants 
of  some  insignificant  group  of  islands  in  the  Pacific,  with 
only  a  tithe  of  the  population,  would  be  honoured  by  the 
name  of  languages.     We  quote  again  from  a  monograph 
by  ourselves  (on  the  San-wui  Dialect) :— At  the  same  time, 
however,  there  are  wheels  within  wheels  in  the  matter  of 
these  Chinese  dialects  :  that  is  to  say,  the  dialect  of  one 
district  is  not  one  homogeneous  whole,  though  the  district 
may  be  so  small  as  geographically  to  equal  in  square  miles 
a  few  English  counties  only.     It  will  readily  be  understood 
that  there  is  scope  for  a  considerable  variation,    without 
this  variation  being  so  marked  as  to  become  a  separate 
dialect  or  sub-dialect.     Considerable  changes  can  thus  be 
rung,  while  yet  the  changes  are  not  so  great  as  to  put  the 
dialect  or  sub-dialect  out   of  harmony   with  the  general 
characteristics   of  the   particular   dialect,   or  language,   of 
which   it  is  a  branch.      Every  now  and  then  one   comes 
across  villages  and  towns,  which  seem   almost  a   law  to 
themselves  as  to  their  speech,  for  all  the  peculiarities  of  the 
district  are  so  accentuated,  and  so  many  new  varieties  of 
pronunciation  introduced,  new  idioms  and  words  used,  as 
well  as  a  difference  in  the  tones  employed,  as  to  result  in 
a    lingo   more   or   less   unintelligible,  even  to    inhabitants 
of  the  same  district,  and  a  perfect  jargon  of  unmeaning 
sounds  to  a  stranger  to  that  part  of  the  country. 

204 


Dialects 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  ramifications  are  numerous, 
for  after  the  division  of  dialects  proper,  are  the  lesser 
divisions  of  sub-dialects,  variations  and  local  patois.  The 
most  minute  divisions  of  all  are  those  which  present  a 
curious  spectacle  when  found  to  exist  in  a  city  itself,  as,  for 
instance,  there  are  two  or  three  of  these  minute  subdivisions 
found  in  the  City  of  Canton,  with  a  population  estimated 
sometimes  at  a  million.  It  is  as  if  about  a  dozen  different 
minute  divisions  of  English  were  to  be  found  in  London  : 
the  inhabitants  of  that  City  south  of  the  Thames  having 
certain  peculiarities,  which  would  mark  them  out  as  different 
from  those  in  other  parts  of  London,  while  the  West  End, 
the  City  itself,  the  East  End,  and,  not  to  carry  the  com- 
parison any  further,  half-a-dozen  other  districts  of  London 
would  each  have  some  few  local  peculiarities  of  pronuncia- 
tion distinguishing  them  from  the  rest  of  London. 

The  above  will  help  to  explode  another  fallacy,  that  if  a 
man  knows  one  of  the  so-called  dialects,  such  for  instance  as 
Cantonese,  he  is  then  perfect  master  of  all  that  may  be  said 
by  people  speaking  that  language.  The  real  facts  of  the 
case  will  be  better  understood  if  one  instances  the  bewilder- 
ment of  a  cockney,  when  landed  amongst  a  crowd  of  York- 
shiremen  speaking  the  Yorkshire  dialect  in  its  broadest. 

So  many  are  the  changes  in  the  language  in  China  that 
it  maybe  said  that  every  hundred  miles  the  language  differs 
to  a  more  or  less  material  extent — in  some  places  every 
twenty  miles — and  a  rough  estimate  has  been  made  that 
there  are  as  many  dialects  in  China  as  there  are  days  in 
the  year.  The  word  China,  when  applied  geographically, 
covers  such  an  aggregate  of  country,  that  practically  a 
knowledge  of  one  of  the  languages  of  China  is  sufficient  to 
carry  one  over  hundreds  and  thousands  of  miles,  though, 
when  it  comes  to  a  minute  and  accurate  knowledge  of  all 
that  is  said,  much  is  left  to  be  desired,  and  ludicrous 
mistakes  occur. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  have  some  general  idea,  im- 
perfect though  it  must  necessarily  be,  of  the  range  of  the 
different  languages  and  some  of  the  more  important 

205 


Things  Chinese 

dialects.  To  begin  then  with  Mandarin  as  being  the  most 
widespread.  It  is  the  speech,  in  one  form  or  another,  in 
fourteen  or  fifteen  out  of  the  eighteen  provinces  into  which 
China  is  divided.  Mandarin  is  divided  into  the  Northern 
and  Southern.  The  standard  dialect  of  the  former  being 
Pekingese,  owing  to  the  accident  of  Peking  being  the  seat 
of  the  Central  Government,  while  Nankingese  holds  the 
same  position  with  regard  to  the  southern  division.  A 
third  marked  variety  is  that  of  Western  China,  which  has 
its  centre  in  Ching-tu  in  the  Sz-chuan  province.  Besides 
these,  there  are  a  number  of  smaller  divisions,  such  as 
the  Hankow  ;  but,  amidst  all  these  varieties,  there  appears 
to  be  a  better  chance  of  one  being  understood  through  a 
much  wider  extent  of  country  in  that  part  of  the  empire, 
where  Mandarin  is  spoken  as  the  language  of  the  people, 
than  is  the  case  in  other  parts  of  China.  Taking  the 
population  of  China  as  360,000,000,  a  population  say  of 
300,000,000  are  Mandarin  speaking.  This  is,  of  course,  a 
mere  rough  estimate,  and,  to  be  accurate,  would  require  a 
considerable  amount  of  adjustment,as  there  are  large  Hakka- 
speaking  communities  amongst  them,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  are  Mandarin-speaking  people  amongst  some 
of  the  other  provinces.  In  the  city  of  Canton  alone  there 
are  100,000  Mandarin  speakers.  All  high  officials  require 
a  knowledge  of  Mandarin  ;  those  who  do  not  know  it  have 
therefore  to  learn  it,  and  the  consequence  is  that  almost  all 
who  aspire  to  office,  or  to  come  in  contact  with  official  life, 
acquire  it  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent.  Many  of  the  plays 
put  on  the  stage  are  in  Southern  Mandarin,  consequently 
ardent  play-goers  have  a  more  or  less  smattering  of  that 
variety  of  it. 

The  other  languages  of  China  are  spoken  by  smaller 
populations,  but  by  still  large  enough  ones  to  command 
respect.  For  example,  the  people  who  speak  Cantonese,  in 
some  form  or  another,  number  20,000,000,  a  population 
falling  not  far  short  of  that  of  Italy.  This  language  is  in 
use  throughout  the  larger  part  of  the  Kwang-tung,  or  Canton 
province;  one  authority  considers  that  12,000,000  speak  it 

206 


Dialects 

there.  It  has  been  estimated  that  about  one-third  of  the 
people  of  the  province  speak  Hakka,  while  in  the  north-east 
of  the  same  province  there  is  a  considerable  population 
speaking  the  Swatow  and  its  variations.  The  Cantonese 
speakers  then  are  in  the  majority,  but  they  are  not  confined 
to  this  province,  for  in  the  next,  the  Kwang-si,  it  is  also 
largely  spoken,  especially  in  the  South,  some  of  it  being 
of  a  comparatively  pure  type,  while  in  other  parts  it  is 
mixed  with  Mandarin. 

It  is  impossible,  without  writing  a  book  specially 
dealing  with  the  subject,  to  give  an  account  of  all  the 
dialects  coming  under  each  separate  language.  The  follow- 
ing short  notice  of  some  of  them  in  Cantonese  may  give  an 
idea  of  what  may  be  expected  to  be  found  under  each 
grand  division.  The  Cantonese  has  numerous  dialects  and 
groups  of  dialects.  One  group  consists  of  the  San-wui, 
San-ning,  Yan-p'ing  and  Hoi'-p'ing,  a  most  peculiar  class  of 
dialects,  containing  much  that  is  very  different  from  the 
pure  Cantonese,  and  any  one  of  which,  when  spoken  in  all 
its  broadness,  is,  to  a  great  extent,  difficult  of  comprehension. 
Another  group  consists  of  the  Tung-kwiin,  San-on,  Pok-lo, 
and  Tsang-sheng  dialects.  Besides  these,  there  are  a 
number  of  other  dialects,  such  as  the  Hong-shan,or  Macao, 
the  Shan-tuk,  the  Shfu-hing,  and  others  too  numerous  to 
mention,  each  district  having  more  or  less  differences 
which  segregate  it  and  its  inhabitants  to  a  greater  or  lesser 
extent  from  the  neighbouring  districts.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  each  of  these  dialects  have,  as  has  already  been 
said,  smaller  divisions  or  subdivisions.  For  example,  the 
San-wui  dialect  may  be  divided  into  three,  whilst  besides 
this  three-fold  division  there  are  numerous  smaller  divisions 
still.  The  ramifications  are  most  minute ;  not  only  are 
there  several  slight  variations  in  one  city  or  even  in  one 
town  ;  not  only  does  the  speech  of  the  boat  people  differ 
from  that  of  those  on  land  ;  not  only  is  there  baby-talk  ; 
but  there  are  even  certain  words  which  are  used  by  women 
and  never  by  men — in  fact,  the  men  would  be  laughed  at 
if  they  used  them. 

207 


Things  Chinese 

With  regard  to  the  Hakka,  there  do  not  appear  to  be 
such  differences  between  the  speech  of  those  living  in 
different  parts  of  the  country,  in  Kwang-tung  at  least,  as 
there  is  amongst  the  Cantonese.  To  mention  some  of 
these  Hakka  dialects,  there  are  the  Ka-yin-chu,  the  Sin-dn, 
the  Ch'ong-lok,  and  others.  Again,  with  regard  to  this 
language,  we  have  constantly  been  met  with  the  supposi- 
tion that  a  knowledge  of  Hakka  means  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  Hakka  in  all  its  dialects.  Such  knowledge 
is  almost  impossible  for  one  man  to  acquire,  be  he  native  or 
foreign.  The  difference  between  the  dialects  of  Hakka  is 
still  sufficiently  marked  to  confuse  one  considerably,  until 
familiarity  with  speakers  from  different  parts  of  the 
country  overcomes  the  difficulty.  In  the  Canton  province 
alone  not  a  few  millions  speak  this  language,  roughly 
estimated  at  say  about  the  population  of  Portugal  and  all 
her  colonies  combined  ;  perhaps  about  four  millions  says 
one  authority,  but  this  same  curious  people  are  found  in 
other  provinces  as  well ;  at  present  there  is  no  accurate 
knowledge  of  their  number  as  a  whole. 

The  next  so-called  dialect  up  the  coast  is  that  of  the 
Swatow  and  neighbouring  districts,  which  is  spoken  by 
some  millions,  perhaps  three,  in  one  or  other  of  its  variations 
or  dialects,  such  for  example  as  the  Hoi-fung,  Luk- 
fung,  etc. 

Next  after  this  comes  the  Amoy,  which  has  about  the 
same  affinity  to  the  Swatow  that  Spanish  bears  to 
Portuguese.  There  are  numerous  dialects  of  it,  and  it  is 
spoken  by  a  large  population  of  say  9,000,000,  or  so — a 
larger  population  than  that  of  Belgium  and  Ireland  com- 
bined. Again,  further  up  the  coast,  but  still  in  the  same 
province,  is  the  Foochow  ;  it  is  spoken  throughout  an  extent 
of  country  of  approximately  130  miles  by  270,  and  by  a 
population  of  5,000,000,  considerably  more  than  that  of 
Sweden,  spread  over  a  larger  extent  of  country  than  Wales. 
Like  all  the  others,  it  has  variations,  some  twenty,  or  so,  main 
ones.  Of  it,  as  spoken  a  few  hundred  miles  inland,  a  writer 
says  : — '  But  what  a  Babel  of  tongues  and  dialects  there  is 

208 


Dialects 

among  these  wild  mountaineers  !  A  native  can  hardly  pa^s 
the  limits  of  his  own  village  but  his  speech  will  betray  him.' 
This  is,  of  course,  what  one  would  expect  in  such  a 
mountainous  district ;  the  country  which  the  Mandarin 
occupies  is,  much  of  it,  of  a  more  level  type. 

Besides  these,  there  are  the  languages  of  Shanghai  and 
Ningpo,  and  others  less  well-known  to  the  foreigner,  and 
consequently  whose  divisions  into  dialects  have  been  less 
studied. 

The  Hainanese  is  spoken  in  the  island  of  Hainan,  where 
numerous  other  speeches  are  in  use,  Hainanese  being,  how- 
ever, the  lingua  franca  ;  it  has  also  numerous  variations,  the 
dialect  of  Kiung-chau  being  the  standard.  It  is  allied 
to  the  Amoy  and  Swatow,  but  is  very  different  in  some 
respects,  having  some  peculiarities,  incident  also  to  the 
Japanese,  in  the  change  of  letters  in  the  pronunciation  of  a 
word.  It  is  spoken  by  three  millions  of  people,  being  used 
in  the  Luichow  peninsula. 

The  number  of  syllables  in  some  of  the  different 
speeches  of  China  are  as  follows  : — 


1.  Amoy,  846. 

2.  Cantonese,  780. 

3.  Foochow,  786. 

4.  Hakka,  700. 

5.  Hankow,  316. 


7.  Pekingese,  430. 

8.  Shanghai,  660. 

9.  Swatow,  674, 

10.  Wenchow,  452. 

11.  Yangchow,  415. 


6.  Ningpo,  444. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Parker,  a  great  authority  on  Chinese  dialects, 
says : — 

'It  is  plain  that  1,500  years  back  the  Chinese  dialects  had  for 
centuries  been  almost  as  numerous  as  they  are  now,'  and  he  says 
further,  'from  the  earliest  historical  times,  widely  different  dialects 
have  been  spoken  in  China.'  '  Between  the  dialects  of  Peking, 
Hankow,  Sz-Ch'uan,  Yangchow,  Canton,  Hakka,  Foochow,  Wenchow, 
and  Ningpo  .  .  .  there  is  complete  homogeneity  ;  and  though  the 
variations  between  this  and  that  dialect  are  often  greater  .  .  .  than 
the  differences  between  Portuguese  and  French  (as  one  extreme), 
and  no  greater  than  between  Flemish  and  Dutch  (as  another  extreme), 
yet  the  rigid  adherences  of  all  to  theoretical  standards  is  more  perfect 
than  in  the  European  languages  or  dialects.' 

The  so-called  dialects  are,  however,  in  many  respects  as 
different  as  one  European  language  from  another.  These 

209  o 


Things  Chinese 

differences  are  partly  due  to  climatic  and  telluric  influences, 
individual,  and  local  peculiarities  of  utterance  which  have 
been  perpetuated,  and  the  effects  of  succeeding  waves  of 
migration  from  different  parts ;  possibly  the  influence  of 
preceding  residents,  as  well  as  other  more  obscure  causes 
have  also  been  responsible  to  some  extent.  Some  of  the 
reasons  for  these  divergencies  in  languages  or  dialects  can 
be  seen,  but  the  whole  subject  is  one  that  would  repay 
study.  We  may  here  draw  attention  to  a  few  of  the  causes  : 
the  mixture  of  people  speaking  different  dialects  produces 
a  new  form  ;  old  forms  are  retained  in  one  dialect,  while 
other  dialects  may  discard  these  and  retain  others ; 
localisms  are  perpetuated,  and  new  terms  are  sometimes 
brought  back  by  those  who  have  been  in  other  districts 
and  found  a  permanent  home  away  from  their  original 
habitat ;  migrations  take  place  from,  and  to,  different  parts 
of  the  country,  so  that  districts  wide  apart  are  more  similar 
in  their  speech  than  the  intermediate  country  is  to  one  or  the 
other.  '  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  corruption  of 
old  Chinese  into  the  modern  "  Mandarin "  dialects  was 
caused  chiefly  by  the  immense  admixture  of  Tartar  and 
Thibetan  blood  during  the  period  300-900  A.D.' 

It  is  a  dream  of  some  Chinese  to  introduce  a  uniform 
language  in  place  of  the  numerous  so-called  dialects  that 
exist  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  About 
200  years  ago  the  Emperor  Kang  Hi  caused  schools  to  be 
established  in  Canton,  and  elsewhere,  for  this  purpose.  We 
question  if  the  result  the  scheme  was  meant  to  accomplish 
is  much  nearer  fulfilment  now  than  at  that  time.  In  the 
future,  doubtless,  it  will  be  brought  about  to  a  greater  or 
lesser  extent,  but  by  other  means  than  that,  for  there  is  but 
little  reasonable  doubt  that  when  the  railway  shall  have 
drawn  the  distant  parts  of  China  together  by  the  meshes 
of  its  network,  the  unification  of  the  language  will  proceed 
with  more  rapid  strides,  as  the  nation  by  it,  and  other 
means  dependent  upon  and  accelerated  by  it,  becomes 
welded  into  a  homogeneous  whole. 

What  then  will    be   the  speech  that  will  succeed  to 
210 


Divorce 

this  confusion  of  tongues  in  China  ?  We  believe  that,  if 
China  is  not  subdivided,  but  continues  as  one  empire  in 
the  future,  in  the  course  of  time  (it  may  take  centuries 
to  accomplish  it)  one  language  will  gradually,  either  take 
the  place  of  the  others,  or  the  others  will,  modifying  the 
one,  give  place  to  a  new  language,  which  will  perhaps 
contain  the  best  features  of  all,  and  be  an  advance  on  any 
now  spoken.  The  language  that  bids  fair  to  take  this 
prominent  position  in  the  future  would  seem  to  be  the 
Mandarin,  at  all  events  it  stands  as  good  a  chance  as  any, 
if  not  a  better  than  many,  of  taking  this  enviable  position. 

Besides  the  above,  Manchu  is  the  language  of  the 
rulers  of  China,  who  have  caused  many  books  to  be  trans- 
lated into  it,  and  tried  to  foster  it,  and  galvanise  it  into 
literary  activity.  It  is  not,  however,  a  language  that  the 
Chinese  take  much  interest  in.  Mongolian  is  also  used 
in  Mongolia,  and  to  some  extent,  of  course,  in  Peking.  The 
different  aborigines  to  be  found  in  many  parts  of  China  also 
speak  their  own  languages  or  dialects. 

Books  recommended. — Numerous  articles  have  appeared  in  the  C'hinfi 
Review  and  Missionary  Recorder,  amongst  which  may  be  instanced  those 
by  E.  H.  Parker,  by  Don,  and  by  the  present  writer.  Also  see  the 
'  Philological  Essay '  by  E.  H.  Parker,  in  Giles's  new  '  Chinese  English 
Dictionary. ' 

DIVORCE. — There  are  seven  reasons  for  which,  ac- 
cording to  Chinese  law,  a  man  may  divorce  his  wife  ;  they 
are  barrenness,  lasciviousness,  jealousy,  talkativeness, 
thievery,  disobedience  towards  her  husband's  parents,  and 
leprosy.  These  seem  sweeping  enough  in  all  conscience  ; 
and  to  those  unacquainted  with  the  inner  life  of  the  Chinese, 
it  would  seem  simple  enough  for  a  man  to  bring  his  wife 
to  book  under  one  or  other  of  these,  and  rid  himself  of  an 
uncongenial  companion,  but  such  is  not  the  case  in  practice. 
The  wife's  relations  have  to  be  considered  in  the  matter  ; 
and  again,  if  she  has  no  parents,  she  cannot  be  put  away, 
as  they  are  not  living  to  receive  her  back  again  ;  further, 
for  the  lesser  offences,  he  cannot  put  her  away  if  he  be  in 
mourning  for  a  parent ;  and  yet  again,  it  is  much  simpler 

211 


Things  Chinese 

for  a  Chinese  (and  causes  much  less  ill-feeling  to  all  parties 
concerned),  in  case  no  son  is  born  to  him,  to  take  a  con- 
cubine or  secondary  wife  (not  a  second  wife  except  by 
courtesy,  for  a  Chinese  has  only  one  legal  wife — See  Article 
on  Marriage)  and  increase  the  number,  one  after  the  other, 
until  he  obtains  the  longed-for  heir  or  future  worshipper 
at  the  family  tombs  ;  or,  failing  this,  he  may  adopt  a  son 
(See  Article  on  Adoption).  All  these  different  expedients 
and  restrictions  nullify,  or  render  unnecessary,  the  provisions 
as  to  divorce,  which,  like  everything  Chinese,  is  theoretically 
easy  of  accomplishment,  but  in  practice  is  something  very 
different.  Statistics  are  difficult  to  obtain  in  China,  and, 
when  obtained,  are  very  unreliable,  owing  to  the  inexacti- 
tude of  the  Chinese  mind — one  of  their  most  common 
characteristics.  No  statistics,  as  far  as  the  author  is  aware, 
are  obtainable  on  this  particular  subject ;  but,  judging  from 
a  long  residence  amongst  the  people,  he  would  say  that 
divorce  is  not  any  oftener  resorted  to  than  in  England, 
probably  less  often  by  far. 

Besides  what  has  been  said  above,  a  married  couple 
may  mutually  agree  to  separate ;  again,  by  law  a  husband 
is  liable  to  be  punished  if  his  wife  is  convicted  of  adultery, 
and  he  does  not  put  her  away.  But  there  is  as  high  a 
standard  of  chastity  among  many  classes  of  Chinese 
married  women  as  there  is  among  women  of  the  West,  and 
such  a  rule  among  the  middle  and  higher  classes,  at  least, 
does  not  often  require  application. 

This  is  the  law  and  custom  as  between  husband  and 
wife.  It  is  very  different,  however,  when  the  wife  has  to 
complain  of  her  husband.  She  has  then  practically  no 
redress  or  safeguards  (unless  he  break  her  bones,  when  he 
is  amenable  to  law),  except  the  small  and  uncertain 
modicum  of  public  opinion,  which  may  keep  her  husband 
from  transgressing  too  much,  or  better  still,  the  punish- 
ment which  his  wife's  family  will  take  in  hand,  should  he 
act  so  as  to  bring  disgrace  on  them. 

The  case  is  quite  different  with  the  so-called  secondary 
wives.  They  are  not  a  man's  wives  in  the  sight  of  the  law, 

212 


Doctors 

that  is  to  say,  they  do  not  stand  on  a  footing  of  equality, 
though  recognised  as  concubines,  for  there  is  only  one  first 
legitimate  wife  ;  and  a  man  is  free  to  dismiss  these  concu- 
bines from  his  bed  and  board,  and  treat  them  in  a  way  he 
would  not  dare  to  act  towards  his  first  wife  (though  a  man 
may  be  cruel  enough  to  her  in  China,  as  well  as  in  England, 
if  he  choose).  This  treatment  may  be  modified  more  or 
less  by  the  prospective  counteraction  of  the  so-called  wife's 
relations  and  her  social  position,  presuming  she  has  any. 
If  she  has  none,  or  if  her  position  is  of  no  account,  as  is 
more  than  likely  often  to  be  the  case  with  a  secondary 
wife,  beggary  or  prostitution  stares  her  in  the  face,  unless 
she  is  fortunate  enough  to  enter  another  family  in  a  similar 
position. 

Books  recommended. — '  The  Status  of  Women  in  China,'  by  Rev.  E. 
Faber,  Dr.  Theol.  Most  books  on  China  also  contain  longer  or  shorter 
paragraphs  on  the  same  subject ;  see,  for  example,  Williams's  '  Middle 
Kingdom'  and  Gray's  'China;'  also  see  Articles  in  this  book  on  Marriage 
and  Women. 

DOCTORS. — The  native  doctor  is  a  curious  character  : 
he  passes  no  examination  ;  he  requires  no  qualification. 
He  may  have  failed  in  business  and  set  up  as  a  physician, 
for  which  he  requires  no  stock  in  trade,  medical  instruments 
being  almost  unknown  (See  Article  on  Acupuncture).  If 
he  can  get  an  old  book  of  prescriptions  from  another  retiring 
practitioner,  so  much  the  better  for  him.  He  is  now  fit  to 
kill  or  cure  as  chance  may  will  it,  or  as  his  ignorance,  or 
fortuitous  circumstances  may  decree.  The  doctor  most 
entitled  to  confidence  in  the  sight  of  his  countrymen  is  the 
man  whose  father  has  been  one  before  him,  and  the 
confidence  increases  should  his  grandfather  have  followed 
the  same  calling.  This  it  might  be  supposed  was  due  to 
an  ignorant  belief  in  the  influence  of  heredity  ;  but,  as  it  is 
stated  by  the  Chinese,  the  value  in  their  eyes  consists  in 
the  son  or  grandson  possessing  all  the  books  of  pre- 
scriptions of  his  sires.  Thus  provided,  he  is  ready  to  begin 
his  empirical  career.  Fees  vary  according  to  the  class  of 
man  and  his  patients,  and  according  to  the  place  of 

213 


Things  Chinese 

residence,  whether  it  be  a  fashionable  quarter  or  a  poor 
suburb,  or  whether  it  be  town  or  country.  The  enormous 
sum  of  perhaps  thirty  cents  or  half  a  dollar  may  be  charged 
per  visit,  if  he  comes  in  his  sedan  to  see  his  patient,  and  of 
this  amount  a  large  proportion  would  go  for  the  chair  and 
the  rest  for  the  doctor  himself.  Should  he  belong  to  the 
humbler  ranks  and  come  on  foot,  his  fee  is  proportionately 
cheaper.  He  puts  on  a  solemn  air  and  has  quite  an  owl- 
like  look,  as  he  peers  out  of  the  semi-darkness  of  a  Chinese 
bedroom  through  his  great  goggle-shaped  glasses — each 
lens  of  which  is  two  inches  across  and  set  in  huge,  uncouth, 
copper  frames.  The  thing  of  the  greatest  importance  is 
feeling  the  different  pulses  of  the  human  system,  of  which 
the  Chinese  count  a  number.  The  pulse  at  each  wrist  is 
felt,  and  each  is  divided  into  three,  which,  according  to  the 
light  or  heavy  character  of  the  pressure,  indicates  a 
different  organ  of  the  body,  so,  by  thus  feeling  the  pulses, 
the  states  of  a  dozen  real  or  imaginary  organs  are  deter- 
mined. Having  then  learned  by  the  pressure  of  these 
three  at  each  pulse  the  seat  of  the  disease,  a  few  questions 
may  be  asked  by  the  doctor,  but  these  are  scarcely  con- 
sidered necessary.  A  prescription,  sometimes  composed 
of  the  most  horrible  and  nauseous  compounds,  is  prepared 
in  large  doses,  for  the  native  idea  is  that  the  larger  the 
dose,  the  more  likely  it  is  to  prove  efficacious.  In  pre- 
scribing for  natives,  the  foreign  doctors  have  to  be  most 
careful,  as  most  ludicrous  cases  have  occurred,  such  as  the 
paper  being  swallowed  by  the  sick  ignoramus,  as  well 
as  the  powder,  or  pill,  it  contained. 

Amongst  their  medicines,  besides  some  that  are  to  be 
found  in  our  Western  Materia  Medica,  are  snake  skins, 
fossils,  rhinoceros  or  hartshorn  shavings,  silk  -  worm  and 
human  secretions,  asbestos,  moths,  oyster  -  shells,  etc. 
Almost  anything  that  is  disgusting  is  considered  good  as  a 
medicine.  Apothecaries'  shops  abound  where  the  doctors' 
prescriptions  are  made  up,  or  where  the  patients  themselves 
procure  medicines  as  they  think  they  require  them.  Quack 
advertisements  are  placarded  on  almost  every  blank  wall. 

214 


Dogs 

The  manner  in  which  the  Chinese  treat  their  physicians 
is  rather  peculiar.  Should  a  speedy  cure  not  result  from 
the  doctor's  treatment,  the  patient  calls  in  another,  and,  if 
no  better,  yet  another,  and  so  on  in  rapid  succession,  until, 
all  human  aid  failing,  he  perchance  at  last  goes  to  his  gods, 
if  he  has  not  already  tried  them  before. 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  sight  to  see  a  woman  waving  a 
child's  jacket  in  her  hand  in  the  street,  while  she  croons  in 
a  monotonous  voice  to  the  spirit  of  the  sick  child  to  return 
to  the  body  from  whence,  the  child  being  in  an  unconscious 
or  comatose  condition,  it  is  supposed  to  have  fled. 

In  seasons  of  epidemic,  large  processions  are  got  up  by 
the  different  commercial  guilds,  every  shopkeeper  and 
householder  being  called  upon  for  a  subscription. 

Books  recommended. — -Willianis'a  'Middle  Kingdom.'  Article  on  'The 
Medicine  and  Medical  Practice  of  the  Chinese,'  by  James  Henderson,  M.I)., 
in  December  1864  number  of  Jmcriml  of  the  North  China  Branch  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society. 

DOGS. — The  dog  is  so  much  in  evidence  in  China  that 
he  deserves  an  article  to  himself.  From  the  erroneous  im- 
pression that  dogs  form  one  of  the  principal  items  of  a 
Chinaman's  diet,  the  common  variety  has  been  dubbed  the 
'  chow  dog.'  A  glance  at  one  of  this  species  is  enough  to 
show  its  great  likeness  to  that  depicted  in  books  of  Arctic 
travel,  and  known  as  the  Esquimaux  dog.  This  Chinese 
dog  approaches  much  nearer  to  the  original  wolf  type  than 
the  more  highly  bred  species  to  be  found  in  our  Western 
lands.  That  they  are  not  more  highly  developed  is  doubt- 
less due  to  the  apathy  of  the  Chinese  with  regard  to  them, 
for  though  kept  by  many  families  as  a  watch-dog,  the 
animal  is  not  petted  and  made  so  much  of  as  would  be  the 
case  amongst  us ;  for  instance,  he  is  not  made  a  companion 
of  his  master's  walks,  nor  when  his  owner  often  does  not 
appreciate  the  luxury  or  necessity  of  a  bath,  is  it  likely 
that  his  dog  would  be  given  one.  He  lies  at  the  outer- 
door,  or  in  the  shop,  or  prowls  about  the  street  very  much 
uncared  for,  according  to  our  ideas  of  the  treatment  of 
our  pets,  dogging  the  steps  of  the  foreigner,  scarcely  ever 

215 


Things  Chinese 

attacking  him  boldly;  but  retreating  before  him  in  a 
cowardly  manner,  and  seeking  safety  at  his  master's  door, 
to  be  reinforced  with  fresh  courage  as  the  stranger  passes, 
when  he  issues  out  behind  his  back  with  his  irritating  bark, 
which  has  been  described  as  a  'short,  thick  snap,  very 
unlike  the  deep,  sonorous  baying  of  our  mastiffs.'  He 
begins  with  several  of  these  and  runs  off  into  a  quick 
succession  of  them  for  a  few  seconds,  a  series  of  these 
short  refrains  producing  a  most  monotonous  effect, 
especially  when  lasting  for  a  long  time.  The  vigorous 
greeting  thus  received  from  the  whole  pack  of  village  dogs 
is  extremely  unpleasant  when  one  is  out  for  a  country 
walk  ;  though  apparently  very  fierce,  there  is  generally 
but  little  danger  to  be  apprehended.  The  chow  dogs 
are  all  about  the  same  size,  a  foot  in  height  and  about 
two  feet  in  length.  The  colours  are  uniform  in  one 
individual,  and  consist  of  light  brown,  black,  and  creamy 
yellow. 

'  Without  being  handsome,  the  chow  ...  is  strong,  the  colour 
varying  from  black  to  tan,  brown,  ruddy-brown,  etc.'  '  It  is  most 
uncertain  in  its  temper,'  says  another  writer,  '  disobedient,  and  liable 
to  fits  of  savageness.  It  has  almost  none  of  the  repose  of  our  good 
English  breeds.  It  has  also  an  inveterate  survival  of  old  habits,  the 
propensity  to  attack  domestic  animals.' 

The  following  gives  rather  a  different  view  of  the  chow 
dog,  being  from  an  account  of  the  fourth  annual  exhibition 
of  the  Chow  Chow  Club  at  the  Royal  Aquarium  in  London. 
It  is  taken  from  one  of  the  London  dailies  of  ist  December 
1898: 

'  The  chow-chow,  which  is  known  by  a  briefer  name  east  of  Suez, 
is  undoubtedly  the  fashionable  dog.  Every  dog  has  his  day,  and  the 
chow-chow  is  having  his  just  now.  Nevertheless,  we  venture  to  pre- 
dict a  long  life  for  the  club,  because  it  is  certain  that  when  the  chow- 
chow  is  bred  from  good  stock  and  domesticated,  it  is  a  very  jolly  dog 
and  quite  unlike  the  specimens  which  you  meet  with  in  the  Far  East. 
It  may  even  attain  courage  in  time,  just  as  the  Egyptian  soldier  has 
done  under  British  training.  Most  of  the  chow-chows  now  shown 
are  of  English  breed,  and  have  thus  lost — to  a  certain  extent— their 
native  habit  of  barking  and  running  away  to  bark  another  day.  They 
are  very  handsome  dogs,  without  doubt,  and  curiously  like  the 
Esquimaux  breed,  with  which  certainly  they  may  claim  kinship.' 

216 


Dogs 

A  writer  in  Home  Notes  on  dogs  thus  describes 
them  :— 

'Black  chows,  or  the  edible  dogs  of  China,  are  very  fine  animals 
of  the  size  of  a  small  collie,  and  of  the  Pomeranian  type,  the  desirable 
points  being  almost  identical.  The  tongue  and  roof  of  the  mouth  are 
black,  and  the  eyes  very  small  and  keen.  They  are  falrtiful  creatures, 
and  become  greatly  attached  to  their  owners.'  The  good  points  in 
Pomeranians  are  '  thick,  long  hair,  a  well  "  feathered  "  tail  (styled  the 
plume),  long  hair  on  the  back  of  the  forelegs,  small  ears,  fox-shaped 
head,  and  a  frill  of  thick  fur  round  the  neck.' 

Punch  describes  the  Chinese  Chow  '  with  a  tongue 
like  as  if  it  had  been  licking  ink.' 

The  ears  do  not  hang  down,  but  are  sharp  and  upright, 
except  in  a  variety  to  be  found  in  the  province  of  Ngan- 
hwui,  which  '  has  pendent  ears  of  great  length.'  One  pecu- 
liar feature  in  these  dogs  is  the  abrupt  rise  of  the  tail  from 
the  insertion,  whence  it  curls  up  over  the  back,  never  hang- 
ing down.  This  is  so  marked  that  a  wag  has  said  that  the 
tail  almost  assists  in  lifting  the  legs  from  the  ground. 
This  abrupt  rise  is  heightened,  doubtless,  in  appearance  by 
the  unusually  straight  hind  legs,  giving  a  somewhat  un- 
gainly look  to  the  animal.  The  chow  is  not  a  very  rapid 
runner,  probably  this  style  of  hind  legs  handicapping  it. 
The  bitch  has  dew-claws  on  her  hind  legs,  one  on  each,  but 
the  male  has  none.  The  Chinese  say  of  the  dog  that  it 
'  can  go  on  three  legs.' 

'  The  dogs  of  Peking  are  very  clannish,  and  each  set  jealously 
guards  its  own  street  or  yard  ;  they  are  fed  by  the  butchers  in  the 
street  and  serve  as  scavengers  there,  and  in  all  large  towns.  They 
are  often  mangy,  presenting  hideous  spectacles,  and  instances  of 
plica  polonica  are  not  uncommon  ;  but,  as  among  the  celebrated  street 
dogs  of  Constantinople,  hydrophobia  is  almost  unheard  of.' 

There  is  another  breed  of  dog,  the  Pekingese  pug,  or 
sleeve  dog ;  the  latter  name  has  been  given  to  it  from  the 
masters  carrying  this  pretty  little  pet  in  their  capacious 
sleeves.  Dr.  Rennie  says  of  it : — '  The  breed  is  a  very 
peculiar  one,  something  between  the  King  Charles  and  the 
pug.'  What  are  termed  in  England  'Japanese  spaniels,' 
which  appear,  if  not  identical  with,  to  be  very  similar  to 
the  Pekingese  dog,  and  some  specimens  of  which  were 

217 


Things  Chinese 

taken  from  the  Summer  Palace  at  Peking  to  England,  are 
thus  described : — 

'  They  are  docile,  playful,  and  affectionate,  and  of  unusual  intelli- 
gence. Their  long  silky  coats,  delicate  and  finely-formed  paws,  large, 
lustrous  eyes,  massive  heads,  and  long,  feathery  tails,  proudly  curled 
over  their  backs,  make  them  beautiful  pets.  .  .  .  Smallness  is  an 
important  point,  as  they  are  carried  in  the  large  sleeves  of  Japanese 
ladies  and  called  "  sleeve  dogs." ' 

A  writer  in  Cornhill  for  July  1896  speaks  about 

'  A  large  chow-dog  from  Northern  China,  which  a  freak  of  fashion 
has  decreed  shall  be  kept  as  a  pet  by  English  ladies.  These  dogs  are 
not  suited  either  by  nature  or  training  for  domestic  pets.  They  are 
only  half-civilised  dogs,  very  excitable,  often  savage,  and  so  little  con- 
sidered as  household  companions  in  their  native  Manchuria  that  they 
are  bred  for  the  sake  of  their  fur,  and  killed,  like  seals,  when  the  fur 
is  in  season.  But  they  are  born  sledge-dogs,  immensely  strong  in  the 
shoulder  and  short  in  the  neck,  with  pulling  powers  far  greater  than 
those  of  any  of  the  breeds  used  in  Holland  and  Belgium  for  drawing 
carts.  If  the  laws  against  the  use  of  dogs  for  draught  are  repealed, 
just  as  the  laws  against  road-engines  and  steam-carts  are  about  to  be 
repealed,  the  "  chows  "  would  form  the  basis  of  a  new  breed  of  cart- 
dogs  for  minor  traffic.' 

There  is  a  large  breed  of  dogs  in  Thibet  which  are 
mentioned  by  numerous  authors  : — 

Marco  Polo  says  of  them  : — '  They  have  dogs  of  the  size  of  asses, 
strong  enough  to  hunt  all  sorts  of  wild  beasts,  particularly  the  wild 
oxen,  which  are  .  .  .  extremely  large  and  fierce.'  Turner  describes 
them  as  : — '  Huge  dogs,  tremendously  fierce,  strong,  and  noisy  .  .  . 
so  imperiously  furious,  that  it  was  unsafe,  unless  the  keepers  were 
near,  even  to  approach  their  dens.'  Again  he  says  : — 'Up  started  a 
huge  dog,  big  enough  ...  to  fight  a  lion.'  Captain  Raper  describes 
one: — 'A  remarkably  fine  animal  as  large  as  a  Newfoundland  dog, 
with  very  long  hair,  and  a  head  resembling  a  mastiff's.  His  tail  was 
of  an  amazing  length,  like  the  brush  of  a  fox,  and  curled  half-way 
over  his  back.'  Mr.  Hosie  speaks  of  them  as  : — '  Fine,  powerful 
dogs.  .  .  .  The  animal  brought  to  me  for  inspection  required  the 
whole  strength  of  a  Thibetan  to  keep  him  in  check.  Had  I  bought 
the  dog,  which  was  offered  for  ten  taels,  I  should  have  had  to  engage 
his  keeper  also.' 

Books  recommended. — Williams's   'Middle   Kingdom,'   Gray's   'China,' 

.    529,    Turner's 
Western  China,' 


Hart's    'Western   China,'    'Asiatic    Researches,'    vol.    xi.   p.    529,    Turner's 
'Embassy  to  Thibet,' pp.  155-215,  Hosie's  'Three  Years  in  Wester 


p.  134. 


DRAGON. — The  dragon  is  the   Imperial  emblem  of 
China — the  emblem  of  Imperial  power — and  is  symbolical 

218 


Dragon 

of  what  pertains  to  the  Emperor  :  his  person  is  called  '  the 
dragon's  person ' ;  his  countenance, '  the  dragon's  face';  his 
eye, '  the  dragon's  eye' ;  his  hands  are  '  the  dragon's  claws ' ; 
his  sleeve,  '  the  dragon's  sleeve ' ;  his  children  are  '  the 
dragon's  seed ' ;  his  pen  (that  is  the  Emperor's  autograph), 
'  the  dragon's  pen  ' ;  his  throne  is  '  the  dragon's  seat ' ;  when 
he  mounts  it,  the  action  is  spoken  of  as  '  the  dragon's  flight ' ; 
his  bed, '  the  dragon's  bedstead ' ;  his  decease  is  euphemisti- 
cally termed  'the  Emperor  ascended  upon  the  dragon  to 
be  a  guest  on  high ' ;  and  his  ancestral  tablet  is  called  '  the 
dragon  tablet.' 

The  dragon,  which  is  reserved  for  Imperial  use  in 
designs  on  furniture,  porcelain,  and  clothing,  is  depicted 
with  five  claws  ;  that  in  use  by  the  common  people  has 
four.  A  Chinese  author  thus  describes  the  dragon  : — 

'  Its  head  is  like  a  camel's,  its  horns  like  a  deer's,  its  eyes  like  a 
hare's,  its  ears  like  a  bull's,  its  neck  like  a  snake's,  its  belly  like  an 
iguanodon's,  its  scales  like  a  carp's,  its  claws  like  an  eagle's,  and  its 
paws  like  a  tiger's.  Its  scales  number  eighty-one,  being  nine  by  nine, 
the  extreme  (odd  or)  lucky  number.  Its  voice  resembles  the  beating 
of  a  gong.  On  each  side  of  its  mouth  are  whiskers,  under  its  chin  is 
a  bright  pearl,  under  its  throat  the  scales  are  reversed,  on  the  top  of 
its  head  is  ihe/>o/i  s/ian,  which  others  call  the'  chek  inuk.  '  A  dragon 
without '  a  chek  muk  '  cannot  ascend  the  skies.  When  its  breath 
escapes  it  forms  clouds,  sometimes  changing  into  rain,  at  other  times 
into  fire.' 

Having  thus  given  an  accurate  description  of  this 
wonderful  creature  (one  of  the  four  supernatural  [or 
spiritually  endowed]  creatures,  according  to  the  Chinese, 
the  others  being  the  Tortoise,  the  Lin  and  the  Feng),  it 
only  remains  to  be  said  that  '  it  wields  the  power  of  trans- 
formation and  the  gift  of  rendering  itself  visible  or  invisible 
at  pleasure.'  Another  Chinese  authority  informs  us  that 
'  the  dragon  becomes  at  will  reduced  to  the  size  of  a  silk- 
worm, or  swollen  till  it  fills  the  space  of  Heaven  and  Earth. 
It  desires  to  mount — and  it  rises  till  it  affronts  the  clouds  ; 
to  sink — and  it  descends  until  hidden  below  the  fountains  of 
the  deep.'  The  Chinese  most  thoroughly  believe  in  the 
existence  of  this  mysterious  and  marvellous  creature  :  it 
appears  in  their  ancient  history  ;  the  legends  of  Buddhism 

219 


Things  Chinese 

abound  with  it ;  Taoist  talcs  contain  circumstantial  accounts 
of  its  doings ;  the  whole  country-side  is  filled  with  stories 
of  its  hidden  abodes,  its  terrific  appearances  ;  while 
it  holds  a  prominent  part  in  the  pseudo-science  of 
geomancy  ;  its  portrait  appears  in  houses  and  temples,  and 
serves  even  more  than  the  grotesque  lion  as  an  ornament 
in  architecture,  art  designs,  and  fabrics. 

There  are  numerous  dragons — too  numerous  to  enter 
even  into  a  succinct  account  of  them  in  the  space  of  a  short 
article.  Volumes  might  be  filled  with  a  history  of  this 
wonderful,  antediluvian  creature,  embalmed  in  Chinese 
literature  and  memory. 

Among  other  roles  that  the  dragon  fills  is  that  of  a 
modern  Neptune  to  the  Chinese.  In  this  character,  he 
occupies  a  palace  made  of  pearls  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
sends  rain,  and  waters  the  thirsty  land. 

Many  years  ago,  in  England,  the  writer  came  across 
an  old  gentleman,  interested  in  China,  who  was  firmly  of 
the  belief  that  the  Chinese  worshipped  the  devil,  because 
they  paid  divine  honours  to  the  dragon.  Only  another 
instance,  out  of  many,  of  the  fallacy  of  reasoning  on  Chinese 
subjects  from  European  premises.  They  worship  the 
dragon,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  their  dragon  is  '  that  old 
dragon,'  the  devil. 

Another  dragon  is  the  bobtailed  dragon,  which  causes 
whirlwinds  ;  a  frightfully  destructive  one  in  Canton  city,  a 
number  of  years  ago,  was  believed  to  be  due  to  his  agency. 

The  district  of  country  on  the  mainland  immediately 
opposite  the  English  colony  of  Hongkong  is  called  Kau- 
lung  (generally  written,  Kowloong,  or  Kowloon),  or  the 
Nine  Dragons,  probably  so  named  from  the  numerous 
ranges  of  hills,  which,  like  gigantic  monsters,  spread  their 
sinuous  course  along  the  coast,  the  nine  dragons  being  a 
favourite  number  with  the  Chinese,  and  represented  in 
some  of  their  ancient  works  on  standards. 

The  national  flag  of  China  adopted  with,  and  by,  the 
navy  of  foreign-built  ships,  was  a  triangular  yellow  flag 
with  a  dragon  on  it,  now  changed  to  an  oblong  one  more 

220 


Dragon 

in  keeping  with  the  shape  of  other  national  flags,  but  with 
the  same  device. 

The  conventional  representations  of  the  dragon,  as  we 
have  already  said,  are  commonly  divisible  into  two.     On 
Imperial  China  we  see  a  snake-like  body  mounted  on  four 
legs,  with  an   enormous   head ;    the   feet   are   five-clawed. 
This  is  sprawled  over  the  dish,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  and 
covers  the  greater  part  of  it.     On  vases  used  by  the  people 
as  ornaments,  a  scope  is  given  for  ingenuity  by  the  intro- 
duction of  a  number  of  similar  saurians  (but  only  with  four 
claws)  in  different  positions  on  the  vase — front  views  being 
given  as  well,  in  which  the  two  horns  are  seen.     On  mural 
pictures  and  in  paintings  on   wood,  inserted  above  door- 
ways, the  rain  dragon  is  the  one  usually  represented.     Here 
what  is  seen  of  the  hideous  monster  conveys  more  the  im- 
pression of  an  enormous  python,  as  folds  of  a  very  thick 
and  large  snake-like  body  are  visible  amongst  masses  of 
clouds,   the   half -suggestive   revelation   of    what    is   seen 
increasing,   if  anything,   the   impression  of  size,   while   a 
frightful  head  fronts  one,  full-faced,  with  all   its  gigantic 
repulsiveness.     In  books  printed  under  Imperial  sanction 
or  auspices,  two  dragons   encircle  the  title,  striving,  not 
like  the  lion  and  the  unicorn  for  the  crown,  but  for  a  pearl. 
There  are  again  two  kinds  of  dragons  carrried  in  some  of 
the  processions  of  which  the  Chinese  are  so  fond.     They 
are  at  such  times  represented  as  long  serpentine  creatures 
of  great  girth,  and  1 50  or  200  feet  long,  made  of  lengths  of 
gay,  bright-coloured  crape  and  sparkling  with  tiny  spangle- 
like  mirrors.     Every  yard  or  so  a  couple  of  human  feet— 
those  of  the  bearers — buskined  in  gorgeous  silk,  are  visible, 
the  head  and   shoulders  of  the  men  being  unseen.     The 
whole  is  fronted  by  an  enormous  head  of  ferocious  aspect, 
before  the  gaping  jaws  of  which  a  man  manoeuvres  a  large 
pearl  after  which  the  dragon  prances  and  wriggles.     The 
difference  between   the  two  kinds   is  that  the  one  is  re- 
splendent with   gold   scales,  while   the  other  gleams   with 
silver  ones.     That  this  different  way  of  representation  is 
not  due  to  simple  fancy,  appears  from  the  fact  that  in  India 

221 


Things  Chinese 

they  distinguish  three  varieties  of  dragon  :  one  of  which 
lived  in  the  mountains,  and  had  golden  scales  ;  and  the  other 
in  caves  or  flat  country,  and  had  silver  scales  ;  while  the 
third  dwelt  in  marshes  and  fens,  and  was  of  a  black  colour. 
The  rain  dragon  used  in  mural  representations  appears 
more  like  the  last.  We  give  the  following  account  of  the 
supposed  origin  of  the  dragon,  from  the  learned  pen  of  Mr. 
Charles  Gould  : — 

'  It  [the  dragon]  is  more  likely  to  have  once  had  a  real  existence 
than  to  be  a  mere  offspring  of  fancy.  .  .  .  We  may  infer  that  it 
was  a  long  terrestrial  lizard,  hibernating  and  carnivorous,  with  the 
power  of  constricting  with  its  snake-like  body  and  tail  ;  possibly 
furnished  with  wing-like  expansions  of  its  integument,  after  the 
fashion  of  Draco  volans,  and  capable  of  occasional  progress  on  its 
hind  legs  alone,  when  excited  in  attacks.  It  appears  to  have  been 
protected  by  armour  and  projecting  spikes,  like  those  found  in  Moloch 
horridus  and  Megalania  firisca,  and  was  possibly  more  nearly  allied 
to  this  last  form  than  to  any  other  which  has  yet  come  to  our  know- 
ledge. Probably  it  preferred  sandy,  open  country  to  forest  land  ;  its 
habitat  was  the  highlands  of  Central  Asia,  and  the  time  of  its  dis- 
appearance about  that  of  the  Biblical  Deluge.  .  .  .  Although  terrestrial, 
it  probably,  in  common  with  most  reptiles,  enjoyed  frequent  bathing, 
and  when  not  so  engaged,  or  basking  in  the  sun,  secluded  itself  under 
some  overhanging  bank  or  cavern.  The  idea  of  its  fondness  for 
swallows,  and  power  of  attracting  them,  mentioned  in  some  traditions, 
may  not  impossibly  have  been  derived  from  these  birds  hawking 
round  and  through  its  open  jaws  in  the  pursuit  of  the  flies  attracted 
by  the  viscid  humours  of  its  mouth.' 

Books  recommended. — '  Mythical  Monstei's,'  by  C.  Gould,  B.A.  'Scraps 
from  Chinese  Mythology,'  in  China  Review,  vol.  xiii. ,  by  Rev.  Dyer  Ball, 
M.A.,  M.D.,  annotated  by  J.  Dyer  Ball. 

DRAGON-BOATS  AND  THE  DRAGON-BOAT 
FESTIVAL. — This  festival  is  the  nearest  approach  to  an 
annual  regatta  that  the  Chinese  possess.  It  is  held  on  the 
fifth  clay  of  the  fifth  moon,  but  the  preceding  days  shadow 
forth  the  feast  day  as  well. 

It  took  its  origin  in  the  commemoration  of  a  virtuous 
minister  of  state  whose  remonstrances  were  unheeded  by  his 
unworthy  sovereign,  and  whose  only  reward  was  degrada- 
tion and  dismissal,  some  450  years  B.C.  He  committed 
suicide,  and  on  the  first  anniversary  of  his  death,  the 
ceremony  of  looking  for  his  body  was  commenced  ;  it  has 
been  continued  on  succeeding  anniversaries  ever  since,  and 

222 


Dress 

has  resulted  in  this  festival.  Little  packages  of  boiled  rice, 
done  up  in  bamboo  leaves,  are  eaten  at  this  time,  as  such 
offerings  were  cast  into  the  river  by  the  fishermen  who  tried 
to  recover  the  body. 

The  dragon-boats  are  long  narrow  boats  from  fifty  to 
one  hundred  feet  in  length,  broad  enough  to  seat  two  men 
abreast.  The  craft  is  propelled  rapidly  with  paddles, 
accompanied  by  the  sound  of  a  drum  and  gongs  which  are 
placed  in  the  centre  of  the  boat.  Impromptu  races  are 
got  up,  not  unattended  with  accidents  at  times,  as  the 
boats  are  slight  and  dangerous  when  paddled  by  well-nigh 
a  hundred  excited  Chinamen,  wild  with  enthusiasm  and 
unsteady  with  spirits.  Large  crowds  of  spectators  line 
every  vantage  ground  on  the  banks  of  the  river ;  and 
prizes  of  no  intrinsic  value  are  often  offered  by  them,  which 
are  eagerly  contested  for,  the  bare  honour  of  winning  spur- 
ring the  men  on  in  their  efforts  ;  the  crews  are  occasion- 
ally treated  by  wealthy  hongs  on  the  banks.  For  hours 
and  days  nothing  is  heard  but  the  unceasing  monotonous 
clang  of  the  gongs,  and  the  boom  of  the  deep-toned  drums 
in  the  numerous  boats. 

Since  the  advent  of  plague,  the  Chinese  think  that  the 
dragon-boats  brought  out  and  paddled  about  at,  or  near, 
the  time  of  the  festival  will  drive  it  away. 

This  Dragon-Boat  Feast  is  one  of  the  four  festivals 
at  which  settlements  of  accounts  take  place  amongst  the 
Chinese ;  the  others  being  New  Year's  Eve,  occurring 
sometime  in  our  January  or  February ;  the  Moon  Festival 
on  the  1 5th  day  of  the  8th  moon,  in  September  or  October ; 
and  the  Winter  Solstice  Festival,  a  variable  feast  in  the 
nth  moon,  November  or  December.  The  Dragon-Boat 
Festival  is  the  second  of  the  series,  occurring  on  the  5th 
day  of  the  5th  moon,  in  June  or  July. 

Books  recommended. — Archdeacon  Gray's  'China,'  vol.  i.  p.  2f>8  ft 
seq.  Doolittle's  '  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese,'  vol.  ii.  p.  55  d  seq.  Mayers' 
'  Chinese  Reader's  Manual,'  p.  107. 

DRESS.— The   foundation,   or   starting   point,   of    all 

223 


Things  Chinese 

Chinese  dress  is  the  loose  pair  of  trousers  and  the  almost 
equally  loose-fitting  jacket ;  with  these  two  articles  on,  a 
Chinese  is  completely  dressed :  all  the  rest  are  not 
necessaries,  but  luxuries.  The  fundamental  idea  is  simply 
displayed  in  these  two ;  the  other  articles  which  are  piled 
on  to  a  greater  or  lesser  degree,  owing  to  the  weather,  or 
the  length  of  the  owner's  purse,  are  merely,  with  the 
exception  of  the  head-gear  and  that  for  the  feet,  an  elabora- 
tion of  that  simple  idea.  Take  any  article  of  male  attire. 
The  long  gabardine,  or  robe,  is  only  the  jacket  which  has 
overgrown  to  the  ankles,  instead  of  stopping  short  a  little 
below  the  middle  of  the  body :  it  has  not  an  entirely 
different  shape,  as  with  our  various  shapes  of  coats  and 
jackets,  or  what  difference  there  is,  is  but  slight ;  and  even, 
what,  for  want  of  a  better  term,  one  calls  a  waistcoat,  is 
not  quite  another  style  of  article,  but  simply  a  short 
straight  jacket  without  sleeves,  buttoning  up  as  the 
common,  close-fitting,  sleeveless  one  (worn  occasionally  by 
the  labouring  classes)  does.  There  are  two  varieties  of  it ; 
one  so  buttoning,  and  one  fastened  at  the  side.  A  riding- 
jacket  has  wide  sleeves,  but  is  still  a  jacket  The  jackets 
of  the  women  are  of  a  different  shape  from  that  of  the  men, 
being  longer,  reaching  well  towards  the  knees,  and  having 
much  wider  sleeves. 

If  one  proceeds  to  the  lower  extremities,  there  are,  as 
said  above,  the  loose-fitting  trousers.  These  sometimes 
are  tucked  into  long  stockings,  which  are  neatly  bound  with 
garters  below  the  knee,  and  presto !  our  boy  or  waiter  is  in 
knickerbockers — the  same  pair  of  trousers  doing  duty  for 
both  styles  of  dress.  Is  the  weather  cold  ?  Then  a  pair  of 
leggings  is  put  on.  These  are  simply  single  legs  of  peg- 
top  trousers  diminishing  gradually  in  calibre,  as  they 
proceed  downwards,  till  their  extremities  are  tied  round  the 
ankles.  They  are  fastened  up  to  the  girdle  at  the  waist ; 
but  there  is  a  void  space  behind,  where  they  do  not  meet, 
and  where  the  inner  jacket  hangs  in  folds,  presenting  a 
most  untidy  appearance  unless  a  long  robe  is  worn  over  all 
to  hide  it.  A  woman's  trousers  are  exactly  the  same  shape 

224 


Dress 

as  a  man's.  They  do  not  wear  knickerbockers,  but  the 
middle  and  upper  classes  often  wear,  especially  when 
dressed  up,  what,  for  want  of  a  better  name,  are  called 
skirts.  These  are  the  very  embodiment  of  the  divided 
skirt,  for  the  simple  reason  that  their  different  component 
parts  have  never  been  united,  and,  at  the  same  time,  they 
have  a  trace  of  the  trousers  still  about  them — trousers 
unfinished,  as  it  were,  for  one  piece  hangs  in  front  down  to 
the  ankles,  like  an  apron,  and  another  piece  hangs  behind 
in  the  same  way ;  they  are  buttoned  up  at  one  side,  and 
open  at  the  other,  while  embroidery  and  numerous  pleats 
in  vertical  lines  adorn  them. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  dress  besides  those  named 
above,  adapted  to  different  uses,  as  well  as  to  the  changes 
of  weather.  For  instance,  Nature's  garb  appears  to  be 
often  all-sufficient  for  the  Swatow  fisherman  or  farmer,  and 
even  many  of  the  boatmen  at  the  city  of  Tie  Yong,  near 
Swatow,  wear  nothing  else  at  times.  In  other  parts  of 
China,  the  savage  state  is  not  so  nearly  approached,  except 
in  the  case  of  young  children  of  the  poorer  classes,  who 
run  about  naked  for  several  years,  the  several  years  being 
of  longer  duration  when  they  are  boys.  In  Amoy  and 
Swatow  it  is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  see  a  boy  with 
nothing  on  at  all  but  a  purse.  It  must,  however,  be 
explained  that  the  purse  is  more  of  an  apron  or  pinafore 
than  with  us,  and  is  fastened  round  the  neck,  covering  as 
much  of  the  front  of  the  body  as  decency  requires  in  a  hot 
climate — though  this  last  is  not  always  even  attended 
to.  The  common  coolie  or  labourer  considers  himself 
sufficiently  attired  for  his  work  in  hot  weather,  with  a  loin 
cloth  and  a  pair  of  straw  sandals,  but  the  latter  are 
optional.  Others  make  shift  with  a  pair  of  short  trousers, 
only  reaching  half-way  down  the  thighs,  or  roll  the  longer 
trousers  up  that  length,  or  as  far  as  they  will  go.  In  the 
purely  native  dress,  nothing  in  the  form  of  a  shirt  or  cing- 
let  is  worn,  though  now  of  late  years,  from  contact  with 
foreigners,  the  latter  is  being  adopted  by  a  few,  and  must  be 
much  more  comfortable  in  cold  weather  than  the  loose-fitting 

225  i' 


Things  Chinese 

jacket.  Coats,  jackets,  and  trousers,  varied  only  by  robes 
and  leggings,  are  piled  one  on  the  top  of  the  other  as  the 
weather  gets  colder.  The  upper  garments  are  readily  cast 
off  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  or  in  a  warm  room,  thus  offer- 
ing a  great  advantage,  in  this  one  particular,  to  our  style 
of  dress,  where  a  top-coat  is  the  only  thing  one  can  throw 
off  on  entering  a  house. 

The  women's  innermost  garment  is  of  thin  stuff,  close 
fitting,  and  closely  buttoned  up  the  front,  but  above  this, 
the  usual  piling  on  of  jackets  takes  place  if  the  weather 
requires  it.  The  women  wear  no  long  robes  in  the  South. 

Less  care  is  taken  of  the  legs  with  both  men  and 
women,  and  fewer  thicknesses  appear  to  satisfy  them  there. 
There  is  a  considerable  variety  displayed  in  sandals,  boots, 
and  shoes.  Besides  the  straw  ones,  already  mentioned  as 
worn  by  men,  simple  soles  of  leather,  with  a  loop  for  one 
of  the  toes,  and  strings  to  tie  them  round  the  ankles,  are 
worn  by  those  of  both  sexes,  who  labour  out-of-doors  in 
carrying  burdens,  etc.  Men's  and  women's  shoes,  on  the 
contrary,  are  quite  distinct ;  one  of  the  most  marked 
differences  being  in  the  thickness  of  the  sole.  The  large- 
footed  women  are  perched  up  on  a  thick  white  sole,  two  or 
three  inches  in  height.  Of  late  years,  Shanghai  shoes  with 
thin  soles  have  come  into  vogue  amongst  those  who  are 
well  dressed.  And  again  a  curious  style  is  in  fashion  :  it 
consists  of  the  whole  foot  being  poised  on  a  round  pedestal 
a  few  inches  high,  fixed  in  the  centre  of  the  sole.  This  is 
the  Manchoo  shoe ;  but  it  is  going  out,  if  not  quite  out,  of 
fashion  again.  Common  shoes  are  made  of  cloth,  but  silk 
and  satin  and  embroidery  are  also  largely  employed.  The 
cramped-up  little  feet  are  enclosed,  after  being  wound  up 
in  long  bandages,  in  small  shoes  of  from  two  and  a  half 
to  four  or  five  inches  in  length,  coming  to  a  point  at  the 
toe.  (We  ourselves  have  measured  several  of  these  tiny 
shoes  on  the  feet ;  one  measured  2-g  inches.)  The  pain 
that  this  foolish  fashion  entails  on  the  poor  girls  is  well 
shown  by  the  common  Chinese  saying :  '  For  every  pair 
of  small  feet-there  is  a  kong  [jar]  full  of  tears.'  No  stock- 

226 


Dress 

ings  can  be  put  on  with  such  feet,  but  they  are  worn  on 
the  natural  feet  by  women  as  well  as  by  men,  or  rather, 
to  be  correct,  socks  and  stockings  are  both  worn  by  men, 
the  former  principally  in  summer,  and  socks  are  generally 
used  by  women,  though  stockings  are  also  put  on.  Those 
of  foreign  manufacture  are  coming  into  use  at  treaty  ports  ; 
the  native  ones  consist  of  pieces  of  calico  sewn  together. 
It  may  be  mentioned  that  both  sexes  wear  a  girdle  of 
cord  round  the  waist  to  fasten  their  trousers  up,  by 
hitching  them  over  it.  There  are  no  openings  in  the 
trousers,  except  for  the  legs  and  waist.  A  collar,  or  rather 
stock,  made  of  satin,  is  worn  round  the  neck  by  men  in 
winter,  and  when  in  '  dress.' 

Before  marriage  a  Chinese  girl's  hair  is  plaited  in  a  queue, 
but  on  marriage  it  is  done  up  into  a  curious  shaped  coiffure. 

The  ladies  wear  no  bonnets  or  hats,  neither  do  the 
common  women,  as  a  rule,  except  those  who  are  out  in 
the  sun  and  exposed  to  the  weather.  Their  hair  is  combed 
and  plastered  with  a  gum,  and,  thus  made  up,  forms  a 
sufficient  head-covering  in  a  hot  climate.  But  an  endless 
variety  is  seen  in  this  style  of  head-dress :  now  a  modest 
set  of  protuberances  in  connection  with  the  tea-pot-handle- 
like  coiffure  at  the  back  of  the  head  ;  now  enormous 
butterfly  wings  project  from  the  side  of  the  head,  or  lie 
closer  to  it ;  again  back  wings  project  to  a  greater  or 
lesser  degree  ;  and  yet  again  various  adjuncts  are  added 
to  eke  out  the  quantity  of  hair,  or  to  raise  it  like  a  small 
horn  on  the  head.  In  some  places  the  styles  differ  in 
every  bit  of  country-side.  One  of  the  best  places  the 
author  has  ever  seen  for  noticing  these  is  Swatow,  where, 
in  a  group  of  from  twenty  to  forty  women,  nearly  a  score 
of  different  coiffures  were  seen.  The  boat-girls  in  Macao, 
and  some  in  Hongkong,  go  with  a  bright  coloured  hand- 
kerchief over  their  heads,  tied  under  their  chins.  The 
Hakka  women  also  often  bind  a  cloth  round  the  head,  look- 
ing something  like  an  old-fashioned  bonnet.  In  Swatow 
and  the  surrounding  country  a  number  of  different  kinds 
of  head-cloths  are  worn  by  the  women,  according  to  the 

227 


Things  Chinese 

districts  they  come  from.  The  author  saw  a  curious  one  in 
use  at  the  district  city  of  T(e  Yong,  near  Swatow.  It  was  a 
long  narrow  cloth  thrown  over  the  head,  and  the  ends  were 
brought  round  the  face  when  its  wearers  wished  to  hide 
their  countenances  from  the  passers-by.  In  winter  a  broad 
band,  either  plain  or  embroidered,  is  often  bound  across 
the  forehead  by  women,  and  prevents  that  cold,  aching 
feeling  which  an  extremely  low  temperature  produces.  The 
men  wear  a  skull-cap  of  satin  with  a  cord  button  of  red  or 
black  on  the  top  in  winter,  but  go  bare-headed  in  summer. 
Felt  hats  are  likewise  seen ;  they  have  a  turned-up  brim, 
and  some  of  the  better  kind  have  gold  thread  on  the 
edge;  their  use  is  restricted  to  the  lower  classes.  In  very 
cold  weather  a  peculiar  headgear  is  worn  by  some.  It 
consists  of  a  pointed  cap,  which,  with  a  flap  falling  down 
behind  and  buttoning  under  the  chin,  covers  up  not  only 
the  neck  but  the  whole  head  with  the  exception  of  the 
face.  Little  boys  are  often  seen  with  these  on,  as  well 
as  some  men  and  a  few  women.  Large  bamboo  hats, 
nearly  a  yard  in  diameter,  effectually  shed  the  rain  off, 
and  as  effectually  protect  the  head  from  the  rays  of  the 
sun.  Several  other  varieties  of  bamboo  hats  are  worn, 
some  by  men  alone  ;  others  by  women  alone  ;  while  others 
are  patronised  irrespective  of  the  sex  of  the  wearer.  In 
rainy  weather  the  lower  classes  in  the  South  put  on  a 
cloak  made  of  bamboo  leaves  sewn  together,  presenting 
a  veritable  Robinson  Crusoe  appearance ;  but  in  Swatow 
a  similar  one  made  of  coir  fibre  is  substituted,  looking 
somewhat  like  the  capiuie  pallia,  or  straw  cloaks,  worn 
by  the  peasantry,  in  the  northern  provinces  of  Portugal. 
At  such  times  labourers  go  bare-footed,  as  for  that  matter 
they  do  at  nearly  all  times  ;  shop-keepers  and  others  splash 
about  througli  the  mud  and  rain  on  shoes  with  wooden 
soles  a  couple  of  inches  thick  (for  the  usual  felt  sole  acts 
as  a  sponge  in  wet  weather),  a  poorer  style  consists  of 
a  ruder  chump  of  wood  with  a  network  of  string  for  the 
toes.  A  still  better  class,  such  as  official  underlings,  and 
some  gentlemen,  put  on  boots  made  especially  for  damp 

22$ 


Dress 

and  wet,  reaching  half-way,  or  even  further  up  towards 
the  knees.  Wooden  clogs,  with  leather  uppers,  are  used 
by  women  and  girls. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  jackets,  robes,  waistcoats 
or  sleeveless  jackets,  and  close-fitting  ones.  There  are 
besides,  double  jackets  or  lined  ones,  and  fur  jackets.  A 
dress-suit  consists  of  a  robe  opening  at  the  bottom  of  the 
centre  line,  both  before  and  behind,  with  sleeves  shaped 
like  a  horse's  hoof,  a  jacket  is  worn  over  this,  and  satin 
boots  with  thick  white  soles,  a  sash  round  the  waist,  and 
an  official  hat  with  a  button  at  the  top,  are  put  on. 

Earrings  are  quite  a  part  of  Chinese  female  dress  ; 
every  woman  and  girl  wears  them  ;  and  so  accustomed 
does  one  get  to  see  them  in  a  woman's  ears,  that  it  looks 
almost  as  queer  to  see  a  Chinese  woman  without  these 
indispensables,  as  it  would  to  see  an  English  lady  going 
barefoot ;  and  a  Chinese  woman  would  feel  as  ashamed  to 
appear  in  the  one  condition,  as  an  English  lady  would  in 
the  other.  The  earrings  differ  in  style  in  different  parts 
of  China,  and  there  is  as  great  a  dissimilarity  between 
them  as  there  is  between  those  of  one  country  and  another. 
Among  the  Hakkas,  a  common  earring  is  a  silk  tassel. 
The  Foochow  women  have  enormous  rings,  several  inches 
in  diameter,  in  their  ears.  The  Cantonese  earring  is  often 
formed  of  two  parts  :  the  earring  proper — a  round  metallic 
(gold,  silver,  or  brass)  ring,  broadened  out  into  a  flat 
ornamental  surface  in  front,  into  which  a  flat  ring  of  jade, 
or  other  stone,  or  composition,  is  hung. 

Fashions  in  dress  do  change  in  China,  but  so  slight  and 
gradual  are  the  changes — except  when  some  dynastic  over- 
throw revolutionises  everything — that  to  the  foreigner  no 
difference  is  visible,  but  to  the  initiated  into  these 
mysteries  an  extremely  gradual  change  is  perceptible,  so 
that,  in  the  course  of  forty  or  fifty  years,  ladies'  sleeves  are 
noticed  to  be  wider  than  before,  and,  in  the  course  of  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  quite  a  new  style  of  dressing  ladies' 
hair  is  seen.  Some  fashions  even  can  be  seen  to  change 

o 

every  two  or  three  years. 

229 


Things  Chinese 

The  style  of  dress,  it  should  be  noticed,  is  not  quite  the 
same  in  different  parts  of  China.  What  has  been  written 
above  applies  principally  to  the  South  of  China,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Hongkong,  Macao,  and  Canton  :  even 
in  these  neighbourhoods,  the  dress  of  the  Hakkas  is  not 
quite  the  same  as  that  of  the  Cantonese  (See  Article  on 
Hakkas).  The  mode  of  doing  up  the  hair  by  the  women, 
the  kind  of  earrings  worn  by  them,  as  well  as  the  dress 
itself,  are  so  distinct  as  to  mark  anyone,  at  the  first  glance,  as 
coming  from  some  other  part  of  China.  The  men's  dress  has, 
however,  but  little  or  nothing  to  differentiate  it,  the  greatest 
exception  being  in  the  case  of  the  Swatow  and  Hokkien 
men,  who  often  wear  a  turban,  whereas  other  Chinese  are 
seldom  seen  with  it.  The  short  jackets  of  these  same  men 
are  sometimes  longer  than  those  in  the  extreme  south. 

The  colour  of  the  clothing  worn  also  differs.  White  is 
never  seen  as  an  outer  garment  on  women  in  Canton  or 
Hongkong,  except  to  please  Europeans ;  this  colour 
being  reserved  alone  for  undergarments,  in  which,  of  course, 
a  woman  would  be  ashamed  to  appear  in  public.  In 
Amoy,  however,  this  does  not  seem  to  be  the  rule,  and  in 
that  part  of  the  country  bright  red,  and  other  colours  are 
worn  by  young  ladies,  a  thing  which  is  never  seen  in 
Canton  amongst  respectable  women.  In  Swatow,  white  also 
is  worn,  but  the  young  ladies  do  not  appear  to  come  out  in 
such  brilliant  hues  as  in  Amoy.  These  may  be  taken  as 
instances  of  the  variations  in  style  of  dress  in  China. 

Though  the  Chinese  men  go  often  in  a  state  of  semi- 
nudity,  the  women  make  up  for  it  by  a  severe  modesty  in 
their  dress.  There  is  no  exposure  of  their  person,  as  there 
is  in  the  evening  dress  amongst  European  ladies ;  neither 
is  tight-lacing  a  vice  amongst  the  Chinese.  They 
sedulously  hide  all  the  contours  of  the  figure,  and  in  fact 
tie  down  the  breasts. 

EARTHQUAKES.— An  earthquake  is  not  a 
phenomenon  often  experienced  by  the  foreign  resident  in 
China.  Very  slight  shocks  have  been  felt  a  few  times  in 

230 


Earthquakes 

• 

Hongkong,  but  so  insignificant  have  they  been  as  to  be 
unknown  to  the  majority  till  the  next  day's  papers 
contained  a  notice  of  them  ;  but  in  some  other  parts  of 
China  they  are  not  such  a  trivial  matter.  They  are  recorded 
as  of  frequent  occurrence  in  Hainan  ;  earthquakes  in 
conjunction  with  storms,  famine,  and  pestilence  have 
materially  decreased  the  population  at  one  time  ;  but,  as  a 
general  rule,  earthquake  shocks  would  appear  to  be 
infrequent  in  China,  and  not  of  serious  import.  We  give  a 
short,  but  unfortunately  not  a  complete  list,  as  the  subject 
has  not  yet  received  the  study  and  attention  it  merits. 

A.D.  1037. — A  severe  earthquake  'that  affected  Honan  and  Shansi 
and  caused  the  death  of  22,000  people,  and  the  wounding  and  maiming 
of  between  5  and  6,000  more.' 

A.D.  1295-1308. — During  the  latter  years  of  this  period  'severe 
earthquakes  in  T'ai-yuan  and  Ta-tung  in  Shansi.  In  the  former  town 
over  800  houses  were  thrown  down,  and  a  large  number  of  people  were 
killed.  Ta-tung,  however,  suffered  still  more  severely.  There  5,000 
houses  were  shattered  into  ruins,  and  2,000  people  were  buried  beneath 
them.' 

A.D.  1334. — Earthquakes,  and  also  during  the  next  few  years. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (this  dynasty  lasted  from 
A.D.  1368  to  A.D.  1643),  a  'terrible  earthquake  visited  the  plain  of 
Chien-ch'ang.  .  .  .  The  old  city  of  N ing-yuan  sank  bodily  into  the 
ground,  and  gave  place  to  the  large  lake  which  lies  to  the  south-east 
of  the  present  city.' 

A.D.  1662.— One  in  China,  when  300,000  persons  were  buried  in 
Peking  alone. 

A.D.  1731. — Another,  when  100,000  persons  were  swallowed  up  at 
Peking. 

A.D.  1847,  November  I3th. — An  earthquake  at  Shanghai. 

A.D.  1850. — The  city  of  King-yuan,  in  western  China,  already 
mentioned,  was  again  ruined  by  an  earthquake. 

A.D.  1852,  December  i6th. — There  was  a  shock  of  some  violence 
at  Shanghai,  at  8.13  P.M.,  and  another  slight  shock  at  10  P.M.  There 
were  no  serious  effects.  These  were  felt  at  Ningpo  at  8.9  P.M.,  and 
three  hours  later.  There  were  other  shocks  at  Shanghai  on  two 
subsequent  days. 

A.D.  1854. — A  shock  felt  in  Canton,  and  about  the  same  year  at 
Chinkiang,  where  people  were  thrown  on  their  faces. 

A.D.  1867. — A  sharp  shock  at  Ningpo,  at  a  few  minutes  after  10 
A.M.  on  the  1 7th  December.  Bells  were  set  ringing,  clocks  stopped, 
chandeliers  swayed,  and  water  in  earthen  jars  rippled  violently.  A 
slighter  shock  was  felt  at  Shanghai. 

23I 


Things  Chinese 

A.D.  iS/l,  April  nth. — A  severe  earthquake  to  the  west  of 
Sz-chuan,  at  about  n  A.M.,  at  Bathang,  when  'government  offices, 
temples,  granaries,  store-houses,  and  fortifications,  with  all  the  common 
dwellings,'  were  overthrown,  and  most  of  the  inmates  killed.  Flames 
burst  out  in  four  places,  and  were  beaten  down  on  the  i6th,  but 
rumbling  noises  underground  continued  like  distant  thunder,  and  the 
earth  rocked  and  rolled.  In  about  ten  days  the  earth  quieted.  For 
several  days  before,  the  water  had  overflowed  the  dykes,  the  earth 
cracked,  and  black  fetid  water  spurted  out.  The  region  affected  by 
this  earthquake  was  over  a  circuit  of  four  hundred  miles,  and,  it 
occurring  '  simultaneously  over  the  whole  of  this  region,'  2,298  people 
were  killed.  '  In  some  places  steep  hills  split  and  sank  into  deep 
chasms,  in  others  mounds  on  level  plains  became  precipitous  cliffs,  and 
the  roads  and  highways  were  rendered  impassable  by  obstructions.' 

1874,  June  23rd. — A  slight  shock  in  Hongkong. 

1890. — Five  distinct  shocks  during  the  year  in  the  province  of 
Shansi  ;  the  heaviest  was  in  the  spring,  and  upwards  of  a  hundred 
persons  were  killed  in  it.  On  the  I5th  October  two  shocks  were  felt 
at  Fenchau-fii.  This  year  was  exceptional.  It  is  said  that  earthquake 
shocks  are  only  felt  once  in  ten  years  in  that  province. 

1891,  April  I2th  or  I3th. — Three  shocks  of  earthquake  felt  during 
the  day  at  Taiytten-fu  in  Shansi. 

1891,  April  1 7th. — A  severe  earthquake  shock  occurred  at  Fen- 
chau-fii  in  Shansi,  at  half-past  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  worst 
that  has  happened  in  that  region  within  thirty  years.  A  number  of 
houses  were  thrown  down  in  the  city  and  suburbs,  and  some  eight  or 
ten  persons  were  killed.  There  was  a  great  destruction  of  houses  in 
the  villages.  The  shock  extended  at  least  100  //  in  all  directions. 
'  It  is  somewhat  surprising  that  more  damage  was  not  done,  as  the 
whole  country  rocked  like  a  ship  on  a  wave  of  the  sea.  The  earth- 
quake lasted  one  minute  only,  but  some  of  the  houses  that  were  shaken 
by  it  fell  during  the  following  afternoon.  The  people  say  that  earth- 
quakes are  caused  by  a  large  fish,  which  wakes  up  after  a  sleep  of 
some  years  and  gives  a  flop.' 

1891,  August   3rd. — A   slight   shock  felt   by   a   few   residents   at 
Hongkong,  at  2.10  P.M. 

1892,  April   22nd. — A  distinct   and   continuous  series  of  shocks, 
lasting  for  a  few  seconds  in  Hongkong,  with  lateral  vibrations  and  a 
rumbling  sound,  but  doing  no  damage  ;  also  felt  in  a  number  of  the 
other  coast  ports  in  China. 

1892,  July  2 1  st.— A  slight  shock  felt  at  the  Peak  (Hongkong)  and 
Kowloong,  at  6.40  A.M. 

1892,  July  28th.— A  heavy  earthquake  shock  at  Hoihow  'that 
shook  the  whole  place,  houses  being  seen  and  felt  to  stagger  and 
shake  in  a  most  terrifying  manner,  .  .  .  accompanied  by  a  subter- 
ranean roar  far  louder  than  thunder.  ...  It  is  said  by  the  natives  that 
Hoihow  has  not  been  visited  with  a  similar  shock  for  a  century  :  even 
a  slight  one  is  an  unusual  occurrence. 

1892,  August  4th.— A  slight  shock  in  Hongkong. 

232 


Earthquakes 

1892,  December   i6th. — A   shock  at  3  A.M.  at  Amoy,  by  which 
people  were  awakened,  and  lasting  for  several  seconds. 

1893,  August    1 4th. — A   slight   shock   felt   in    T'ai-ku-hsien  ;    no 
damage. 

1893,  August  29th. — An  earthquake  of  great  magnitude,  devastating 
an  area  of  9,000  square  miles  in  the  Tibetan  district  of  Kada,  border- 
ing the  province  of  Sz-chuan.  The  Dalai  Lama's  Grand  Monastery 
of  Hueiyuan,  and  7  small  Lamaserais  were  buried  in  ruins,  and  804 
houses,  belonging  to  the  native  and  Tibetan  soldiers  and  their  families, 
met  the  same  fate.  74  Lama  priests,  and  137  Chinese  and  Tibetans 
were  killed,  with  a  large  proportion  of  wounded. 

1893,  October  I7th. — Severe  repeated  shocks  at  Taipeh-fu  in 
Formosa,  and  on  the  i6th  a  strong  shock  was  felt  in  Amoy  and 
Kulangsu,  at  2.30  A.M. 

1893,  December  8th. — A  severe  shock  at  Foochow,  at  11.10  P.M. 

1894,  June  2oth. — A  sharp  shock  of  earthquake  felt  in  Amoy  and 
Kulangsu,  at  6.30  or  6.45  A.M.  ;  a  very  slight  shock  had  been  noticed 
two  days  previously,  at  about  2  P.M.     Three  houses  were  wrecked. 

1894,  August   nth. — There  were  slight  shocks  at  Hongkong,  at 
10.55  A-M-  ar>d  1-20  P.M. 

1895,  August  3oth. — Earthquake  shocks  were  felt  in   Hongkong, 
Swatow,   Waichow,   and    Haifung.     The  earthquake   was   severe   at 
Swatow,  where  it  occurred  at  ten  minutes  to  six  P.M.     It  was  preceded 
by  an  excessively  hot  day,  with  a  dull,  oppressive  feeling  in  the  air, 
rain  falling  heavily  just  before.     It  lasted  between  fifteen  and  twenty 
seconds,  by  one  account,  and  two  minutes  by  another  ;  a  slight  shock 
had  been  experienced  about  3.30  P.M.,  a  continuation  of  minor  shocks 
followed  it  as  well,  up  until  3.15    A.M.  on   Saturday.     Considerable 
damage  was  done  on  shore  to  native  property,  and  a  little  to  foreign 
in  the  way  of  cracked  walls  and  ceilings.     The  vessels  in  harbour  were 
shaken  from  truck  to  keelson,  the  colour  of  the  water  in  the  river  was 
changed  from  blue  to  brown  by  the  agitation  of  the  mud,  and  the  sea 
had  a  very  confused  appearance  south  of  the  Lamocks.     The  direction 
from  E.  to  W.     It  was  the  severest  shock  ever  felt  in  Swatow.     It 
was  thus  described  in    Hongkong  : — '  Horizontal   vibration   between 
E.  and  W.  roughly  ;  there  was  no  vertical  motion,  and  hardly  any 
perceptible   travelling   direction.      The   first   distinct   oscillation    was 
felt  a  minute  or  so  before  a  quarter  to  six,  and  lasted  about  30  seconds. 
Fainter  tremors  were  felt  for  some  minutes  afterwards  ;  and  another 
distinct  shock  occurred  about   11.30  P.M.'     Persons  sitting  or  lying 
down  felt  it  plainly,  and  it  interfered  a  little  with  writing.     It  was  felt 
most   in   high   buildings.       Two   gentlemen    in    upper   floors   of  the 
Hongkong  Hotel  felt  dizzy,  and  thought  the  place  was  coming  down. 
Bottles  and  glasses  rattled  in  some  buildings.    'A  coolie  sitting  on  the 
pavement  in  the  streets  rushed  into  the  roadway,  shouting  that  the 
houses  were  falling.' 

1895,  August-October. — Earthquake  shocks  at  Kit  Yong,  30  miles 
from  Swatow,  from  the  3Oth  August  till  i  ith  of  October,  'the  country 
round  for  eighteen  miles  seeming  to  be  within  the  district  of  dis- 
turbance.' Two  small  shocks  towards  the  end  of  September  at  Swatow, 
but  no  damage.  At  Tsing  Hai  City  in  the  Chao  Chow  Prefecture 
there  were  several  earthquake  shocks  with  disastrous  consequences, 

233 


Things  Chinese 

more  than  a  hundred  houses  falling,  and  about  forty  persons  being 
killed  by  their  collapse,  the  shocks  in  Kit  Yong  being  slight  in  com- 
parison. 

1896,  July  22nd.— A  pretty  severe  shock  at  Tientsin,  about  8.52  P.M. 
{ A  tremor,  accompanied  by  a  rumbling  or  grating  noise,  as  if  a  large 
quantity  of  bricks  had  been  shot  from  carts,  was,  after  an  interval  of 
two  seconds,  followed  by  a  very  distinct  earth  oscillation,  which  lasted 
for  two  or  three  seconds.  .  .  .  The  most  severe  shock  that  has  been 
felt  at  Tientsin  since  1888.' 

1897,  January  i;th.— A  slight  shock  in  Hongkong ;  and  January  i8th, 
a  severe  one  at  Foochow,  at  6  A.M.,  direction  about  north  and  south. 

1898,  November  I2th. — A  shock  in  the  city  of  Shi'ii  Hing  (about 
70  or  80  miles  from  Canton)  and  the  surrounding  villages.     Houses, 
windows,  furniture,  and  hanging  lamps  shook  with  a  creaking  noise 
as  if  about  to  fall  ;    and  people  were  startled  from  sleep  by  a  phen- 
omenon which  they  had  never  experienced  before.     The  elders  made 
enquiries  as  to  whether  it  portended  good  or  evil. 

1901,  June  7th. — 'Two  shocks  of  earthquake  at  Foochow,  at  8.5  A.M., 
the  second  of  which  was  severer  than  any  for  many  years.' 

1903,  January  6th. — A  slight  shock  at  Weihaiwei  at  6  A.M.,  and  at 
Shanghai  at  6  h.  2  m.  2  s.  A.M.,  stopping  two  clocks  looking  north. 

ECLIPSE. — The  common  idea  amongst  the  Chinese 
of  an  eclipse  is  that  some  monster  is  swallowing  the  sun 
or  moon  ;  hence  gongs  and  drums  are  beaten  and  an 
uproar  and  noise  is  made  to  drive  the  monster  dog  away. 
That  these  efforts  are  successful  is  proved  by  the  sun  or 
moon  emerging  intact  after  each  encounter.  Though  some 
of  the  high  officials  know  the  absurdity  of  this  notion,  yet 
the  farce,  as  far  as  the  Government  is  concerned,  is  kept  up 
by  an  occasional  notification  like  the  following  : — 

'  A  Notification  in  the  matter  of  saving  and  guarding  the  Sun  and 
Moon  : — 

'On  the  loth  day  of  the  gth  moon  [2ist  October  1901]  Yune, 
Intendant  of  Circuit  (invested  with  power  of  control  over  military 
forces)  of  Suchow,  Ts'ung  Kong,  and  T'ai  Ts'ong,  issued  a  Notification 
suspended  in  front  of  his  yamen,  to  the  effect  (stated  in  general  terms) 
that  on  the  i  ,th  day  of  the  gth  moon  (26th  October  1901), being  the  Mo 
Yan  Day  (of  the  Diurnal  Sexagenary  Circle),  there  will  be  an  eclipse 
(//'/.  an  eating)  of  the  Moon,  and  that  on  the  1st  day  of  the  loth  moon 
[i  ith  November  1901],  being  the  Kwai  Tsz  Day,  there  will  be  an  eclipse 
of  the  Sun.  On  the  arrival  of  these  dates,  all  Civil  and  Military  Officers 
are  directed  each  and  all  to  save  and  guard  the  Sun  and  Moon.' 

The  above  was  issued  by  the  Shanghai  Taotai. 

EDUCATION. — The  Chinese  owe  everything  to  their 

234 


Education 

system  of  education.  It  is  this  which,  amidst  all  the 
changes  of  dynasty,  has  kept  them  a  nation  ;  it  is  this 
which  has  knit  together  the  extremes  of  this  vast  land,  and 
has  caused  the  same  aspirations  to  rise,  and  the  same 
thoughts  to  course,  through  people  differing  in  vernacular, 
and  in  many  customs  and  habits  ;  it  is  this  that  has  been 
the  conqueror  of  the  conquering  hosts  that  have  swept  over 
the  land,  and  set  up  an  alien  dynasty  more  than  once  in 
her  history. 

The  Chinese  child  is  heavily  handicapped  when  he 
commences  his  educational  course,  for  '  the  language  of  the 
fireside  is  not  the  language  of  the  books ' ;  nor  has  he  all 
the  auxiliary  aids  which  first  launch  a  child  on  the  sea  of 
learning,  and  make  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  a  pleasure 
in  happy  Western  homes,  with  the  present-day  beautifully 
illustrated  books,  and  language  simplified  to  encourage  the 
youthful  beginner  :  there  is  no  '  Reading  Made  Easy,'  no 
'  Laugh  and  Learn,'  no  '  Peep  of  Day,'  nor  any  of  the  other 
numerous  books,  which  are  the  delight  of  the  little  ones 
amongst  us.  Though  one  often  sees  a  bright,  intelligent 
infant  among  the  Chinese,  the  absence  of  all  aids,  similar 
in  their  design  to  those  mentioned  above,  must  be  a  terrible 
want  to  the  poor  little  Celestial.  Were  the  first  book  put 
into  the  youngster's  hands  named  '  Reading  Made  Difficult ' 
it  might  then  convey  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  its 
contents  ;  for,  barring  the  fact  that  it  is  in  rhyme  and  in 
lines  of  three  words  each,  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  smooth 
the  rough  path  for  little  feet.  It  commences  with  a  state- 
ment that  might  tax  all  the  mental  powers  of  a  philosopher 
to  fathom,  to  wit : — '  Men  at  their  birth  are  by  nature 
radically  good  ' ;  after  this  tough  introduction,  instances  are 
adduced  of  youthful  learning  and  precocity,  all  tending  to 
show  the  necessity  of  education.  Categories  of  the 
numerical  series,  of  which  the  Chinese  are  so  fond,  follow, 
such  for  example  as  the  three  powers — heaven,  earth,  and 
man  ;  the  five  cardinal  virtues  ;  and  six  kinds  of  grain.  A 
list  of  books  to  be  learned  is  next  enumerated,  followed  by 
an  epitome  of  Chinese  history  in  the  tersest  form  possible  ; 

235 


Things  Chinese 

and  the  book  ends  with  what,  if  it  were  only  in  an  in- 
telligible form  for  the  boy,  would  be  the  most  interesting 
part  of  all,  viz  : — instances  of  the  pursuit  of  knowledge 
under  difficulties,  which  are  used  to  goad  the  future  aspirant 
for  literary  fame  on  his  course. 

At  first  scarcely  anything  he  reads  is  understood  by 
him,  but  he  has  to  learn  it  off  by  heart,  so  as  to  say  it 
without  a  single  error.  The  first  is,  of  course,  a  mistake  ; 
the  second  is  not ;  for  experience  shows  that  such  a  method 
is  the  best  for  learning  Chinese.  The  author,  himself,  when 
a  boy,  learned  the  first  book  and  others  in  this  way,  so  as 
to  be  able  to  repeat  long  screeds  of  them  by  heart,  and 
later  years  have  only  deepened  the  impression  that,  given 
time  to  do  so,  this  is  the  only  way  to  learn  Chinese 
thoroughly.  In  fact,  if  we  Westerners  were  not  always  in 
such  a  hurry,  and  so  pressed  for  time,  it  would  prove  an 
excellent  plan  in  the  first  stages  of  learning  a  European 
language ;  the  author  tried  it  with  French  and  found  it 
produced  excellent  results.  But  to  return  to  our  Chinese 
boy  in  the  midst  of  his  difficulties.  These  may  perhaps  be 
better  appreciated  by  the  foreign  reader  from  the  following 
illustration  : — We  remember  reading  of  a  school  for  teach- 
ing the  English  language  to  Gaelic-speaking  boys.  The 
schoolmaster  ordered  the  scholars  to  read  from  one  of  their 
English  lesson-books,  which  they  did  beautifully,  but  when 
an  English  visitor  began  to  question  them  on  what  they 
had  read,  he  found  blank  faces  staring  at  him  in  amazement, 
and  not  a  single  reply  could  he  get.  The  master  then  in- 
formed him  that  the  boys  had  only  been  taught  to  read 
English,  not  to  speak  it ;  their  pronunciation  was  perfect, 
but  not  a  word  did  they  understand  of  what  they  had  read.  * 
Our  Chinese  boy  is  in  pretty  much  the  same  plight  at  first ; 
for  four  or  five  years  he  learns  the  names  of  the  Chinese 
characters,  but  the  great  majority  of  them  are  meaningless 
signs  to  him.  Book  after  book  has  he  to  get  up  in  this 
wearisome  manner,  and  page  after  page  of  copy-book 
characters  has  he  to  trace  in  a  listless  round,  which  knows  no 
Sunday  rest,  nor  Wednesday,  nor  Saturday  half-holiday  :  a 

236 


Education 

Chinese  school  is  for  work,  and  not  play  ;  play  is  considered 
a  waste  of  time,  and,  as  such,  to  be  discouraged  as  much  as 
possible ;  no  variety  of  studies ;  nothing  to  break  the 
monotony  from  daylight  till  dark,  only  enough  time  to 
take  meals  being  allowed.  Verily  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
Chinese  school-boy  appears  heavy  and  dull,  grave  and 
dignified,  and  that  he  has  his  company  manners  always  at 
hand,  appearing  the  pink  of  propriety  like  all  the  fossilised 
youngsters  he  has  read  about.  At  last  a  little  light  is 
allowed  to  glint  into  this  mental  darkness,  for  he  is  initiated 
into  the  mysteries  and  privileges  of  knowing  what  the 
thousands  of  seemingly  arbitrary  signs  mean.  And  here  is 
the  reason  why,  though  nearly  all  Chinese  (at  least  in  the 
more  civilised  parts  of  the  empire)  can  read  to  a  greater  or 
lesser  extent,  so  many  of  them  understand  but  little  of  what 
they  read ;  for  many  of  them  are  unable  from  poverty  to 
pursue  their  course  of  education  beyond  the  initial  stage. 
Many  of  them  are  in  the  position  of  Milton's  daughters  : 
the  blind  poet  taught  them  to  read  Latin  to  him — simply 
to  read  it,  without  a  knowledge  of  what  it  meant ;  and  the 
Chinese  that  is  spoken  in  everyday  life  is  nearly  as  different 
from  much  of  that  contained  in  the  books,  as  a  dead 
language  is  from  a  living  one. 

There  is  no  class  system  in  Chinese  schools  ;  each  boy 
forms  a  class  by  himself:  there  are  as  many  classes  as  there 
are  boys.  A  dull  scholar  is  thus  not  drawn  on  faster  than 
he  is  able  to  go  by  the  quicker  boys,  nor  do  the  brighter 
pupils  have  a  drag  on  their  progress  in  the  persons  of  the 
dull  ones.  As  each  boy  learns  his  lesson  he  goes  up  to  say 
it,  the  long  school-hours  also  making  it  necessary  for  him 
to  learn  the  greater  part,  if  not  all,  of  his  work  in  school- 
time.  A  Chinese  school  makes  itself  heard  long  before  it 
is  seen  :  a  confused  babel  of  sounds  warns  you  of  your 
approach  to  it ;  for  each  boy  is  learning  his  task  off  by 
heart,  repeating  it  over  and  over  again,  till  fixed  in  the 
memory,  in  a  loud  sing-song  tone  of  voice ;  the  effect  of 
thirty  or  forty  boys  (for  few  schools  are  fortunately  much 
larger  than  that)  all  doing  their  best  to  outvoice  each  other 

237 


Things  Chinese 

in  this  manner,  being  better  imagined  than  described,  and, 
once  heard,  never  forgotten.  In  England,  schools  are  a 
nuisance  to  their  neighbours  at  play-time  ;  there  is  no  play- 
time in  Chinese  schools — they  are,  on  the  contrary,  a 
nuisance  when  the  boys  are  at  their  lessons. 

If  a  boy's  studies  are  continued,  he  is  taught,  as  we 
have  said,  the  translation  of  this  wonderfully  recondite 
literary  style  into  more  intelligible  language.  Besides  this, 
the  following  subjects  find  a  place  in  the  curriculum  :  com- 
position, where  rules  of  grammar  are  conspicuous  by  their 
absence,  and  position  is  everything,  and  precedent  or 
ancient  usage  establishes  the  proper  collocation  of  words. 
Intimately  connected  with  this  is  the  construction  of 
antithetical  sentences,  where  meaning,  word,  and  phrase,  as 
well  as  tone,  are  matched  together  with  wonderful  care, 
precision,  and  musical  rhythm.  One  or  two  other  forms 
of  composition  are  also  taught,  and  the  scholar  learns  the 
art  of  letter-writing,  where  almost  every  possible  idea  is 
already  provided  for  in  cut-and-dried  expressions  redolent 
with  the  flowers  of  allusion,  classic  lore,  and  fable.  This  is 
a  most  important  branch  of  Chinese  education,  and  requires 
special  study.  We  ourselves  were  present  at  a  meeting 
at  which  a  letter  was  read  from  a  gentleman,  expressing 
his  regret  at  not  being  able  to  be  present,  and  containing 
good  wishes  for  the  members  and  the  Society  to  which 
they  belonged.  Such  a  letter  in  English  would  require 
no  explanation  to  an  English  audience,  but  the  Chinese 
secretary  of  this  Society  considered  it  necessary  to  explain 
its  contents  to  the  members  present,  though  they  were 
all  fairly  well  educated  in  Chinese.  Belles-lettres  also 
take  a  place  in  the  more  extended  course  of  study.  A 
collection  from  ancient  authors,  forming  a  course  of 
Chinese  literature,  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  student ; 
a  smattering  of  Chinese  history,  valuable  for  the  sake  of 
allusions  it  places  at  a  writer's  disposal,  is  acquired  ; 
artificial  verse-making  claims  a  share  of  attention  ;  and  the 
composition  of  those  wonderful  essays,  where  the  reasoning 
proceeds  in  a  circle,  and  ends  where  it  began,  which  are 

238 


Education 

valuable  as  preparing  the  student  for  the  Civil  Service 
examinations  ;  this  last  being  the  final  stage  for  which  all 
the  preceding  has  been  preparatory  ;  this,  the  goal  which 
has  necessitated  all  the  arduous  toil,  with,  in  the  event  of 
success,  its  resultant  office-holding.  (See  Article  on 
Examinations.) 

The  whole  of  the  classics  (the  Four  Books  and  the  Five 
Classics)  are  mastered,  as  well  as  the  commentaries  thereon, 
in  the  school  and  collegiate  course,  extending  over  some 
years.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  geography,  arithmetic, 
algebra,  mathematics,  and  all  branches  of  science,  are 
utterly  unknown  in  a  Chinese  educational  course.  What 
then  is  the  result  of  the  whole  thing?  Not  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  or  the  training  of  the  mind,  so  much  as  the 
turning  out  of  successful  essayists ;  a  marvellous  training 
of  the  memory,  and  the  extraordinary  development  of  the 
imitative  faculty — these  two  at  the  expense  of  everything 
else — no  originality,  no  scope  for  individuality  ;  the  produc- 
tion of  literary  machines,  the  manufacture  of  mental  type- 
writers, where  the  stereotyped  forms  of  antiquity  are  repro- 
duced with  but  scant  variety.  It  speaks  well  for  the 
Chinese  nation,  that,  with  all  this  tight-lacing  of  healthy 
aspirations,  with  all  this  binding  of  the  feet  of  progress,  it 
has  been  impossible  to  entirely  curb  all  individuality,  to 
check  all  variety.  It  has  been  well  said  that  though  this 
system  'has  considerable  educative  value'  it  yet  '  limits  the 
mental  and  moral  vision  to  the  horizon  which  confined  the 
mind  of  Confucius  twenty-four  centuries  ago,  cramps  the 
intellect,  stunts  the  growth  of  moral  feeling,  and  bends  the 
will  into  an  antagonism  to  everything  non-Chinese.'  It 
has  also  been  stated  with  truth  that,  '  the  vast  majority  of 
the  educated  men  in  China  do  not  know  to  this  day  what 
is  the  meaning  of  the  most  common  terms  in  our  educa- 
tional vocabulary,  and  much  less  do  they  know  the  use 
and  value  of  the  things  designated,  or  how  they  are  to  be 
studied.' 

China  has  no  school-boards,  nor  even  anything  in  the 
place  of  the  National  and  British  schools  in  England. 


Things  Chinese 

Schools  are  opened  by  masters  to  gain  their  living,  or 
established  by  the  gentry,  or  one  tutor  is  employed  by 
several  families  to  conduct  a  private  school  for  their 
children,  while  colleges,  or,  strictly  speaking,  higher  schools, 
established  on  pretty  much  the  same  principles,  abound  in 
all  cities. 

We  have  thus  far  only  mentioned  boys,  and  we  might 
close  without  any  reference  to  girls  ;  for  the  attitude  of  the 
nation,  as  a  whole,  with  regard  to  the  education  of  this  sex, 
is  almost  that  of  complete  neglect.  Notwithstanding  this, 
not  a  few  instances  are  adduced  in  Chinese  history  of  blue- 
stockings ;  and,  at  the  present  day,  in  some  parts  of  China 
at  least,  a  very  small  minority  of  the  girls  either  manage  to 
pick  up  such  a  smattering  of  the  characters  as  to  be  able 
to  read  cheap  novels,  or,  very  rarely,  have  the  advantage 
of  a  teacher  provided  by  their  parents,  who  are  stimulated 
to  give  them  an  education,  in  some  cases  by  the  example 
of  the  mission  schools.  From  personal  contact  with 
thousands  of  natives  in  the  course  of  his  official  duties,  the 
writer  is  able  to  say  that  it  is  the  rarest  thing  to  find  a 
woman  who  is  able  to  sign  her  own  name,  and  when  that 
is  laboriously  accomplished,  it  is  perhaps  all  that  she  can 
write  ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand,  a  preponderating 
majority  of  men  in  the  extreme  south  of  China,  in  the 
cities  at  all  events,  are  able  to  do  this.  To  state  it  broadly: 
it  is  a  great  exception  if  a  woman  can  do  ought  but  make 
her  mark,  while  it  is  an  exception  if  a  man  cannot. 

It  is  very  hard  to  form  an  estimate  as  to  the  number  of 
men  who  can  not  only  read,  but  mentally  understand  what 
they  read.  The  proportion  differs  in  different  parts  of  the 
empire,  and  even  in  the  same  part,  it  will  vary  greatly 
in  the  citizen  and  the  rustic.  Dr.  Martin  estimates  it 
at  one  in  twenty.  But  these  estimates  are  very  un- 
satisfactory, as  in  different  parts  of  the  country  and 
in  city  and  town  and  country  there  are  great  differ- 
ences. Again  a  great  many  have  a  little  smattering  of 
this  knowledge  and  can  manage  to  get  along  somehow 
when  reading  is  made  easy  to  them  by  the  use  of 

240 


Education 

a  simple  style,  but  are  soon  out  of  their  depth  if  the  read- 
ing extends  beyond  the  simplest  characters.  One  recent 
writer  estimates  that  only  one-tenth  of  the  entire  population 
is  able  to  read.  An  account  of  education  in  China  would 
not  be  complete  without  a  closing  allusion  to  the  dawn  of 
better  days.  Mission  schools  and  colleges  are  to  be  found 
at  the  different  centres,  and  these  have  done  a  good  and 
appreciable  work  ;  there  are  likewise  the  schools  in  Hong- 
kong, under  the  fostering  care  of  the  British  Colonial 
Government ;  and,  what  is  more  encouraging  still,  there 
are,  here  and  there  at  several  important  centres,  either 
schools  established,  more  or  less  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Chinese  Government,  such  as  the  T'ung  Wan  Kwen,  at 
Peking  and  Canton,  where  a  thoroughly  good  training  is 
given  in  English  ;  or  again,  such  establishments  as  naval 
and  other  colleges,  in  connection  with  arsenals,  where  a 
technical  education  is  imparted ;  and,  lastly,  a  most 
significant  fact,  at  one  of  the  provincial  examinations  in 
the  City  of  Wu-chang,  the  examinees  were  asked  to  give  a 
comparison  between  ancient  and  modern  mathematical 
methods,  the  former  being  native,  and  the  latter  foreign  ; 
other  centres  of  examination  have  taken  the  same  subject 
up,  doubtless  in  consequence  of  the  decree  issued  some 
ten  years  ago  by  which  the  Literary  Chancellors  of  the 
provinces  were  ordered  '  to  admit  candidates  to  a  competi- 
tion in  Mathematics  at  each  annual  examination  for  the 
first  degree.'  If  successful,  these  were  to  undergo  a  special 
examination  at  Peking,  in  Physics,  Applied  Mathematics, 
Practical  Mechanics,  Naval  and  Military  Tactics,  Gunnery 
and  Torpedo  Practice;  or,  instead  of  these,  in  International 
Law,  Political  History,  etc.  '  If  successful  they  shall  be 
admitted  to  competition  for  the  second  degree  in  Peking, 
which  shall  be  conferred  in  the  ratio  of  one  to  twenty,  the 
total  not  to  exceed  three  in  one  year.  Those  who  obtain 
the  second  degree  may  compete  for  the  third.'  (See 
Article  on  Examinations.)  As  an  instance  of  this  intro- 
duction of  a  new  subject  in  the  stereotyped  Chinese 
examination  the  following  will  be  found  interesting : — 

241  Q 


Things  Chinese 

'  In  Western  Shantung  in  the  Tung  Ch'ang  Prefecture,  two  pro- 
blems were  propounded  at  the  examination  for  the  hsiu-ts'ai  degree  in 
1892,  the  first  or  13.  A.,  one  of  which  asked  for  the  superficial  area  of 
a  globe  eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  The  other  was  of  a  more  com- 
plicated character,  and  adapted  to  fit  the  aspirants  for  the  post  of 
Grain  Commissioner.  Problem. — If  eight  thousand  piculs  of  rice  are 
carried  at  thirteen  tael  cents  per  picul,  and  if  the  freight  is  paid  in  rice 
at  taels  two  and  a  half  per  picul,  how  much  rice  is  expended  for  the 
freight?  It  is  said  that  this  question  was  propounded  to  not  less  than 
ten  thousand  students  in  the  Tung  Ch'ao  Prefecture,  and  that  only  one 
man  tried  to  give  any  answer  at  all,  and  he  was  snubbed  by  the 
Chancellor  for  an  ignorant  pretender.  Yet  if  any  one  could  have 
given  the  correct  answer  which  a  Western  lad  of  ten  years  would  be 
ashamed  not  to  be  able  to  do  in  three  minutes,  he  would  probably 
have  been  passed  on  that  account !  The  result,  as  often  happens  in 
such  cases,  has  been  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  applicants  to 
the  foreigner  for  a  formula  .  .  .  which  will  evolve  correct  answers. 
The  absurdity  of  proposing  problems  in  regard  to  the  nature  of 
which  students  have  had  no  opportunity  of  learning  must  be  as  evident 
to  the  Chancellor  as  to  the  candidates.  But  by  another  three  years, 
some  mathematical  books  will  have  probably  been  pored  over  not  in 
vain.' 

Another  hopeful  sign  is  the  resumption  of  the  plan  for 
sending  students  to  Western  lands  to  prosecute  their  studies 
in  the  modern  centres  of  learning  and  thought.  The  young 
Emperor  himself  began  the  study  of  English  some  years 
since,  and  now  the  Empress  Dowager  has  taken  it 
up. 

'The  Tsung-li  Yamen  have  promulgated  [1896]  a  verbal  edict  of 
the  Emperor  to  the  provincial  authorities,  commanding  that  the  study 
of  foreign  mathematics  and  the  various  branches  of  polytechnical 
science  shall  from  henceforth  be  compulsory  in  all  colleges  of  the 
country.  Candidates  at  the  literary  examinations  will  now  have 
to  qualify  in  at  least  one  of  the  latter  subjects,  while  mathematics 
must  be  one  of  the  standing  subjects  at  these  competitions  for  literary 
degrees.' 

This  gradual  progress  in  the  betterment  of  this  wonder- 
ful system  of  examinations  was  followed  by  orders  from  the 
Emperor  for  a  radical  change,  only  to  be  again  upset  by  the 
reactionary  measures  of  the  Empress  Dowager.  This  is  all 
a  matter  of  history  of  the  year  1898. 

Since  then  the  dreadful  events  in  the  North  of  China, 
fit  to  be  printed  with  lurid  letters  of  blood  on  pages  of 
Cimmerian  darkness,  have  followed,  to  be  succeeded  by  a 
further  appreciation  (to  a  more  enlarged  extent  than 
previously)  that  her  educational  system  was  a  drawback 

242 


Emblems 

to  the  desire  of  the  progressive  party  in  China  to  be  in  a 
line  with  Western  nations. 

The  following  extracts  will  serve  as  instances  of  things 
attempted,  not  always  to  be  accomplished,  for  progress  is 
comparatively  slow  in  China  : — 

'Upon  the  joint  memorial  of  H.E.  the  Viceroy  Tao  and  the 
Provincial  Governor  Tak,  Imperial  sanction  has  been  granted  to 
establish  colleges  and  schools  in  Kwongtung  for  the  teaching  of  both 
foreign  tongues  and  Chinese  to  the  native  youth  ;  in  the  large  districts 
colleges  will  be  established,  and  in  small  ones  schools,  where  smart 
and  intelligent  students  will  be  admitted  and  educated,  and  after  a 
course  of  study  be  chosen  by  examination  for  Government  Service. 
With  this  aim  in  view  there  will  be  no  literary  examination  in  any  of 
the  villages  for  the  year'  [1901]. 

'The  Reform  Decrees  of  the  Court  order,  amongst  other  things,  a 
provincial  College  in  every  Capital.  The  first  to  be  opened  was  one 
by  Governor  Yiin  Shi  Kai  in  Chinan-fu'  [1901]. 

That  the  antiquated  wen-chang's,  or  the  literary  essay's, 
days  are  numbered  is  apparent. 

Books  recommended. — Martin's  'Han  Lin  Papers.'  Also  see  Extract  from 
a  paper  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Ferguson  in  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press  of  the 
7th  of  January  1892.  Most  of  the  text-books  on  China  also  contain  more  or 
less  full  accounts  of  the  Examination  system  of  China. 

EMBLEMS. — Chinese  art  is  enriched  with  many 
emblems  full  of  significance  to  the  initiated  and  the  native  ; 
but  generally  conveying  nothing  but  an  idea  of  quaintness  or 
ornamentation  to  the  foreigner.  As  illustrative  of  a  hand- 
maid of  native  art  which  gives  meaning  to  flower  and  bird 
and  animal  depicted  or  carved  or  embroidered  with  such 
lavish  profusion  by  the  painstaking  Chinese,  we  shall 
merely  note  a  few  of  the  emblematical  symbols  used. 

Bamboos,  chrysanthemums,  plum-blossoms,  and  epiden- 
drums  represent  the  four  seasons — summer,  autumn,  winter, 
and  spring. 

The  same  sound  stands  in  China  for  '  noble  rank '  and 
'  birds,'  hence  the  latter  are  emblems  of  the  former.  Storks 
mean  longevity.  As  the  same  sound  represents  '  lotus  '  and 
'  continuous'  as  well,  the  use  of  '  lotus,'  is  obvious.  The 
peony  is  the  king  of  flowers  and  the  pictorial  synonym  of 
wealth.  The  bamboo  also  does  duty  for  '  peace,'  and  the 
lotus  for  '  a  perfect  gentleman,  too.'  Besides  the  seasons 

243 


Things  Chinese 

they   typify,  the   plum    is   expressive   of  purity  and   the 
chrysanthemum  of  longevity. 

EMBROIDERY.— The  Chinese  are  famous  for  their 
skill  in  embroidery.  Men  and  women  are  both  employed 
in  the  production  of  numerous  articles  for  home  consumption 
as  well  as  for  exportation.  Official  robes  for  mandarins 
and  their  wives  ;  petticoats  for  ladies ;  purses  for  rich  and 
poor ;  shoes  for  men  and  women  with  natural  feet,  as  well 
as  for  those  with  golden  lilies — the  cramped-up  deformities 
which  do  an  imperfect  duty  in  place  of  the  natural  growth  ; 
caps  for  men  and  boys  ;  adjuncts  of  dress,  such  as  spectacle- 
cases  and  numerous  other  articles  are  all  adorned  and 
ornamented  with  embroidery.  Banners,  altar-cloths,  the 
gorgeous  robes  donned  by  the  ragged  boys  in  a  procession, 
are  all  rich  with  it. 

'  There  are  many  styles  with  thread,  braid,  or  floss,  and 
an  infinite  variety  in  the  quality,  pattern,  and  beauty  of  the 
work.'  The  '  motives,'  are  of  the  usual  style  of  Chinese 
art-work — heavy  bats,  long  convoluted  dragons,  splendid 
phoenixes,  geometrical  patterns,  insignia  of  the  genii,  fruit, 
flowers,  and  butterflies ;  these  are  blended  together  in  a 
galaxy  of  richest  colours,  or  studded  in  more  diffuse 
splendour  on  glowing  backgrounds  of  cerulean  blue  or 
emerald  green,  or  numerous  other  shades  in  which  the 
gorgeous  East  delights  to  clothe  itself.  But  it  should  be 
mentioned  that,  owing  to  the  introduction  of  aniline 
colours,  the  loveliness  has,  in  a  great  measure,  departed,  and 
harmony  of  tint  almost  entirely,  from  the  needlework  of 
the  present  day. 

Girls  are  taught  to  embroider  as  an  accomplishment 
and  a  necessary  duty,  for  their  own  tiny  shoes  are  worked 
by  themselves,  and  not  bought  ready-made  in  the  shops, 
while  many  a  woman,  seated  in  the  narrow  street  at  the 
door  of  her  humble  dwelling,  adds  to  the  slender  means  of 
her  family  by  her  skill  in  fancy  work  of  this  description. 
Peddlers  go  through  the  streets  whirling  a  small  rattle,  and, 
from  the  stock-in-trade  of  these  peripatetic  dealers,  the 

244 


Embroidery 

domestic  stocks  of  silk  for  embroidery  are  generally  re- 
plenished. Most  lovely  shades  of  the  finest  floss  silk, 
running  through  the  whole  gamut  of  the  richest  colours, 
are  displayed  in  the  numerous  small  drawers  of  these 
itinerant  merchants,  while  gold  and  silver  thread  are  also 
for  disposal,  to  be  added  to  the  needlework  to  enhance  its 
beauty. 

Numbers  of  men  are  employed  in  the  production  of 
shawls,  table-covers,  and  fire-screens  for  exportation.  The 
latter. are  made  'of  divers  colours  of  needlework  on  both 
sides,'  the  screen  at  which  the  men  work  being  set  upright 
between  the  two  who  are  producing  the  piece,  and  the 
needle  pushed  through  from  one  man  to  the  other  alter- 
nately, and  thus  the  same  pattern  is  produced  on  both 
front  and  back.  Time  is  of  no  consequence  when  effect 
and  beauty  are  to  be  the  results,  while  patience,  and  persever- 
ance are  the  two  principal  factors  employed  without  stint  by 
the  Chinese  in  all  their  industrial  arts,  nor  are  they  absent  in 
the  production  of  embroidery.  It  is  said  that,  in  a  spectacle- 
case,  six  inches  by  two,  there  will  sometimes  be  not  less 
than  20,000  stitches ;  and  theatrical  costumes,  mandarin 
robes,  and  ladies'  dresses  will  take  ten  or  twelve  women 
four  or  five  years'  constant  work  to  finish.  Under  such 
conditions  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  fashions  cannot  change 
from  year  to  year.  '  Wall  hangings  made  of  such  work 
are  very  costly.  In  Canton  where  it  is  carried  to  its 
highest  development,  they  have  frequently  brought  several 
thousand  dollars.  Nevertheless  such  extra  fine  work  is 
rare.  The  buying  public  demand  good,  effective  tableaux 
at  prices  not  over  $100  each  and  the  supply  naturally 
equals  the  demand.' 

Large  stores  of  old  embroidery  are  to  be  found  in  the 
pawnshops  of  Chinese  cities  ;  nor  are  the  robes,  there  to 
be  seen,  all  of  modern  make,  but  some  splendid  specimens 
of  a  style  no  longer  in  fashion,  or  ordinarily  procurable, 
are  occasionally  met  with.  Many  foreign  ladies  who 
would  not  touch  a  Chinaman's  clothes  yet  buy  these  old 
and  soiled  robes,  and  different  articles  of  dress  worn  by 

245 


Things  Chinese 

generations  of  Chinese,  and  utilise  the  embroidered  pieces 
in  ornamenting  cushions,  chair-backs,  etc. 

These  may  appear  cheap,  and  they  are  certainly  '  nasty,' 
yet  it  is  the  fashion  in  this  least  suitable  climate  to  drape 
the  furniture  and  walls  of  drawing-rooms  with  the 
equivalent  of  what  a  greasy  old-clothes-man  at  home 
carries  off  in  his  bag.  How  much  more  sensible  it  would 
be  if  ladies  sought  after  specimens  of  the  Art  made  years 
ago  for  Art's  sake,  two  of  which  stand  out  in  the  writer's 
memory  as  most  excellent  of  their  kind.  Both  were 
circular  and  about  a  foot  in  diameter  ;  one  representing  a 
white  eagle  perched  on  the  rugged  branch  of  a  pine  tree, 
with  a  stanza  in  beautiful  characters  in  a  column  on  one 
side,  and  so  exquisite  was  the  work  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  discover  that  they  were  not  written  with  a 
brush  and  the  richest  ink.  Every  feather  of  the  bird  was 
articulated,  every  needle  of  the  pine  was  given  in  natural 
shades.  The  other,  probably  more  interesting,  was  a  danc- 
ing female  figure,  her  robes  and  ribbons  fluttering  in  the 
air,  whilst  all  manner  of  flowers  strewed  the  ground,  a 
marvel  of  delicate  work  and  refined  colouring.  But,  alas  ! 
the  features  of  this  Nymph  or  Goddess  were,  as  is  not 
unusual,  painted  upon  the  satin  ground,  and  the  artist  was 
not  in  touch  with  the  embroiderers.  The  face  was  quite 
one-fifth  of  the  whole  figure  and  very  unbeautiful,  with, 
shocking  to  relate,  a  nose  of  Bardolphian  proportions  im- 
possible in  Nature  and  execrable  in  Art,  but  in  every  other 
respect  this  work  was  a  masterpiece. 

'  Embroideries,  ancient  and  modern,  are  always  in  demand  among 
Orientals,  the  former  being  much  more  expensive.  Many  skilful 
artisans  take  advantage  of  this  fact,  and  by  an  accurate  imitation  of 
colours  faded  by  age  and  also  by  secret  chemical  treatment  turn  out 
embroideries  which  seem  worn  with  age.  The  counterfeits  are  not 
easily  detected.  Even  when  they  are,  the  discovery  is  to  the  benefit 
of  the  dealer  and  not  the  collector.  A  bogus  antique  of  this 
class  was  recently  sold  in  Hongkong  for  $500,  for  which  two  weeks 
previously  the  dealer  had  paid  §15  to  the  maker.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
modern  embroideries  in  China  are  just  as  good  as  ancient,  so  that  it  is 
folly  to  pay  ten  times  for  one  picture  what  you  might  for  a  second  of 
equal  merit  and  beauty.  This  is  especially  true  when  a  fine  em- 
broidery is  to  be  exposed  in  the  drawing-room  of  a  house  which  uses 

246 


English  from  Chinese  Pens 

coal  and  gas.  ...  So  ruinous  are  the  gases  produced  by  the  com- 
bustion of  both  coal  and  illuminating  gas  that  the  only  safe  rule  is  to 
frame  embroideries  air-tight  between  glass  plates.  Thus  protected 
they  will  retain  their  brilliancy  unimpaired,  where  left  exposed  they 
become  dull  and  dingy  in  a  few  years.' 

As  an  instance  of  the  uses  ladies  put  Chinese 
embroideries  to,  see  the  following,  written  by  one  of 
themselves  in  1901. 

'The  short  Chinese  Mandarin  coats  have  also  served  successfully 
as  evening  cloaks  ;  but  all  the  Eastern  embroideries  are  worth  buying, 
being  adaptable  to  household  decorations,  cushions,  mantelpiece 
covers,  and  footstools,  with  special  charm,  while  they  are  allowed  to 
decorate  simple  blouses.' 

There  are  a  number  of  different  stitches  employed.  In 
one  a  fine  raised  effect  is  produced  by  winding  the  thread 
round  the  needle  and  then  taking  the  stitch.  No  one,  as 
far  as  we  are  aware,  has  made  a  special  study  of  this 
subject ;  and  though  we  have  made  a  point  of  enquiring  of 
those  interested  in  Chinese  embroideries  as  to  the  stitches, 
we  must  confess  we  have  not  yet  penetrated  to  the  inner 
arcana  of  their  mysteries,  but  must  perforce  be  content 
with  standing  on  the  threshold,  and  admiring  the  skill  of 
the  Chinese  in  producing  such  marvellous  fantasies  of 
colour. 

'  The  East '  seems  '  to  have  been  the  natural  home  of 
embroidery,'  and  Mr.  Walter  Crane  proceeds  to  say  that 
'  to-day  China  and  Japan  produce  the  most  beautiful 
renderings  of  flowers  and  birds.' 

ENGLISH  FROM  CHINESE  PENS.— To  the 
Chinese  the  acquisition  of  our  language  is  a  terrible  task  ; 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  appalling  to  contemplate  as  the 
idea  of  learning  Chinese  is  to  the  average  Englishman. 
To  the  majority  who  undertake  it,  time  and  money  are 
of  more  importance  than  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
subject,  and  '  maskee,  can  do '  is  the  motto  of  the  tyro  who 
thereupon  proceeds  to  inflict  his  outrageous  attempts  at 
writing  English  on  the  Englishman,  with  generally  most 
ludicrous  results. 

247 


Things  Chinese 

Perhaps  Wan  Chi  wishes  some  favour  from  you,  and  as 
an  introduction,  he  sends  you  his  English  calling-card  with 
an  invitation  on  it  as  follows : — 

Mr.  WAN  CHI 

Requests  the  pleasure  of  Mr.  William  Jones  for  a  Dinner  party  at 
the  Chinese  Hotel  (Hang  Fa  Lau),  Queen's  road  central,  to-morrow 
at  6  P.m. 

Hongkong,  i7th  October  1892. 

ist  top  floor. 

Again  here  is  a  business  notice : — 
EXPRESS. 

NOTICE. 

We  beg  to  inform,  Gentlemen,  all  of  you  that  we  have  commenced 
business  of  establishing  a  new  Printing  Office  hern  as  a  substitution 
for  the  Printing  Office  of  T.  S.  Marchmon  but  we  have  been  selected 
with  best  arrangement  of  new  and  approved  Machine  for  quickness  of 
improvement. 

Expresses,  Bills,  Programmes,  and  any  kind  of  Joping  and 
Stationer)',  that  we  have  choose  too  with  great  care  a  department  of 
fashionable,  current  and  suitable  calon's  Type  for  printing.  We  beg 
leave  to  inform,  Gentlemen,  as  my  own  experience  as  a  printer  enable 
us  to  forward  the  most  approved  order  as  cheaply  as  any  of  the  long 
established  printer  here.  We  request  every  confidence  trust  by  all  of 
your  Company  and  we  shall  be  glad  to  give  all  of  you  the  satisfaction 
of  printing,  but  we  hope  earnestly,  may  all  your  Company  prepared 
orders  to  bestow  on  our  printing  department  and  we  having  referred 
already  to  all  of  your  Factory  the  perfected  and  completed  business 
of  our  preparation. 

N.B.  Hoping  sincerely  all  of  your  Company  will  see  no  objection 
to  this  notice. 

A  SHANG  PRINTING  PRESS. 
Po  Man  Tap,  John. 

Shau  Chow,  January,  1893. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  if '  Po  Man  Tap,  John  '  succeeded 
in  commencing  the  '  business  of  establishing  a  new  Printing 
Office  hern  as  a  substitution '  for  the  former  one,  that  his 
compositors  would  not  be  able  to  '  give  .  .  .  the  satis- 
faction of  printing '  in  any  better  style  than  the  following 
which  the  Chinese  printer  who  set  it  up  doubtless  thought 
was  perfect : — 

EXCELSIOR. 

The  shades  of  night  were  falling  fast,  as  through.  An  alpine 
village  passed  a  youth,  who  how,  mid  snow  and  ice,  a  banner,  with  the 
strang  device. 

EXCELSIOR. 
248 


English  from  Chinese  Pens 

His  brow  was  sad  ;  his  eye  beakers.  Flashed  like  a  falcion  from  its 
sheath,  and  like  a  silver  clarion  bung.  The  accents  of  that  unknown 
tongue. 

EXCELSIOR. 

In  happy  homes  he  saw  the  light  bright.  Of  household  fires  gleam 
warm  and  abouce,  the  spectral  glaciers  shone,  and  from  his  lips  exaped 
a  green. 

EXCELSIOR. 

"  Try  not  the  pass  ! "  the  old  man  said  ;  "  Dark  lowers  the  tempest 
overhead.  The  roanug  tarrent  is  deep  and  wide "  and  loud  that 
clarion  voice  replied. 

EXCELSIOR. 

"O  shay"  the  marden  said  "and  rest"  Thy  weary  head  upon  my 
breast ! "  a  tear  stood  in  his  bright  blue  eye,  But  still  he  answered  with 
a  sight. 

EXCELSIOR. 

"  Beware  the  pine-tree's  withered  branch  Beware  the  awful 
aralanche  ! "  This  was  the  peasant's  lass  Good  night,  a  voice  replied, 
far  up  the  height. 

EXCELSIOR. 

At  break  of  day,  as  heavenward  The  pions  monks  of  Saint 
Bernard  Uttered  the  aft  repeated  prayer,  a  voice  cried  through  the 
startled  air. 

EXCELSIOR. 

A  traveller  by  the  faithful  hound.  Half-buried  in  the  snow  was 
found,  still  grasping  in  his  hand  of  ice,  That  hammer  with  the  strange 
device. 

EXCELSIOR. 

There  in  the  twilight  cold  and  gray,  Tepeler's,  but  beautiful,  he 
lay,  and  from  the  sky,  serene  and  far,  a  voice  fell,  like  a  falling  star. 

EXCELSIOR. 

Tradesmen's  bills  are  very  amusing,  so  utterly  regard- 
less are  they  of  spelling  and  plurals  ;  you  are  charged  for  : — 

1  doz.  Table  Knife.  2  Ibs.  funch  plum. 
3  large  cup  and  saucers.                           £  doz.  Egg  cup. 

3  Eggs  cups.  2  pieces  plate. 

2  Ibs.  Dried  Apple.  i  Pen  (ilass. 

Or  has  your  tradesman  given  your  wife  a  bad  article  by 
mistake,  he  may  write  her  a  letter  like  the  following  :— 

Mrs.  W.  SMITH. 

Madam, 

I  am  very  sorry  these  ball  which  I  give  you  the  another  day  was 
new  &  has  not  been  play  before  I  do  not  know  why  should 

249 


Things  Chinese 

broked  so  I  sent  another  one  not  charge  to  obliged  for  you  only  & 
I  got  all  goods  from  Ingland  I  will  try  better  nextime  &  obliges. 

Your  Faithfully 

VAN  LOI. 

Our  shoemaker  knows  but  little  of  leggings,  and 
describes  them  in  his  bill  as  'armorial  articles  for  the 
legs.' 

Here  is  a  notice  that  we  received  on  a  torn  scrap  of 
paper  from  our  washerman. 

Sir, 

Now,   your  cloths  is   much  larger  than  before ;    will  you  be 
candly  give  me  at  $2.50  per  cent. 

Your  trily, 

WO  SHING, 

Washerman. 

The  following  will  explain  itself,  and  is  of  higher  order 
of  production  than  the  last : — 

THOMKINS  SIMPSON  &  Co. 

April  i  Qth,  1892. 
To  JOHN  BROWN  Esq. 
Dear  Sir. 

Our  manager  Mr.  White  gave  me  your  note  and  the  man  you 
recommended  and  I  will  do  some  things  for  him  in  the  future  at 
present  we  have  enough  of  men  at  work  but  we  will  increase  the 
coolies  by  next  month  if  the  weather  will  be  hot  enough  to  use  of 
more  of  our  ice.  So  I  have  tell  him  to  come  to  see  me  by  next  month. 
I  think  I  may  use  him. 

I  am  Sir, 

Your  ob.  Servant, 

YEUK  MAN  KING. 
Compradore  of  Thomkins  Simpson  &*  Co. 

The  original  is  not  ice,  but  we  do  not  intend  to  give 
away  our  correspondent :  so  for  the  same  reason  we  have 
altered  the  names  appearing  in  the  original  documents  we 
have  reproduced  in  this  article. 

Another  Celestial  is  in  trouble  with  his  wife,  and  writes. 
We  alter  names,  addresses,  and  dates  : — 

'  ist  April  1902. 

No.  468A  Tunnel  St.  Central  Hongkong. 
To  Honourable  A.  M.  STEVENSON. — 
Sir, 

I  beg  to  inform  your  Honour  that  your  petitioner  Chan 
250 


English  from  Chinese  Pens 

Luk  draftsman  employed  in  Messrs  Smith  &  Brown  firm  live  in  No. 
468A  Tunnel  Street. 

Last  year  your  petitioner  on  4th  November  1901  married  No. 
[sic]  Reunion  Street  Chong  Lei-wai's  younger  sister  Chong  Yf 

For  she  was  unwilling  to  go  back  to  your  petitioner's  own  village 
and  said  too  much  bother  language. 

She  was  at  that  time  remove  all  her  silk  and  cotton  clothes,  rings, 
bracelets  to  her  own  house.  She  said  '  I  am  not  willing  to  go  Canton 
or  village  but  I  wish  go  back  my  house  use  needleworks  enjoy  the  days.' 

'  Bother  language '  is  distinctly  good  and  expressive 
from  the  husband's  point  of  view,  the  wife  might  describe 
what  she  said  in  different  language. 

Replete  as  the  Chinese  language  is  with  terms  of  direct 
and  indirect  address  graduated  to  different  degrees  of 
position  and  rank,  the  native  feels  the  want  of  such  terms 
in  the  English  language  and  supplies  the  deficiency  to  the 
best  of  his  ability.  Our  English  officials  receive  letters  and 
petitions  which  confer  such  an  exalted  status  on  them  as 
they  never  hoped  to  attain.  One  complaint  about  a 
subordinate  officer  addressed  to  a  higher  official,  after 
stating  the  subject  of  grievance,  goes  on  to  say,  '  should  the 
business  at  the  present  time  be  not  so  dull,  I  shall  not 
trouble  your  majesty,'  etc.,  etc. 

Another  letter  commences,  '  Most  Noble  Sir.' 

The  Chinese  lad  is  not  behind  his  European  or  American 
confrere  when  he  commences  to  describe,  in  his  own  unique 
and  expressive  language,  ideas  which  appear  tame  and 
commonplace  when  translated  and  transcribed  in  the 
language  of  his  elders.  A  Chinese  youth,  writing  on  the 
Emperor  of  China  taking  up  the  study  of  English, 
remarks : — '  I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  our  Emperor  is 
studying  English — it  will  enable  him  to  govern  more 
neatly,'  while  another  described  the  usual  light  refreshment 
at  a  clerical  meeting  as  an  '  Ecclesiastical  carousal.' 

But  confusion  gets  worse  confounded  when  our  half- 
instructed  Chinese  takes  the  role  of  a  preceptor  upon  him 
and  proceeds  to  teach  his  compatriots  English  as  he  fancies 
it  is  spoken  ;  then  it  is  veritably  a  barbarian  lingo.  The 
following  sentences  are  from  a  book  with  that  object  in 
view  : — 

251 


Things  Chinese 

4 1  cannot  Chinese  speak.'  4To  do  good  virtues  become  rich  and 
know.'  4  Diligent  learn  of  English  words  no  difficult.'  'He  himself 
no  have  got.'  4  Why  you  cannot  want  mistake.'  '  Fear  inside  have 
little  false.'  'Run  come  too  much  refuge.'  'Can  do  biting.'  'Ac- 
comulatc  bliss.'  'Accomulate  many,  confidentor,  etc.' 

Many  of  the  attempts,  however,  of  our  own  fellow- 
countrymen  to  speak  Chinese  (for  but  few  of  them  are  ever 
able  to  write  it)  might  call  forth  as  much  harmless  merri- 
ment from  John  Chinaman  as  his  attempts  to  write  our 
difficult  language  produce  in  us. 

Many  of  the  Chinese  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hongkong 
and  the  Treaty  Ports  have  evinced  a  great  desire  to  learn 
English,  as  the  Celestial  is  shrewd  enough  to  see  that  the 
potentialities  of  wealth  are  present  in  a  knowledge  of  the 
foreigner's  tongue  ;  but  of  late  years  the  desire  has  spread, 
and  the  Chinese  Government  itself  has  taken  the  movement 
under  its  fostering  care.  As  long  ago  even  as  1 896 — 

'  The  Peking  Government  .  .  .  issued  instructions  to  the  various 
Viceroys  and  Governors  of  the  Empire  to  establish  schools  for  the 
teaching  of  the  English  language  and  Western  sciences  in  all  the 
principal  cities  of  the  country.  According  to  the  wording  of  one 
clause  in  the  General  Instructions,  the  reason  for  this  was  that  China, 
in  order  to  keep  herself  on  terms  of  equality  and  in  touch  with  the 
Great  Powers  of  Europe,  "must  educate  the  masses  and  encourage 
inventive  genius  and  foreign  learning  amongst  her  people,  together 
with  that  love  for  country  and  home  and  that  devoted  patriotism  so 
conspicuously  ingrained  in  the  hearts  of  those  who  have  studied  such 
languages  and  sciences,"  etc.' 

The  sovereign  has  set  the  example  to  his  subjects  by 
himself  taking  lessons  in  English  in  his  palace,  and  the 
Empress  Dowager  as  well. 

ETIQUETTE. — The  Chinese  have  an  elaborate  system 
of  etiquette,  which  is  most  punctiliously  observed  on  state 
occasions  and  at  festivals,  and  on  the  whole  there  is  more 
polish  and  outward  politeness  than  is  common  with  English 
or  Americans ;  it  approaches  more  to  the  French  style. 
The  suavity  of  manner  and  urbanity  with  which  common 
street  coolies  address  one  another,  and  even  the  beggars,  is 
most  noticeable,  and  the  graciousness  with  which  the  boat- 
women  accost  each  other  when  shouting  orders  and  requests 

252 


Etiquette 

to  different  craft  in  the  intricate  navigation  of  the  crowded 
rivers,  is  most  pleasant  to  hear.  The  like  is  never 
seen  in  the  West,  though,  at  the  same  time,  should 
a  quarrel  arise,  the  choicest  'Billingsgate'  and  a  rare 
collection  of  obscene  epithets  is  employed,  these  latter 
taking  the  place  of  profane  oaths  in  the  West. 

We  cannot  call  it  with  mock,  because  it  is  with  real, 
solemnity  that  young  John  Chinaman  copies  his  elders  in 
his  ceremonious  observances,  especially  in  his  bows  at  New 
Year's  time,  performed  with  all  the  gravity  of  an  old 
man  with  the  weight  of  many  years  on  his  shoulders,  and 
the  full  sense  of  the  responsibility  of  a  due  and  right 
performance  of  all  the  rules  of  etiquette. 

Chinese  etiquette  has  many  points  quite  different 
from  English,  as  the  following  examples  will  show: — 

Scene, — A  breakfast  table  at  which  is  seated  a 
new  arrival  who  has  not  yet  spent  a  winter  in  Hong- 
kong. Enter  the  boy,  his  shaven  pate  graced  with 
the  usual  Chinese  winter  skullcap. 

The  foreigner  loquitur: — 'A-sam!  What  foh  you 
puttee  on  that  piecee  cap  come  waitee  table?  That 
no  b'long  plopah  ;  no  b'long  polite ! ' 

Answer  by  A-sam — 'O!  that  b'long  numbah  one 
plopah,  numbah  one  polite.  S'pose  you  see  Mis- 
tah 's  boy,  he  hab  got  cap  all  same  same.' 

More  than  forty  years  ago  a  party  of  six  young 
Englishmen  went  out  for  an  excursion  in  the  country 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  one  of  the  Treaty  Ports.  They 
were  entirely  ignorant  of  Chinese  etiquette  and  custom, 
and  while  walking  along  one  of  the  narrow  paths  at 
the  side  of  a  paddy-field,  they  met  an  old  man  carry- 
ing a  load,  whom  they  thought  very  rudely  insisted 
on  the  path  being  given  up  to  him  and  his  burden, 
until  he  had  passed  with  it.  They  pushed  him  out 
of  the  way,  and  struck  him  with  their  sticks  for  his 
rudeness,  entirely  unaware  that  they  were  the  offenders, 
and  gross  offenders  too.  The  path  being  narrow  and 
there  being  no  room  for  the  encumbered  and  the  un- 

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Things  Chinese 

encumbered  to  pass  at  the  same  time,  the  Chinese, 
with  commendable  common  -  sense  allow  the  burden- 
bearer  in  such  cases,  the  right  of  way,  while  the  un- 
encumbered, who  can  easily  step  off  the  way,  do  so ; 
those  carrying  a  lighter  weight  make  way  for  the  more 
heavily  laden,  as,  for  instance,  one  man  bearing  a  burden 
will  step  out  of  the  way  for  two  men  carrying  a 
sedan-chair.  In  this  case  the  foreigners  were  also 
guilty  of  disrespect  to  an  old  man,  whom  the  Chinese 
reverence — the  old  man  also  being  an  elder  of  the 
neighbouring  village,  further  increased  the  offence.  The 
villagers,  indignant  at  the  insult,  rose,  took  the  young 
Englishmen  into  custody,  and  avenged  their  wrongs 
by  putting  them  to  death,  after  some  days  of  imprison- 
ment 

The  Chinese  are  very  fond  of  sending  presents  as 
acknowledgments  of  favours  received.  They  often  con- 
sist of  a  multitude  of  different  articles  of  tasty  food, 
fruit,  or  tea,  etc.,  and  when  received  from  a  native, 
who  knows  nothing  of  foreign  customs,  a  selection  is 
only  intended  to  be  made  by  the  receiver.  An  acquain- 
tance of  ours  was  in  the  habit  of  keeping  the  whole 
assortment,  no  doubt  to  the  disgust  of  the  sender,  who 
also,  doubtless,  formed  a  very  low  opinion  of  the  greed 
and  rudeness  of  foreigners. 

We  here  give  a  few  unwritten  rules  of  Chinese 
etiquette,  which  will  serve  to  give  an  insight  into  the 
subject : — 

Standing. — In  standing,  stand  at  attention  with  or 
without  the  heels  touching  each  other,  and  the  hands 
down  at  the  sides.  Do  not  stand  at  ease  with  one 
foot  placed  at  right  angles  to  the  other;  nor  with  arms 
akimbo.  In  talking  to  a  man  in  a  position  superior 
to  yours  (such  as  a  high  official,  while  you  are  a  lower 
one),  do  not  keep  your  eyes  fixed  on  his,  but  let 
them  rest  on  the  button  on  the  lapel  of  his  coat  at 
his  left  breast,  only  occasionally  raising  them  to  his 
face. 

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Entering  a  Room. — In  entering  a  room  with  a  number 
of  persons  seated  in  it,  do  not  bow  to  each  separately  ; 
but  give  a  grave  bow  first  to  the  right,  then  to  the 
left.  If  a  particular  friend  of  yours  happens  to  be  in 
the  company,  he  is  at  liberty  to  advance  two  steps 
towards  you,  and  you,  in  like  manner,  may  advance 
two  steps  further  into  the  room,  each  then  saluting 
the  other  with  clasped  hands  and  a  bow. 

Sitting  down, — The  left  hand  is  the  place  of  honour. 
It  is  given  to  the  guest,  and  the  host  takes  the  right ; 
but  the  greatest  caution  is  necessary,  in  sitting  down, 
not  to  do  so  before  your  guest ;  and  if  either  should 
get  up,  or  even  rise  slightly,  the  other  must  follow 
suit  at  once.  It  is  most  amusing  to  see  how  Chinese 
visitors  bob  up  and  down  at  the  least  movement  of 
their  foreign  host.  Another  important  rule  is  never  to 
sit  while  any  one  else  who  is  your  equal  is  standing. 

Answers  to  Questions. — Like  the  French,  the  Chinese 
do  not  consider  it  always  polite  to  simply  answer  '  Yes ' 
or  'No,'  but  often  turn  the  interrogative  form  of  a 
question  into  the  affirmative,  using  the  same  words,  as 
far  as  possible,  in  the  reply  that  have  been  used  in 
the  question.  Foreigners  are  apt  to  think  that  Chinese 
are  boorish  when  they  answer  in  this  manner,  but 
they  are  only  acting  in  accordance  with  their  code  of 
politeness. 

Enquiries  as  to  Age,  etc. — It  is  not  considered  rude 
for  a  Chinese  to  make  most  particular  enquiries  as 
to  a  stranger's  personal  affairs.  In  fact,  the  making 
of  such  enquiries  often  evinces  great  politeness.  '  How 
old  are  you  ? '  '  Are  you  married  ? '  '  How  much  money 
do  you  make  a  year  ? '  '  Where  are  you  going  ? '  '  What 
are  you  going  to  do  ? '  '  How  much  did  you  pay  for 
this  ? '  These  questions  and  others  of  the  same 
character  are  constantly  on  a  Chinaman's  lips. 

Dunning. — It  is  not  considered  polite  to  ask  a  man, 
whom  you  may  meet  in  the  street,  for  a  debt  due 
by  him  to  you.  One  of  the  most  polite  forms  in 

255 


Things  Chinese 

which  to  request  repayment  is  to  ask  your  debtor  for 
a  loan  of  money  for  your  own  use. 

Noises,  etc. — Guttural  sounds,  hawking,  clearing  the 
throat,  spitting,  using  the  fingers  to  blow  the  nose,  and 
eructations,  arc  not  necessarily  considered  impolite  by 
the  Chinese.  It  must  be  remembered  that  they  look 
upon  such  things  in  quite  a  different  way  from  what 
we  do  nowadays.  We  say  nowadays,  for  it  is  not 
more  than  a  few  centuries  ago  that  a  book  was  pub- 
lished in  England  containing,  among  other  things, 
directions  how  to  blow  the  nose  neatly  with  the  fingers. 
But  we  will  not  offer  any  more  remarks  on  such  a 
nauseating  subject. 

Want  of  Dress, — A  Chinese  official  will  not  allow  his 
chair-bearers  to  carry  him  in  the  half-naked  manner  which 
the  Chinese  coolie  so  delights  in.  The  Mercantile  classes 
and  others  are  not  particular  in  this  respect. 

Spectacles. — It  is  considered  impolite  to  wear  spectacles 
before  a  guest  or  superior.  A  short-sighted  man  must  be 
ready  to  submit  to  any  amount  of  awkwardness  rather 
than  infringe  this  rule  of  etiquette.  It  is  very  amusing  to 
see  a  witness  in  a  Court  of  Justice  looking  at  some  docu- 
ment which  he  is  unable  to  see  properly,  not  daring  to 
put  on  his  glasses  lest  it  should  be  construed  into  a  sign 
of  disrespect  to  the  judge,  perhaps  mildly  saying  he  is 
short-sighted,  but  in  other  cases  never  giving  a  hint  that 
he  cannot  see  properly  without  putting  them  on.  If  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  something  should  be  looked  at, 
and  an  apology  having  been  offered,  or  permission  having 
been  given  to  put  them  on,  they  must  be  taken  off  as  soon 
as  possible  afterwards.  Some  even  hesitate  to  put  them 
on  when  told  to  do  so. 

Hats. — There  are  great  differences  in  Chinese  hats, 
some  may,  or  rather  must,  be  tolerated  in  a  room  or  house, 
and  others  under  no  consideration  whatever.  The  common 
skullcap  with  a  red  or  black  knotted  knob  (or  blue  if  the 
wearer  is  in  mourning)  is  au  fait.  It  should  be  worn  in 
winter,  in-doors  or  out,  and  is  only  dispensed  with  in 

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summer  for  the  same  reason  that  Indian  judges  do  not 
wear  wigs  in  that  country.  The  official  hat,  with  the 
button  indicative  of  the  rank  of  the  wearer,  is  dress,  and  is 
hastily  donned  to  receive  a  visitor ;  neither  do  the  official 
hats  of  the  mandarins'  servants  need  to  be  removed  on 
entering  a  house ;  but  the  case  differs  in  toto  when  we 
come  to  the  ordinary  rain  and  sun-hats,  whether  they  are 
as  large  in  size  as  an  umbrella,  or  only  about  the  size  of  a 
gong,  or  the  small  conical  ones  worn  by  the  native  soldiers 
and  coolies,  like  those  provided  for  the  Chinese  policemen 
in  Hongkong.  The  same  holds  good  of  the  felt  hats  used 
in  winter  by  coolies  and  tradesmen,  etc.  Hoods  also 
should  not  be  kept  on  inside  one's  house.  If  the  hat  is 
only  of  the  right  kind,  it  is  politeness  for  a  Chinese 
gentleman  to  put  it  on  to  receive  his  guest;  to  appear 
bareheaded  before  a  visitor  is  considered  impolite. 

Queue. — Unless  the  nature  of  his  work,  such  as  carrying 
a  chair  or  washing  the  floor,  requires,  or  makes  it  convenient 
for  his  queue  to  be  wound  in  a  coil  round  his  neck  or 
shoulders,  or  to  be  done  up  in  any  fashion  in  a  bunch  at 
the  top  or  back  of  his  head,  no  Chinese  servant  or  inferior 
ought  ever  to  appear  so  before  his  master  or  superior,  but 
the  queue  should  always  hang  down  behind. 

Finger-Nails. — Long  finger-nails  are  not  considered  a 
sign  of  dirtiness,  but  of  respectability,  and  of  being  above 
manual  labour,  which,  if  necessary,  would  of  course 
prevent  them  from  attaining  such  length  as  an  inch  and  a 
half,  two  inches,  or  even  three,  though  it  is  seldom  one  sees 
them  all  of  equal  length  on  all  the  fingers.  It  is  well  that 
such  is  the  case,  as  two  or  three  on  one  or  both  hands  give 
such  a  claw-like  appearance  to  the  fingers  as  to  make  them 
sufficiently  repulsive ;  fortunately  hand-shaking  is  not  in 
vogue  in  China,  as  it  would  be  extremely  unpleasant  to 
feel  the  long  talons  gripping  one's  hand. 

Shaking  Hands. — A  Chinese  clasps  his  two  hands 
together  and  moves  them  up  and  down  a  few  inches  in 
front  of  himself  several  times.  When  excessively  polite 
they  are  raised  up  as  high  as  his  forehead,  while  he  makes 

257  R 


Things  Chinese 

a  profound  bow.  Ladies  do  not  do  this,  but  clutch  the  left- 
hand  sleeve  with  the  right  hand,  and  imitate  the  same 
motion. 

Handing  Things. — Both  hands  are  used  to  pass  any- 
thing, therefore  a  Chinese  is  not  to  be  considered  clumsy 
who  hands  any  small  articles,  such  as  a  cup  of  tea,  in  this 
manner :  it  would  be  thought  the  height  of  rudeness  to  do 
otherwise,  for  it  would  evince  an  unwillingness  to  take  the 
little  trouble  necessary.  The  same  rule  of  etiquette  is 
observed  in  receiving  anything  from  anyone. 

Meals. — At  meals  men  and  women  never  eat  together, 
unless  the  women  are  bad  characters,  even  a  husband  and 
a  wife  should  take  their  meals  separately.  This  is  the 
strict  rule,  but  it  is  occasionally  more  honoured  in  the 
breach  than  in  the  observance.  The  children,  or  younger 
members  of  the  family,  wait  till  the  grown-up  people  are 
seated,  the  latter  nod  an  assent  to  'a  show  of  asking 
permission  to  eat.'  Each  one  has  his  own  bowl  of  rice, 
and  he  picks  up  pieces  of  meat  and  vegetables,  etc.,  from 
the  common  dishes  in  the  centre  of  the  table,  but  it  is 
considered  polite  only  to  help  oneself  from  the  side  of  the 
dish  nearest  to  one. 

After  each  meal  it  is  the  custom  to  wipe  the  face  and 
hands  with  a  wet  cloth  wrung  out  of  hot  water.  In  the 
family  circle  each  one  will  leave  the  table  and  do  this 
washing ;  but  at  a  dinner  party  the  servants  will  bring  a 
cloth,  so  wrung  out,  to  each  diner,  a  separate  one  being 
given  to  each  if  the  guests  and  hosts  are  not  very  familiar, 
otherwise  the  same  cloth  may  be  used.  In  the  Chit-kong 
province  (where  Soochow  is)  the  same  basin  and  cloth  are 
used,  as  it  shows  that  they  are  brotherly. 

One  having  finished  may  ask  the  others  to  'eat 
leisurely,'  which  is  the  equivalent  of  saying  '  excuse  me,' 
and  he  is  then  at  liberty  to  leave  the  table.  It  is  etiquette 
to  remain  sitting  at  meals  till  all  have  finished,  but,  in  the 
event  of  urgent  business,  etc.,  demanding  one's  attention, 
a  guest  may,  before  the  others  have  finished,  lay  his  chop- 
sticks across  his  empty  bowl,  this  being  an  indication  of 

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Etiquette 

his  desire  to  leave ;  the  host  on  observing  it,  lifts  them 
down,  places  them  on  the  table  and  says  '  ho  hang '  (which 
is  equivalent  to  our  '  good-bye,'  though  it  really  has  the 
meaning,  if  freely  rendered,  of  I  hope  you  will  have  a  safe 
walk  ')  to  the  guest,  who  is  then  free  to  depart. 

The  above  form  of  procedure  takes  place  with  strangers, 
or  when  everybody  is  on  their  best  behaviour ;  for,  though 
it  is  incumbent  on  all  to  sit  down  together  at  the  same  time 
to  their  meals,  it  is  unnecessary,  in  unceremonious  inter- 
course, that  all  should  rise  at  the  same  time.  At  formal 
dinners  or  meals,  however,  the  host  cannot  leave  the  table 
till  he  sees  that  all  his  guests,  having  all  finished,  wish  to 
do  so. 

VISITING — Tea  Drinking. — The  etiquette  about  tea 
drinking  in  connection  with  paying  visits  is  curious. 
When  paying  a  visit  to  an  official,  if  a  servant  should 
bring  in  a  cup  of  tea,  there  is  no  necessity  to  take  any 
particular  notice  of  it ;  allow  the  servant  to  put  it  down 
where  he  likes  near  you,  and  continue  your  conversation 
with  the  mandarin.  Should,  however,  he  consider  you  a 
good  friend,  or,  even  in  the  case  of  a  first  call,  should  he 
desire  to  treat  you  with  great  respect,  or  evince  his  great 
pleasure  at  seeing  you,  he  may  hand  you  the  cup  of  tea 
with  his  own  hands.  In  such  circumstances  it  is  incumbent 
upon  you  to  rise  to  your  feet  and  take  it  from  his  two  hands 
with  both  of  yours. 

A  cup  of  tea  in  an  official  call  (be  you  either  a  civilian 
calling  on  an  official,  or  even  if  you  are  both  officials)  is 
destined  to  play  an  important  part.  Your  business  over, 
or  your  conversation  done,  you  invite  your  host  to  drink 
tea  (ts'ing  ch'a),  which  he  thereupon  proceeds  to  do  with 
you,  and  the  visit  is  over.  Should  you,  however,  be  taxing 
the  patience  of  your  host  by  overstaying  your  welcome,  or 
should  a  pressure  of  business  make  it  necessary  for  him 
to  shorten  the  call  as  much  as  possible,  he  begins  to 
touch  the  cup  with  his  fingers,  expecting  you  to  take  the 
hint.  Are  you  such  an  obtuse  individual  that  hints  are 
entirely  lost  upon  you  ?  Then  he  may  sometimes — though 

259 


Things  Chinese 

it  is  not  quite  the  correct  thing  for  him  to  do  so — give  you 
the  invitation  to  take  tea  with  him,  when  you  will  have  to 
retire,  feeling  mortified  at  having  transgressed  the  rules  of 
politeness,  and  at  being  treated  with  rudeness  in  return.  It 
must  be  remembered,  however,  that  this  tea  is  never  to  be 
touched  until  it  is  time  to  go.  These  rules  as  to  the  cong/dv 
not  hold  good  with  people  who  are  not  officials. 

Marks  of  Friendliness. — When  seeing  a  mandarin  in 
his  hall  for  transacting  business,  should  he  invite  you  into 
his  private  apartments,  then  any  subjects  can  be  discussed, 
and  any  amount  of  freedom,  consistent,  of  course,  with 
self-respect,  may  be  enjoyed  ;  coats  even  may  be  thrown 
off  till  a  state  approaching  nearly  to  the  inpuris  naturalibus, 
so  congenial  to  the  Chinese  in  hot  weather,  is  arrived  at. 

Whispering. — The  Chinese  mode  of  using  the  hand  to 
cover  the  mouth  when  whispering  to  anyone  is  different 
from  the  Western  style  ;  for,  instead  of  simply  covering  the 
mouth  with  the  hand  spread  open,  the  fingers  of  the  hand 
are  bent  towards  each  other  just  as  if  a  very  large  orange 
were  being  held  in  the  hand,  and  in  a  position  midway 
between  a  clenched  fist  and  an  open  hand.  The  ends 
of  the  fingers  are  put  close  up  to  the  mouth,  or  touching 
the  lips,  thus  muffling  the  sound.  This  muffling  is  intensified 
if  it  is  cold  weather  and  a  number  of  sleeves  come  over  the 

hand. 

Beckoning. — In  beckoning,  the  Chinese  do  not  use  one 
finder  pointed  upwards  and  curved  towards  one,  as  we  do  ; 
but  the  hand  is  reversed,  the  fingers  hanging  down  and  the 
whole  hand  is  used  to  beckon  towards  one  with  a  sweeping 
motion,  in  a  most  energetic  manner. 

Names. — A  curious  rule  holds  good  with  regard  to 
names  in  a  family :  it  is  against  Chinese  etiquette  to 
name  a  child  after  his  father  or  grandfather,  in  fact 
the  name  of  any  member  of  a  former  generation  must 
not  be  used  by  a  descendant.  The  Peking  Gazette 
some  years  since  contained  an  application  forwarded  by  the 
Viceroy  of  Canton  from  General  Hsieh  Hung-chang  to  be 
allowed  to  alter  his  name  to  Hsieh  Te-lung,  as  it  had  been 

260 


Etiquette 

discovered  from  his  family  register  that  a  remote  ancestor 
of  his  had  a  name  identical  with  his  own. 

Wives. — The  way  in  which  a  Chinese  treats  a  wife  is, 
according  to  our  Western  ideas,  peculiar.  One  or  two 
instances  of  it  have  already  been  noticed.  It  is  not 
amongst  many  Chinese  considered  a  proper  thing  to 
write  a  letter  to  one's  wife  if  absent  from  home.  The 
family  idea  comes  into  play  here  as  it  does  in  so  many 
matters  connected  with  Chinese  social  and  domestic  life. 
The  man's  mother  is  the  head  of  the  family  when  he  is 
away  from  the  '  family  house.'  What  then,  according  to 
this  Chinese  way  of  looking  at  things,  more  natural  and 
proper  than  that  he  should  write  to  his  mother?  The 
next  best  thing  is  to  write  to  his  son,  though  an  infant, 
or  even  to  his  daughter,  for  all  signs  of  affection  between 
husband  and  wife  are  to  be  deprecated,  not  that  such 
indications  are  simply  bad  form,  but  they  are  looked 
upon  as  even  indelicate.  Failing  any  proper  person 
to  send  his  letter  to,  the  Chinese  may  send  to  the 
one  whom  the  Englishman  would  think  first  of  all  of 
writing  to ;  even  in  this  case,  however,  the  letter  must 
not  be  addressed  on  the  cover  to  his  wife  though  it  may 
be  inside,  but  the  envelope  is  directed  '  To  be  handed  to 
the  family.'  Some  of  the  Chinese  are  better  than  their 
rules  of  etiquette  or  propriety,  and  write  direct  to  the  wife, 
even  if  there  be  a  mother  or  child.  A  wife  again  in  writing 
to  her  husband  does  so  in  the  name  of  a  son,  or  failing  a 
son,  of  a  daughter. 

The  following  extract  will  show  how  incongruous  the 
Western  and  Eastern  codes  of  etiquette  are  : — 

'  Foreign  ignorance  of  the  customs  of  the  Chinese  is  another 
cause  of  a  feeling  of  superiority  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese.  That 
anyone  should  be  ignorant  of  what  they  have  always  known,  seems 
to  them  to  be  almost  incredible.  Many  Chinese  unconsciously  adopt 
toward  foreigners  an  air  of  amused  interest,  combined  with 
depreciation,  like  that  which  Mr.  Littimer  regarded  David  Copperfield, 
as  if  mentally  saying  perpetually,  "  So  young,  sir,  so  young  !".... 
There  are  multitudes  of  details  in  regard  to  social  matters, 
of  which  one  must  necessarily  be  ignorant,  for  the  reason  that  he 
has  never  heard  of  them,  and  there  must  be  a  first  time  for  every 
acquisition.  .  .  .  Inability  to  conform  to  Chinese  ideas  and  ideals, 

26l 


Things  Chinese 

in  ceremony,  as  well  as  what  we  consider  more  important  matters, 
causes  the  Chinese  to  feel  a  thinly  disguised  contempt  for  a  race 
whom  they  think  will  not  and  cannot  be  made  to  understand 
"propriety."  It  is  not  that  a  foreigner  cannot  make  a  bow,  but  he 
generally  finds  it  hard  to  make  a  Chinese  bow  in  a  Chinese  way, 
and  the  difficulty  is  as  much  moral  as  physical.  The  foreigner  feels 
a  contempt  for  the  code  of  ceremonials,  often  frivolous  in  their 
appearance,  and  he  has  no  patience,  if  he  has  the  capacity,  to  spend 
twenty  minutes  in  a  polite  scuffle,  the  termination  of  which  is  fore- 
seen by  both  sides  with  absolute  certainty.  The  foreigner  does  not 
wish  to  spend  his  time  in  talking  empty  nothings  for  "an  old  half 
day."  To  him,  time  is  money,  but  it  is  very  far  from  being  so  to  a 
Chinese,  for  in  China  everyone  has  an  abundance  of  time,  and  very 
few  have  any  money.  No  Chinese  has  ever  yet  learned  that  when  he 
kills  time,  it  is  well  to  make  certain  that  it  is  the  time  which  belongs 
to  him,  and  not  that  of  some  one  else.' 

'  With  this  predisposition  to  dispense  as  much  as  possible  with 
superfluous  ceremony  because  it  is  distasteful,  and  because  the  time 
which  it  involves  can  be  used  more  agreeably  in  other  ways,  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  foreigner,  even  in  his  own  eyes,  makes  but  a  poor 
figure  in  comparison  with  a  ceremonious  Chinese.  Compare  the 
dress,  bearings,  and  action  of  a  Chinese  official,  with  long  flowing 
robes  and  graceful  motions,  with  the  awkward  genuflections  of  his 
foreign  visitor.  It  requires  all  the  native  politeness  of , the  Chinese 
to  prevent  them  from  laughing  outright  at  the  contrast.  In  this 
connection  it  must  be  noted  that  nothing  contributes  so  effectively 
to  the  instinctive  Chinese  contempt  for  the  foreigner,  as  the  evident 
disregard  which  the  latter  feels  for  that  official  display  so  dear  to  the 
Oriental.  What  must  have  been  the  inner  thought  of  the  Chinese  who 
were  told  that  they  were  to  behold  the  "great  American  Emperor,"  and 
who  saw  General  Grant  in  citizen's  costume  with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth, 
walking  along  the  open  street  ?  Imagine  a  foreign  Consul,  who  ranks 
with  a  Chinese  Taot'ai,  making  a  journey  to  a  provincial  capital  to 
interview  the  Governor,  in  order  to  settle  an  international  dispute. 
Thousands  are  gathered  on  the  city  wall  to  watch  the  procession  of 
the  great  foreign  magnate,  a  procession  which  is  found  to  consist  of 
two  carts  and  riding  horses,  the  attendants  of  the  Consul  being  an 
Interpreter,  a  Chinese  acting  as  messenger  (t'ing  ch'ai),  and  another 
as  cook  !  Is  it  any  wonder  that  Orientals  gazing  on  such  a  scene 
should  look  with  a  curiosity  which  changes  first  to  indifference, 
and  then  to  contempt  ? ' 

Books  recommended. — Some  interesting  papers  have  appeared  lately  in 
the  Chinese  Recorder  for  1898,  entitled  'Notes  on  Chinese  Etiquette,'  by 
Rev.  O.  G.  Warren. 

EURASIANS. — The  children  of  European  fathers  by 
Asiatic  mothers,  or  vice  versd,  are,  by  a  union  of  the  first 
syllables  of  both  words,  called  Eurasians.  Some  dress  in 
the  foreign  style  and  some  in  the  native :  the  former  look 
more  like  their  Chinese  mothers  than  their  fathers  ;  the 

262 


Eurasians 

latter  look  very  white  and  foreign-like.  Their  eyes  are 
generally  black,  though  the  results  of  the  second  and  third 
generations  of  such  alliances  are  often  very  fair,  have 
brownish  hair,  and  occasionally  lighter-coloured  eyes.  The 
union  of  the  two  bloods  seems,  as  far  as  the  men  are  con- 
cerned, to  produce  a  more  sprightly  race  than  the  Chinese, 
and  one  whose  organs  of  speech  are  better  adapted  to 
pronounce  English  than  those  of  pure  Chinese  breed  ;  for 
it  is  a  very  rare  thing  for  a  Chinese  to  speak  English  accu- 
rately, though  he  may  have  resided  for  years  in  England, 
as  rare  almost  as  for  an  Englishman  to  speak  Chinese  like 
a  native,  though  he  may  have  lived  for  years  in  China. 
Some  of  the  girls  who  have  a  preponderance  of  English 
blood  in  them  are  very  pretty  and  fair.  Unfortunately  the 
majority  of  the  daughters  are  brought  up  to  lead  an 
immoral  life,  and  sold  like  slaves  into  it. 

There  is  a  Eurasian  school  in  Shanghai,  a  great  number 
of  the  children  in  the  Diocesan  Home  and  Orphanage  in 
Hongkong  belong  to  the  same  class,  and  there  are  a  very 
large  number  of  them  in  the  Government  Central  School 
(now  called  Queen's  College)  in  the  same  Colony.  They  are 
drafted  from  these  establishments  into  the  lawyer's  and 
other  offices,  where  they  make  very  useful  clerks  and 
interpreters,  from  their  knowledge  of  both  Chinese  and 
English. 

It  is  not  all  the  half-castes  that  come  under  this  class, 
as  numbers  of  them  are  swallowed  up  under  the  name  of 
Portuguese.  This,  in  the  Far  East,  is  not  restricted  alone 
to  those  worthy  of  that  name,  but  is  used  to  designate  all, 
who,  having  some  drops  of  foreign  blood  in  their  veins, 
elect  to  call  themselves  such,  dress  in  foreign  clothes,  and 
talk  a  smattering  of  the  patois  glorified  with  the  name  of 
Portuguese.  But  this,  in  reality,  is  a  sort  of  pidgin- 
Portuguese,  and  not  understood  by  new  arrivals  from 
Portugal,  who  require  an  interpreter  to  explain  it  to  them. 
Macaoese  would  be  a  better  term,  as  the  majority  of  them 
are  either  born  in  Macao  or  have  descended  from  residents 
in  that  city.  They  are  of  all  shades  of  colour,  and  their 

263 


Things  Chinese 

complexions  show  traces  of  Indian  (Goa),  Chinese, 
Japanese,  and  European  ancestry  in  all  degrees  of  pro- 
portion. The  mercantile  offices  are  full  of  them.  They 
write  a  good  hand,  and  act  as  clerks,  but  seldom  rise  to 
any  position  of  great  trust  and  confidence.  They  work 
as  a  rule  for  a  mere  pittance,  and  the  poorer  classes 
herd  together  after  the  manner  of  Chinese.  A  very  few 
are  engaged  as  merchants  in  business. 

EXAMINATIONS.— We  have  treated  of  the  end  and 
aim  of  education  in  China  in  a  former  article  (See  Article 
on  Education).  It  now  falls  to  our  lot  to  write  more  fully 
of  the  final  step  to  this  goal,  namely,  the  system  of  Civil 
Service  examinations  in  China.  In  the  matter  of  com- 
petitive examinations,  the  Chinese  present  one  of  those 
unique  spectacles  which  are  alike  the  wonder,  as  well  as 
the  admiration,  of  those  who  understand  them. 

In  this  strange  land  there  has  been  in  vogue  for 
centuries,  and  even  millenniums,  a  system  of  examinations, 
which,  originally  started  with  testing  the  ability  of  those 
already  in  office,  has  gradually  widened  in  scope  till  at 
this  time  it  is  all-embracing  in  point  of  geographical  extent, 
and  is  the  test  of  ability  which  all  have  to  undergo  who 
desire  admission  into  the  Civil  Service  of  this  immense 
empire  with  its  thousands  of  officials ;  with  this  end  in 
view,  boys  are  incited  to  learn  their  lessons  and  be  diligent ; 
with  this  aim,  men  pursue  their  weary  course  of  study, 
year  in  and  year  out,  till  white  hairs  replace  the  black,  and 
the  shoulders,  which  at  first  merely  aped  the  scholarly 
stoop,  eventually  bend  beneath  the  weight  of  years  of  toil. 
No  other  country  in  the  world  presents  the  curious  sight 
of  grandfather,  father,  and  even  son,  competing  at  the  same 
time.  Failures  seem  only  to  spur  on  to  renewed  trials, 
until,  after  many  times  having  formed  a  unit  amongst  the 
annual  two  millions  that  pass  through  one  or  other  of  the 
ordeals  of  this  gigantic  examination  scheme,  the  old  man 
of  seventy  or  eighty,  who  has  been  unfortunate  enough  not 
to  appear  among  the  small  percentage  of  one  or  two  out 

264 


Examinations 

of  a  hundred,  that  is  allowed  to  pass,  finally  attracts 
Imperial  notice,  and,  as  an  honour,  and  the  meed  of  his 
untiring  perseverance  and  indefatigable  toil,  receives  the 
coveted  reward. 

The  scheme  is  widespread  as  the  empire :  every  petty 
district  city  even  has  its  Examination  Hall,  where  the 
initial  trials  are  conducted  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Imperial  Chancellor,  a  sub-chancellor  being  in  residence, 
who  subjects  the  candidates  to  a  preliminary  examination. 
Out  of  the  two  thousand  or  so,  only  twenty  of  the  best 
receive  the  degree  which  the  Chinese  term  'Siii-ts'ai,' 
meaning  '  budding  genius,'  but  which  for  convenience  is 
generally  termed  by  foreigners  the  B.A.,  though,  except  for 
the  analogy  of  being  the  first  degree  obtained  in  both  East 
and  West,  there  is  scarcely  any  point  of  similarity,  and  so 
it  is  throughout  the  whole  series  of  degrees.  An  original 
poem  and  one  or  two  essays  by  each  candidate  on  the 
subjects  assigned  to  them  are  the  exercises  of  this  ex- 
amination. A  night  and  a  day  are  spent  in  their  produc- 
tion. The  results  to  the  successful  student  are  as  follows  : 
— no  office,  or  appointment,  but  admission  is  granted  him 
into  the  charmed  circle  of  those  who  are  entitled  to  wear 
the  lowest  grade  of  gold  button  on  the  tops  of  their  hats, 
and  who  are  protected  '  from  corporal  punishment ;  it 
raises  him  above  the  common  people,  renders  him  a  con- 
spicuous man  in  his  native  place,  and  eligible  to  enter  the 
triennial  examination  for  the  second  degree,'  held  in  the 
provincial  capital,  the  successful  candidates  at  which  take 
the  .second  degree,  styled  the  '  Chli-jin,'  or  '  promoted 
scholar,'  or  M.A.  This  examination  lasts  through  '  three 
sessions  of  nearly  three  days  each.'  The  examiners  are 
the  Imperial  Commissioner  and  ten  provincial  officers. 
Some  six  thousand,  more  or  less,  according  to  the  size  of 
the  province,  enter  for  this  examination.  Essays  in  prose 
and  verse  are  required,  but,  of  course,  there  is  much  more 
given  to  be  done,  and  a  higher  style  is  required  than  in 
the  former,  and  much  strictness  is  exercised  with  regard 
to  the  slightest  errors  in  the  essays.  The  small  percentage 

265 


Things  Chinese 

that  pass  still  get  no  appointment,  nor  office,  but  rise  higher 
in  the  public  estimation,  wear  a  higher  grade  of  gilt  button, 
when  in  dress,  and  put  a  board  over  the  front  doors  of 
their  houses  with  the  mystic  characters  '  Promoted  Men,' 
as  well  as  the  date  of  attaining  this  distinction.  One  step 
more  entitles  the  scholar  to  eventually  obtain  office.  This 
next  higher  degree  is  taken  at  Peking.  It  is  termed  '  Tsun- 
sz,'  or  '  Entered  Scholar,'  or  LL.D.  Lots  are  drawn  for 
vacant  posts,  and  the  successful  candidate  may,  perchance, 
begin  his  official  career  as  a  district  magistrate. 

Another  degree  may,  however,  be  taken,  success  in  the 
examination  for  which  entitles  to  admission  to  the  Hanlin 
College.  The  members  of  this  College  are  '  constituted 
poets  and  historians  to  the  Celestial  Court,  or  deputed  to 
act  as  Chancellors  and  Examiners  in  the  several  provinces.' 
The  highest  on  the  list,  after  two  special  examinations  in 
the  Emperor's  palace  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Emperor 
himself,  is  styled  the  '  Chuang-yuen '  or  '  Laureate.' 

This  then  is  a  rough  sketch  of  this  wonderful  system  ; 
the  details  of  which,  as  regards  the  subsidiary  examinations, 
might  be  filled  in  at  great  length.  Enough  has  been 
written  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  system  as  a  whole,  but 
it  is  difficult  to  describe  the  enthusiasm  which  pervades  the 
whole  country  with  regard  to  the  examinations.  Con- 
gratulations are  showered  on  the  successful  students  ;  they 
dine  with  the  highest  officials  after  the  event,  and  the 
Emperor  himself  entertains  the  most  celebrated  of  all.  It 
is  naturally  to  be  expected  that  the  family  of  the  successful 
candidate  should  feel  honoured,  but  those  who  take  the 
highest  honours  are  looked  upon  as  conferring  distinction 
on  their  native  places  ;  and  it  is  quite  a  sight,  on  going 
through  a  Chinese  City,  to  see  the  red  boards,  with  gilt 
characters,  placed  over  certain  doors,  proclaiming  to  all 
passers-by  the  degree,  or  degrees,  taken  by  the  inmates, 
separate  boards  being  used  for  those  who  have  taken  the 
higher  positions,  such  as  senior  tripos,  etc.,  in  each  re- 
spective examination.  On  the  blank  walls  of  the  fronts 
of  the  houses  will  often  also  be  seen  large  yellow  or  red 

266 


Examinations 

papers  with  red  or  yellow  letters  on  them  ;  for  it  is 
customary  when  any  one  has  been  successful  at  an  examina- 
tion to  send  a  poster  with  large  characters  on  it  announcing 
to  all  one's  friends  and  relatives  the  fact.  For  examina- 
tions at  which  one  has  been  successful  in  the  provinces,  red 
paper  is  used  with  yellow  characters,  but  for  those  held  in 
Peking  yellow  paper  with  red  characters  is  used. 

Besides  the  legitimate  interest  taken  in  these  literary 
contests,  they  form  the  Goodwoods  and  Derbys  of  China  ; 
for  not  only  is  the  news  of  success  spread  far  and  wide  as  fast 
as  swift  messengers,  rapid  boats,  and  fleet  couriers  can  carry 
it  to  waiting  friends  and  expectant  relatives  ;  but  it  is  as 
eagerly  received  by  utter  strangers,  who,  having  staked  on 
the  issue,  are  in  excitement  to  know  the  result. 

Like  everything  Chinese,  these  trials  of  literary  skill  of 
the  future  governors  of  the  people  are  held  in  far  different 
surroundings  from  what  a  Westerner  would  expect.  The 
buildings  cover  a  large  extent  of  ground,  that  in  Canton 
occupies  1 6  acres.  After  the  main  entrance  (which  is 
within  the  entrance  of  the  outside  wall)  is  passed,  a  broad 
avenue  leads  up  to  a  congeries  of  buildings  for  the  use  of 
the  Examiners  and  others  connected  with  them  and  their 
work.  On  each  side  of  this  main  avenue  are  narrow  lanes, 
giving  access  to  the  8,653  ce^s  m  which  the  students  are 
confined.  These  cells  are  5  feet  9  inches  by  3  feet  8 
inches  wide,  their  height  being  a  trifle  over  that  of  a  man. 
There  are  two  grooves  in  the  walls  for  two  planks ;  one 
forms  a  table,  the  other  a  seat  for  the  solitary  student  shut 
up  in  each  cell.  It  is  a  species  of  imprisonment,  no 
communication  being  allowed  with  the  candidates,  under 
penalty  of  severe  punishment.  They  enter  the  Examination 
Hall  with  provisions,  fuel,  candles,  bedding,  and  writing 
materials,  being  searched  to  see  that  no  '  cribs,'  or  other 
means  of  assisting  their  labour,  are  smuggled  in,  it  being 
the  constant  practice  for  some  to  do  this  :  a  specially  small 
miniature  edition  of  the  classics  is  printed  for  the  purpose 
and  secreted  about  the  person.  The  confinement  must  be 
irksome  and  disagreeable  in  the  extreme:  deaths 

267 


Things  Chinese 

occasionally  occur  from  excitement,  the  privations  and 
exposure  being  greater  than  old  age  can  endure.  In  other 
places  the  Examination  Hall  is  not  of  the  same  construction. 
The  author  visited  one  in  the  district  city  of  Kit  Yong, 
near  Swatow,  where  the  students  had  long  forms  and 
tables  provided  for  them.  In  the  departmental  city  of 
Ch'aii-chau-fu,  the  Examination  Hall  is  fitted  up  in  a 
similar  manner,  judging  from  the  peep  into  it  from  outside 
which  the  writer  had. 

The  Chinese  have  been  wise  in  thus  giving  the  people 
a  share  in  their  own  government,  nor  is  it  in  the  way  of 
pandering  to  the  democracy  ;  but  it  is  bestowed  as  a  right 
on  those  who  are  fitted  for  it  by  an  education,  which, 
though  not  on  a  par  with  a  modern  Western  course  of  study, 
is  by  no  means  to  be  despised  when  compared  with  that  in 
vogue  in  Europe  a  few  centuries  since.  Thus  ambitious 
spirits  have  a  career  open  before  them,  which  may  lead 
them  up  to  the  very  foot  of  the  throne  itself ;  the  extra 
exuberance  of  youth  is  toned  down  by  a  course  of  study 
which  must  have  a  great  effect  in  producing  the  grave  and 
reverend  seniors,  which  Chinese  mandarins  are.  It  pro- 
duces likewise  a  conservative  element,  as  it  is  to  the 
interest  of  the  whole  body  of  literati  to  conserve  the 
existing  polity  and  resist  all  violent  change  which  might 
overthrow  their  position  and  prospects.  For  this  reason,  if 
for  no  other,  progress  in  China  will  be  comparatively  slow, 
and  probably  none  the  less  sure  on  account  of  its  slowness. 
China  has  also  by  this  admirable  plan — admirable,  taken 
as  a  whole,  alike  in  its  conception,  development,  and 
working — prevented  herself  from  being  overburdened  by 
an  aristocracy,  with  all  its  concomitant  evils,  which,  had  it 
existed,  would,  as  in  most  European  countries,  have 
monopolised  all  that  was  worth  having  in  the  government, 
until  driven  inch  by  inch  from  its  unfair  position — a  work 
long  in  operation,  and  difficult  of  accomplishment. 

Here  then  is  a  mighty  system,  complete  in  all  its  details, 
ready,  as  soon  as  Western  science  takes  a  fair  grasp  of 
the  nation,  to  be  used  as  a  means  of  disseminating 

268 


Examinations 

scientific  knowledge  and  methods  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land,  as  well  as  literary  style  and  polish. 
Some  faint  indications  that  such  may  eventually  be  its 
function  have  already  been  given. 

Besides  the  literary  examinations,  military  examinations 
for  officers  of  the  army  are  held,  in  which  skill  in  gymnastic 
exercises,  such  as  lifting  heavy  weights  and  shooting  with 
bows  and  arrows,  are  the  tests  required.  But  the  Chinese 
have  shown  their  wisdom  in  considering  warlike  exercises 
as  far  inferior  to  literary  ability  :  military  officers,  as  com- 
pared with  civil  functionaries,  are  despised,  and  under  the 
heading  of  military  officers  are  included  naval  officers  as 
well. 

Of  late  years,  as  has  been  remarked  above,  there  has 
been  a  tendency  to  introduce  a  few  mathematical  and 
other  questions  at  some  of  the  centres  of  examination,  and 
this  attempt  to  employ  Western  knowledge  culminated  in 
an  edict  by  the  Emperor  Kwong  Sui,  dated  the  23rd  of 
June  1898,  directing  that  at  the  literary  examinations 
from  those  of  doctor  down  to  those  for  licentiates,  the 
candidates  should  write  short  practical  essays,  instead  of 
using  the  Chinese  classics  entirely  as  heretofore.  A  similar 
attempt,  made  by  the  Emperor  Kanghi,  to  vivify  with  the 
touch  of  knowledge  the  stagnant  pool  of  Chinese  ancient 
lore,  resulted  in  a  short  time  in  a  return  to  the  old  state  of 
affairs,  as  public  opinion  was  against  any  innovation  ;  and 
an  even  quicker  reversal  of  the  Emperor's  plans  has  taken 
place  in  this  case,  for  the  Empress  Dowager,  with,  as  far  as 
can  be  seen  at  present,  a  fatuity  fraught  with  the  greatest 
danger,  has  upset  this  as  well  as  the  other  beneficent  plans 
inaugurated  by  Kwong  Sui.  (See,  however,  Article  on 
Education). 

'  The  standard  essay — wen-chang — has  been  the  chief  cause  of 
the  working  of  the  minds  of  the  literati,  and  causing  them  to  labour 
ceaselessly,  in  the  same  old  tread-mill.  It  has  held  absolute  sway  for 
a  millennium  over  China's  intellectual  life,  and  its  baneful  effects  can 
be  seen  everywhere  in  the  literature  of  the  last  three  dynasties. 
Scholars  have  learned  what  they  could  not  afterwards  make  use  of  in 
actual  life,  and  they  have  had  no  time  left  for  learning  what  could  be 
used.  The  scholars  of  the  Sung  dynasty  bequeathed  in  this  legacy  of 

269 


Things  Chinese 

the  w^n-chang  a  burden  of  such  weight  upon  the  mental  life  of  China 
that  it  has  been  steadily  crushing  out  its  very  existence.  Originated 
to  perpetuate  classical  learning  it  has  been  the  liveliest  factor  in 
suppressing  the  desire  for  such  knowledge.  It  has  absolutely  nothing 
to  be  said  in  its  favour,  unless  the  remark  of  an  eminent  living  states- 
man of  China  be  given  to  its  credit  that  "it  has  repressed  rebellion  by 
keeping  the  minds  of  ambitious  men  cramped  by  the  pursuit  of  useless 
knowledge."  The  main  reason  that  has  kept  it  alive  has  been  that  it 
was  supposed  to  be  the  essence  of  orthodox  Confucianism.' 

Now  we  hear  that  this  has  been  given  up,  and  now  we 
hear  it  has  been  restored  again  to  the  list  of  subjects  for 
examination. 

'  About  14,000  bachelors  are  added  to  the  list  every  year.  There  are 
probably  close  on  700,000  Chinese  graduates  now  living.  It  is  the 
expectants  of  office  who  are  one  of  China's  greatest  dangers,  men 
embittered  by  feeling  that  they  have  themselves  been  unjustly  passed 
over,  who  have  never  been  given  opportunity  to  show  what  they  could 
do,  and  who  are  incapable  of  doing  what  alone  lies  before  them  ; 
although  in  the  west  of  China  we  have  come  across  one  man  who 
had  taken  a  high  degree  keeping  a  wayside  inn  in  a  very  lonely  place, 
believed  by  our  coolies,  as  it  happens,  to  be  the  resort  of  robbers.' 

EXTRATERRITORIALITY.— As  the  laws  and 
judicial  system  in  force  in  China  partake  more  of  the 
character  of  those  in  operation  in  Europe  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  Europeans  and  Americans  in  China,  as  well  as  in 
other  Asiatic  countries,  have  insisted  on  being  amenable 
to  their  own  laws,  and  exempted  from  the  legal  process  of 
the  country  in  which  they  dwell. 

There  is  a  Supreme  Court,  with  a  Chief  Justice  and 
other  officers  under  the  Foreign  Office  of  England,  which  sits 
in  Shanghai,  and  proceeds  in  circuit  to  the  different  treaty 
ports  when  cases  arise,  demanding  its  attendance  amongst 
British  subjects  or  in  which  one  party  is  British.  The 
Consular  Courts,  presided  over  by  the  British  Consuls,  take 
cognisance  of  the  smaller  cases,  or  hold  a  preliminary 
enquiry  in  the  more  important  ones.  The  posts  of  Chief 
Justice  and  Consul  General  have  been  amalgamated,  and 
the  Consul  General  at  Shanghai  has,  in  addition  to  his 
other  duties,  performed  those  of  Chief  Justice. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  a  Chinese  is  sued  by  an 
Englishman,  the  trial  takes  place  in  a  Chinese  Court,  at 

270 


Fairy  Tales 

the  instance  of  the  English  Consul.  In  Hongkong,  of 
course,  this  rule  does  not  hold  good,  for,  being  an  English 
Colony,  it  is  an  integral  part  of  the  British  Empire. 
Chinese  criminals  sometimes  escape  from  the  mainland  to 
this  island.  Before  their  rendition  to  the  Chinese 
authorities,  an  enquiry  is  held  by  the  Police  Magistrate, 
who,  an primd  facie  proof  of  the  crimes,  sends  up  the  cases 
to  the  Governor  of  the  Colony,  who  decides  as  to  whether 
the  criminals  are  to  be  handed  over  to  the  Chinese  or  not. 
Nevertheless  the  Chinese  authorities  at  Canton  have  felt 
a  considerable  amount  of  soreness  on  the  subject,  as  it  is 
difficult  for  them  to  understand  (with  their  system  of  torture 
of  prisoners  and  witnesses,  and  the  forced  confessions  ex- 
torted from  the  former  and  even  at  times  from  the  latter)  the 
importance  of  unshaken,  truthful  evidence,  and  of  genuine 
eye-witnesses.  The  uncertainty  of  English  law,  and  the 
jealous  care  exercised  over  the  prisoner  in  case  he  should  be 
innocent,  are  incomprehensible  to  them.  Applications  have 
been  made  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Colony,  on  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus,  for  a  release  of  the  prisoners  on  some 
alleged  technical  flaw  ;  but  these  have  rarely  succeeded. 

Books  recommended. — 'Exterritoriality.  The  Law  relating  to  Consular 
Jurisdiction  and  to  Residence  in  Oriental  Countries,'  by  F.  T.  Piggott,  M.A., 
Ll.M.  '  Jurisdiction  et  Exterritoriality  en  Chine,'  par  J.  Ilelenius  Ferguson. 

FAIRY  TALES. — There  are  many  fairy  tales  to  be 
found  in  Chinese  literature,  but  different  in  detail  to  those 
of  the  West.  The  animal  world,  like  the  wolf  in  Reel 
Riding  Hood,  comes  in,  but  in  a  more  artistic  form  than  in 
the  old  nursery  tale,  as  the  foxes  assume  human  shape  at 
will,  not  being  detected  till  well  on  in  the  story,  and  they 
are  beneficent  as  well  as  malignant.  '  Our  Chinese  foxes, 
which  are  represented  as  the  frequenters  of  the  ancient 
sepulchres,  turn  into  the  Elves  of  the  Forest,  and  by  moon- 
light imbibe  the  ethereal  essence  of  heaven  and  earth. 
They  dig  up  the  graves  of  the  dead  and  place  their  skulls 
on  their  foreheads.  They  then  look  up  to  the  Xorth  Pole 
and  bow  to  the  Starry  Host.  If  the  skulls  do  not  fall  off 

271 


Things  Chinese 

while  they  perform  this  rite  they  change  into  lovely  and 
fascinating  females.'  Love  often  plays  an  important  part 
in  some  of  these  stories,  showing  that,  though  not  con- 
sidered proper  by  the  prudish  Chinese,  human  nature  and 
the  ruling  passion  will  yet  reveal  themselves  even  under 
the  most  repressive  circumstances.  Besides  this  class  of 
fairy  tales,  much  of  the  Taoist  mythology  might  be 
classed  under  this  category,  when  the  marvellous  and 
miraculous  doings  of  the  gods,  demi-gods,  and  genii  are 
told  at  garrulous  length  and  with  tedious  detail. 

In  China  it  is  not  only  the  children  that  believe  in 
sprites,  fairies,  dryads,  nymphs,  demons,  and  goblins,  but 
the  children  of  an  older  growth  nearly  all  firmly  believe  in 
them  ;  for  the  whole  universe  to  the  average  Chinaman  is 
peopled  with  unseen  denizens,  who  occasionally  appear  to 
the  good  or  evil,  and  reward  or  punish  them  in  quite  the 
orthodox  story-book  style. 

Books  recommended. — 'Strange  Stories  from  a  Chinese  Studio,'  translated 
and  annotated  by  Herbert  A.  Giles,  2  vols.,  De  la  Rue  &  Co.  'The  Fairy 
Foxes,'  published  by  Messrs.  Kelly  and  Walsh,  Ltd.  'Scraps  from  Chinese 
Mythology,'  in  different  numbers  of  the  China  Review,  by  Rev.  Dyer  Ball, 
M.A.,  M.D.,  annotated  by  J.  Dyer  Ball. 

FAMINES. — Famines  are  common  in  this  mighty 
empire,  where  in  one  part  there  will  be  a  superabundance, 
while  want  and  death  are  staring  another  province  in  the 
face.  It  is  due  often  to  the  absence  of  railways  (See 
Article  on  Railways)  and  means  of  rapid  intercommunica- 
tion, that  famines  are  more  frequent  in  the  more  northerly 
provinces,  where  the  great  waterways  that  bless  the  South 
are  rarer.  But  famines  in  China  are  due  to  various  causes, 
as  often  as  not  to  the  failure  of  the  crops.  As  has  been 
well  remarked  '  there  is  always  a  lamentable  lack  of  in- 
telligence in  dealing  with  the  emergency.'  Taxes  are 
sometimes  remitted,  and  the  Government  in  its  quasi- 
paternal  relations  to  its  people  professes  the  greatest 
commiseration,  but  any  assistance  that  is  rendered  is 
docked  on  its  passage  through  the  hands  of  the  officials. 
As  has  been  truthfully  remarked  by  one  of  the  Hongkong 
papers  : — '  The  most  efficient  relief  work  is  generally  done 

272 


Fans 

by  missionaries,'  who  have  laboured  heroically  in  distribut- 
ing the  funds  generously  subscribed  by  the  foreign  residents 
in  China,  going  in  fact  to  the  famine-stricken  districts  and 
personally  attending  to  the  relief  of  the  famishing  natives. 
Cases  of  cannibalism  are  known  in  famine  times — people 
even  eating  their  own  children. 

FANS. — There  can  scarcely  be  any  other  nation  on 
earth  that  uses  such  quantities  of  fans  :  amongst  us,  the  use 
of  the  fan  is  confined  to  the  gentler  sex,  and  it  would  be 
considered  effeminate,  or  at  all  events  singular,  for  a  gentle- 
man to  sport  one.  With  the  Chinese,  fans  are  used  as 
much  by  the  one  sex  as  by  the  other,  and  particular  makes 
or  forms  are  confined  in  their  use  to  the  male  sex.  All  sorts 
of  materials  are  employed  in  their  construction,  the  palm 
leaf,  which  Nature  seems  almost  to  have  designed  as  an 
object-lesson  and  a  hint,  being  one  of  the  most  common  ; 
silk,  paper,  bamboo,  feathers,  and  other  things,  are  also  used. 
The  largest  size  of  palm  leaf,  nearly  a  yard  in  diameter,  of 
an  orbicular  shape,  has  a  neat  rim  braided  round  it,  the 
stalk  forming  the  natural  handle.  This  gigantic  size  is 
placed  in  the  hands  of  slave-girls  and  other  female  domestics, 
to  perform  the  duty  which  the  poet  inveighed  against  so 
strongly  in  the  well-known  lines  : — 

'  I  would  not  have  a  slave  to  till  my  ground, 
To  carry  me,  to  fan  me  while  I  sleep, 
And  tremble  when  I  wake,  for  all  the  wealth 
That  sinews  bought  and  sold  have  ever  earned.' 

The  smaller  kind  of  the  same  shape,  and  of  which  such 
large  quantities  are  exported  to  America — the  common 
palm-leaf  fan — is  used  by  the  lower  classes,  and  it  is  curious 
to  notice  the  variety  of  uses  to  which  this  fan  is  put  in 
China :  it  serves  to  blow  up  the  wooden  or  charcoal  fire  in 
the  earthenware  furnaces,  instead  of  a  pair  of  bellows  ;  old 
torn-down-looking  seamstresses  pin  it  on  the  top  of  their 
hair  to  serve  as  a  hat  ;  it  also  does  duty  as  a  sunshade  ;  it  is 
used,  in  common  with  other  fans,  as  a  duster  to  fan  or  flap 
away  the  dust  off  a  seat,  or  to  cool  the  chair  before  offering  it 


Things  Chinese 

to  a  visitor;  to  drive  the  mosquitoes  out  of  the  mosquito 
net ;  to  fan  the  restless  baby  to  sleep ;  to  cool  the  hungry 
youngster's  food  ;  and  it  comes  in  handy  for  many  another 
purpose. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  fans,  and  the  following 
classification  embraces  many,  though  not  all  of  them,  viz  :— 
feather  fans,  folding  fans,  and  screen  fans  ;  the  latter  are  of 
a  variety  of  shapes,  '  round,  octagonal,  sexagonal,  or  poly- 
gonal.' The  young  Chinese,  exquisite  in  his  robes  of  silk 
and  satin,  generally  carries,  at  the  proper  seasons,  one  of 
them  in  his  hand,  the  gift  perchance  of  some  artistic  and 
literary  friend  who  has  embellished  it  with  a  landscape  in 
black  and  white,  and  (or)  a  few  lines  from  his  pen  in  either 
prose  or  poetry.  We  give  an  inscription  on  one  of  these 
fans  which  was  presented  to  a  European.  It  not  only  gives 
an  idea  of  what  such  inscriptions  may  be,  but  also  shows  what 
a  Chinese  complimentary  letter  is  like.  We  have  changed 
the  names  from  what  they  were  in  the  original : — 

'  The  noteworthy  visit  you  paid  me  some  time  ago  has  filled  my 
humble  cottage  with  glory.  I  believe  you  are  a  virtuous  man  whose 
object  it  is  to  benefit  the  world  with  your  kind  heart,  which  is  ready  to 
afford  free  services  to  the  distressed  it  comes  in  sight  of.  This  being 
its  policy,  many  a  poor  sufferer  has  had  his  chronic  disease  removed 
and  got  immediate  relief  from  great  difficulties.  How  greatly  in  need 
is  this  class  of  people  !  Furthermore,  our  unexpected  meeting  has 
quickly  made  us  bosom  friends.  That  a  man  so  forsaken  by  the 
world  as  myself  can  gain  so  true  a  friend  as  you  is  rare.  It  has  given 
me  great  consolation  to  hear  of  your  promotion  to  the  post  of  Chief 
Medical  Officer.  Your  success  is  the  result  of  your  repeated  good 
deeds  which  always  multiply  one's  blessings  :  the  Eye  of  Heaven 
clearly  sees  our  human  actions.  Though  I  am  not  worthy  of  your 
friendship,  I  sincerely  hope  you  will  not  forget  me  after  you  have  left 
here  for  your  new  appointment.  Send  me  advice  and  instruction  to 
amend  my  defects.  True  affection  forbids  me  to  forget  you  or  to  cease 
thinking  of  you.  May  there  still  be  a  time  for  our  future  meeting  and 
companionship  is  my  earnest  prayer. 

Kwong-suf,  1 6th  year,  Qth  moon  in  autumn.  Written  in  the  Tsing 
Ming  Tai  Tak  Fort,  Kwong-tung  province,  for  the  use  of  Dr.  Chong 
Lei.  Scribbled  by  Chaii  Yaii  alias  Sik  Ping.' 

The  silk  of  which  some  of  these  fans  are  made  is 
actually  spun  by  the  silkworm  on  the  bamboo  frame  which 
surrounds  the  fan.  This  may  seem  incredible,  but  the 
writer  had  in  his  possession  a  small  disc  of  silk,  a  few  inches 

274 


Fans 

in  diameter,  spun  in  the  lid  of  a  tin  canister,  and  given  to 
him  by  a  relative  in  whose  house  it  had  actually  been 
produced.  It  therefore  requires  no  credulity  to  believe  that 
a  fan  somewhat  larger  could  be  thus  made.  The  folding 
fan  is  universal  throughout  China  from  the  cheap  affair  of 
coarse  bamboo  splints  and  black  paper  with  a  few  splashes 
of  gilt  to  the  more  expensive  kinds  ;  the  very  gorgeous 
folding-fans  that  are  sent  to  Europe  and  America  are  not 
used  by  the  Chinese  themselves — they  are  simply  made  to 
please  the  outside  barbarian.  In  Canton  simple  white  ones 
can  be  bought  with  maps  of  the  city  on  them  ;  the  Chinese 
map-maker  has,  however,  adapted  his  map  to  the  shape  of 
the  fan.  Many  of  the  feather  fans  are  lyre-shaped,  with  a 
white  bone  or  ivory  handle,  and  eight,  ten,  or  a  dozen  long 
feathers  ranged  in  order — a  fan  fit  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  fastidious  gentlemen.  A  lady  sports  one  in  which 
perhaps  nearly  a  score  of  feathers  are  employed,  and  which, 
unlike  the  gentleman's  long  narrow  shape,  is  broader  than 
long.  In  Amoy  the  writer  pocured  a  curious  fan  which 
came  from  Formosa,  a  fibrous,  somewhat  lyre-shaped  leaf 
having  a  few  leaves  or  sprays  as  ornamentations  burnt  into 
it  with  a  hot  iron.  The  Swatow  fan  is  another  sort  that 
is  well  known  :  a  bamboo  tube,  about  the  thickness  of  a 
small  finger,  serves  as  the  handle  ;  to  form  the  frame- 
work, the  bamboo  above  the  handle  is  split  into  very 
thin  slips  ;  the  surface  is  paper,  pasted  over  these  slips, 
on  which  some  elegant  figure  or  two,  a  bird  or  some  scene 
from  Chinese  history,  or  mythology,  is  depicted  ;  the  top 
is  slightly  bent  over.  This  is  one  of  the  best  of  open  fans 
to  use. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  the  vigorous  way  in  which  a 
Chinese  fans  himself:  not  content  with  a  languid  stirring 
of  the  air  in  front  of  his  face  and  chest,  he  inserts  the  fan 
under  his  jacket,  both  front  and  back,  and  applies  it 
vigorously  till  cooled,  when  his  legs  and  arms  will  come 
in  for  an  equal  share  of  attention. 

The  ordinary  way  to  carry  a  fan  is  in  the  hand,  but 
another  convenient  place  for  a  folding  one  is  the  back  of  the 

275 


Things  Chinese 

neck,  or  it  is  sometimes  stuck  by  a  tradesman  into  the  top 
of  his  stocking.  It  takes  the  place  of  a  walking-stick  with 
a  Chinese  gentleman,  as  it  gives  him  something  to  hold 
in  his  hand,  and  to  flutter  and  wave  and  gesticulate  with, 
when  excited.  With  schoolmasters,  it  is  constantly  at 
hand  to  rap  a  boy  over  the  head  or  to  call  attention  by 
tapping  the  desk  with  it.  It  serves  to  give  point  and 
emphasis  to  the  public  speaker's  periods;  when  he  has 
warmed  up  to  his  subject  and  his  heated  oratory  has  had 
its  effect,  and  a  cooler  frame  and  quieter  manner  will  suit 
his  next  periods  better,  he  opens  its  folded  ribs  and  with 
a  few  leisurely  motions  brings  down  his  temperature  to 
its  desired  state ;  it  adds  grace  to  the  faultless  get-up 
of  thejeunesse  dorte ;  while  the  youthful  bride  is  sheltered 
from  the  too  inquisitive  stare  of  the  crowd  by  her  attend- 
ant's fan  ;  the  over-heated  coolie  cools  himself  with  it  as 
he  rests  a  moment  or  two  from  his  arduous  toil ;  and 
the  sweltering,  half-naked  blacksmith  has  his  apprentice 
fan  him  when  engaged  before  the  glowing  forge  ;  the 
mandarin  has  a  huge,  imitation  screen-fan  of  wood  carried 
in  his  retinue,  which  comes  in  useful  when  he  meets  a 
fellow-official  with  whom  he  has  no  time  to  waste  in 
salutations  by  the  way,  for  their  attendants  interpose 
these  wooden  fans,  and  neither  official  has  seen  the  other, 
thus  obviating  the  necessity  of  stopping  the  processions 
and  descending  from  the  sedan-chairs. 

Folding  fans  may  be  used  at  any  time  of  the  year ;  but 
certain  other  fans  are  only  to  be  used  at  certain  seasons. 
Thus  palm-leaf  fans  and  those  made  of  goose  feathers  are 
for  summer,  while  when  the  weather  is  neither  very  cold 
nor  very  hot — as  in  autumn,  and  likewise  towards  the 
latter  part  of  spring — circular  silk  fans  are  seen.  Winter 
has  no  distinctive  fans  assigned  to  it,  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  fans  are  not  generally  required  in  cold  weather. 

Fans  are  used  in  decorative  art :  papers  for  fans  are 
painted,  mounted,  and  framed  as  pictures ;  open-work 
spaces  are  left  in  walls  of  that  shape.  Even  the  gods  and 
genii  are  sometimes  represented  with  these  indispensables 

276 


Ferns 

of  a  hot  climate,  some  of  them  being  capable  of  all  sorts 
of  magic. 

A  deserted  wife  is,  by  that  happy  periphrasis  so  con- 
stantly employed  by  the  Chinese,  known  as  'an  autumn 
fan '  from  the  inscription  written  on  a  fan,  and  sent  to  her 
royal  master,  by  a  lady  of  the  Court,  who  found  herself  in 
this  unenviable  position  two  thousand  years  ago.  The 
pathetic  lines  written  on  this  memorable  fan  have  been 
rendered  into  English  by  Dr.  Martin,  as  follows : — 

LINES  INSCRIBED  ON  A  FAN. 

(  Written  by  Pan  Tsieh  Yu,  a  lady  of  the  Court,  and  presented  to  the 
Emperor  Cheng-ti  of  the  Han  Dynasty,  B.C.  /<£) 

Of  fresh  new  silk,  all  snowy  white, 

And  round  as  harvest  moon, 
A  pledge  of  purity  and  love, 

A  small  but  welcome  boon — 

While  summer  lasts,  borne  in  the  hand, 

Or  folded  on  the  breast, 
'Twill  gently  soothe  thy  burning  brow, 

And  charm  thee  to  thy  rest. 

But  ah  !  when  autumn  frosts  descend, 

And  autumn  winds  blow  cold, 
No  longer  sought,  no  longer  loved, 

'Twill  lie  in  dust  and  mould. 

This  silken  fan,  then  deign  accept, 

Sad  emblem  of  my  lot, 
Caressed  and  cherished  for  an  hour, 

Then  speedily  forgot. 

Books  recommended.  — An  article  'On  Chinese  Fans'  that  originally 
appeared  in  leaser's  Magazine  and  also  in  '  Historic  China  and  other  Sketches,' 
by  Prof.  H.  A.  Giles,  published  by  De  la  Rue  &  Co.,  p.  294.  For  an  amusing 
skit  on  the  fickleness  of  the  female  sex  and  on  marriage,  one  is  referred  to 
Davis's  'China  and  the  Chinese,'  vol.  ii.  p.  119  et  seq.,  where  the  story  of 
a  widow  fanning  her  late  husband's  grave  is  given. 

FERNS.  —  Some  parts  of  China  abound  in  ferns, 
especially  is  this  the  case  in  Hongkong,  where  they  are  to 
be  found  growing  in  every  nook  and  cranny,  as  well  as 
along  the  roadside  and  amongst  the  grass.  In  other  parts 
they  are  rarer.  (See  Article  on  Botany.)  In  Hongkong 
there  are  24  different  genera  with  75  species. 

277 


Things  Chinese 

FILIAL  PIETY.— Filial  piety  is  the  greatest  of  all 
virtues  in  the  Chinese  eyes,  while  disobedience  is  the 
greatest  of  all  crimes.  From  his  early  childhood  the  child 
is  trained  up,  as  far  as  books  are  concerned,  in  this  idea, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  is  spoiled  by  the  doting  love 
of  fond  parents,  mixed  with  such  a  portion,  however, 
of  severity,  that  the  compound  of  bitter-sweet  treatment 
produces  on  the  whole  better  results  than  might  reasonably 
be  expected  ;  the  bitter,  generally  coming  after  the  sweets 
of  spoiled  infancy,  has  some  effect  in  toning  down  the 
over-indulgence  so  lavishly  acted  on.  Filial  piety  is  very 
wide-reaching  in  its  application  among  the  Chinese.  It 
concerns  itself  with  a  proper  care  of  their  bodies,  as  these 
being  received  perfect  from  their  parents,  it  is  their  duty 
to  preserve  them.  As  regards  one's  parents,  it  is,  accord- 
ing to  our  Western  ideas,  most  exacting,  though  at  the 
same  time  there  is  no  doubt  that  if  the  Chinese  have 
erred  too  much  in  going  to  one  extreme,  we  have  likewise 
erred  in  going  to  the  other.  Confucius  said,  '  while  a 
man's  father  is  alive,  look  at  the  bent  of  his  will ;  when 
his  father  is  dead,  look  at  his  conduct.  If  for  three  years 
he  does  not  alter  from  the  way  of  his  father,  then  he  may 
be  considered  to  be  filial.'  He  also  taught  that  filial  piety 
should  be  accompanied  by  reverence,  and  that  its  duties 
should  be  performed  with  a  cheerful  countenance.  It  is 
thought  to  militate  against  rebellion,  and  is  considered 
to  be  the  source  of  loyalty  to  the  Sovereign.  The  way 
in  which  it  works  is  thus  expressed  in  the  '  Classic  of 
Filial  Piety':— 

'Filial  duty  is  the  root  of  virtue,  and  the  stem  from  which  instruc- 
tion in  the  moral  principle  springs.  .  .  .  The  first  thing  which  filial 
duty  requires  of  us  is,  that  we  carefully  preserve  from  all  injury,  and 
in  a  perfect  state,  the  bodies  which  we  have  received  from  our  parents. 
And  when  we  acquire  for  ourselves  a  station  in  the  world,  we  should 
regulate  our  conduct  by  correct  principles  so  as  to  transmit  our  name 
to  future  generations,  and  reflect  glory  on  our  parents.  This  is  the 
ultimate  aim  of  filial  duty.  Thus  it  commences  in  attention  to  parents, 
is  continued  through  a  course  of  services  rendered  to  the  prince,  and 
is  completed  by  the  elevation  of  ourselves.' 

As   Archdeacon   Gray  remarks  in  his  book,  '  China ' : 

278 


Filial  Piety 

'  The  Chinese  Government  is  only  to  be  understood 
through  the  relation  which  exists  between  a  father  and 
his  son.' 

Instances  of  extraordinary  self-denial  are  constantly 
occurring  amongst  the  Chinese  on  the  part  of  children  to- 
wards their  parents.  They  undergo  imprisonment  at 
times  in  their  stead  ;  but,  what  is  still  more  strange,  they 
cut  out  pieces  of  their  own  flesh,  cook  it,  and  give  it  to 
them  to  eat,  when  seriously  ill  and  when  other  remedies 
have  failed  ;  it  seems  to  be  a  never-failing  cure,  to  judge 
from  the  accounts  that  appear  in  the  native  newspapers 
concerning  it.  The  youths  are  incited  to  these  and  other 
acts  of  devotion  by  the  recital  of  instances  of  self-denial  on 
behalf  of  parents.  There  are  twenty-four  of  these  stories 
of  paragons  of  filial  piety.  One  thawed  through  the  ice  on 
a  pond,  by  lying  naked  on  it,  and  then  caught  carp  of 
which  his  mother  was  fond.  Another  went  into  the  bed 
at  night  to  let  the  mosquitoes  have  their  fill  on  him  before 
his  parents  should  retire  to  rest.  Another,  though  seventy 
years  old,  played  like  a  child  to  amuse  his  aged  father  and 
mother.  As  an  instance  of  the  great  lengths  to  which  the 
Chinese  go  in  this  respect,  a  father  was  preparing  to  bury 
alive  his  only  child  of  three  years  of  age,  as  poverty  was 
so  pressing  that  there  was  a  difficulty  in  supporting  his 
mother,  when  Heaven  intervened,  for  when  digging,  he 
came  across  a  pot  of  gold.  One  sees  in  ancestral  worship 
the  fullest  development  of  filial  piety,  as  the  parents  and 
ancestors  are  deified  and  divine  honours  are  paid  to  them 
with,  however,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  very  selfish  feeling 
for  the  great  part,  for  the  raison  d'etre  of  ancestral  worship 
is  founded  mainly  upon  a  desire  to  propitiate  the  departed 
spirits,  and  thus  ensure  prosperity  to  themselves.  (See 
Article  on  Ancestral  Worship). 

A  great  deal  of  filial  piety  is  mere  ceremonial  obser- 
vance with  but  little  real  heart  at  the  bottom  of  it,  and 
there  are  as  unfilial  sons  to  be  found  in  China  as  in  our 
own  land,  still,  at  the  same  time,  it  must  be  good  for  the 
youth  of  this  vast  empire,  teeming  with  future  men  and 

279 


Things  Chinese 

women,  to  have  such  a  high  standard,  on  the  whole,  held  up 
for  their  guidance. 

Books  recommended. — Legge's  'Chinese  Classics.'  'The  Sacred  Edict,' 
translated  by  Rev.  W.  Milne.  Chinese  Repository,  vol  x.  p.  164. 
Doolittle's  '  Social  Life  of  the  Chinese,'  vol.  i.  p.  452  et  seq. 

FIRECRACKERS      AND      FIREWORKS.— The 
Chinese  are  essentially  a  noisy  people — all  Orientals  are. 
Spending  so  much  time  out  of  doors  has  doubtless  some- 
thing to  do  with  their  noisy  way  of  talking ;  for  they  will 
shout  at  each  other  when  a  quiet  whisper  would  serve  their 
purpose  as  well,  if  not  better.     Their  music,  much  of  it  at 
least,  is  noisy — what  with  clash  of  cymbals,  clang  of  gongs, 
the  loud  sounding  drum,  the  harsh  untuned  flageolets  and 
the  shrill    flutes,  and  the  entire   absence  of  piano  effects. 
One  must  suppose  that  to  them   the  constant  forte  and 
fortissimo  is  as  entertaining  as   the  softest   and  sweetest 
song  without  words  is  to  our  ears.     And   the   crackers — 
the  firecrackers — here  is  a  perfect  apotheosis  of  noise.     A 
perfect  carnival  of  uproar  and  deafening  sound  is  produced, 
especially  at  New  Year's  time,  by  their  almost  continuous 
discharge,  for  at  that  joyous  season  a  perfect  pandemonium 
reigns  rampant.     Woe  betide  the  foreigner  in  a  native  city 
then,  or  even  in  the  British    Colony  of  Hongkong   itself, 
where   their   discharge   is    limited    to    a  certain  period  of 
shorter  duration  than  the  unrestrained  jubilation  of  the  un- 
fettered Chinese  is  content  with.     Sleep  is  almost  out  of 
the  question  at  night  while  house  after  house  and   shop 
after  shop  lets  off  its  strings  of  firecrackers,  the  rattling  of 
the  small  artillery  being  accentuated  by  a  louder  boom 
every  little  while  from  a  bomb  of  larger  size.     The  only 
grain  of  comfort  to  the  foreigner,  while  this  uproarious  din 
is   in    full    swing,   is   that   the  foul    spirits  of  disease  are 
exorcised  by  the  plentiful  supply  of  sulphur  fumes  floating 
in  the   air  and  penetrating  into  every  nook  and  cranny. 
His    matter-of-fact    nature    refuses   to    believe    that    the 
monotonous  fusillade  of  crackers  will  put  to  flight  the  fell 
and  foul  spirits  that  love  to  lurk  about  the  haunts  of  men  : 
for  such    is    the    supposed    rationale   of  their  use   by    the 

280 


Firecrackers  and  Fireworks 

Chinese ;  therefore,  at  all  joyous  events — such  as  marriages, 
processions,  saints'  days,  and  feasts — immunity  from  ill  has 
to  be  purchased  by  their  explosion.  In  the  Hong  Shan 
district  they  are  even  discharged  at  the  grave  after  the 
burial.  The  cylindrical  stem  of  the  bamboo  has,  perhaps, 
given  the  idea  of  the  form  of  the  firecrackers,  and  the 
crack  made  by  the  splitting  of  bamboo  may  also  have 
been  suggestive.  The  manufacture  of  the  universally  used 
firecracker  occupies  the  time,  and  helps  to  fill  the  purses,  of 
many  women  and  children  in  some  parts  of  the  country. 
The  cracker  -  frames  are  tied,  ends  up,  in  wheel  -  shaped 
bundles,  and  women  and  girls  fill  in  the  powder.  Numbers  of 
them  may  be  seen  thus  employed,  as  well  as  busied  with  the 
other  processes  of  the  manufacture,  in  Macao  and  elsewhere. 
The  following  account  of  the  manufacture  of  fire- 
crackers in  Shanghai  will  doubtless  prove  of  interest  : — 

'  Out  of  26,705,733  Ibs.  of  fire-crackers  exported  from  China  during 
1897,  over  20,000,000  Ibs.  came  to  the  United  States.'  'A  small 
quantity  went  to  England.  Other  countries '  '  took  only  infinitesimal 
amounts.'  '  In  making  crackers  only  the  cheapest  kind  of  straw 
paper,  which  can  be  produced  in  the  immediate  locality  where  the 
crackers  are  made,  is  used  for  the  body  of  the  cracker.  A  little  finer 
paper  is  used  for  the  wrapper.  A  piece  of  straw  paper  9  by  30  inches 
will  make  21  crackers  15  inches  long  and  ^th  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
The  powder  is  also  of  the  cheapest  grade,  and  is  made  in  the  locality 
where  used.  It  costs  $r5o  to  $175  per  catty  or  6  to  7  cents  gold  per 
Ib.  For  the  fuse  a  paper  (called  "  leather"  in  Shanghai)  is  used  which 
is  imported  from  Japan,  and  is  made  from  the  inner  lining  of  the 
bamboo.  In  other  places  a  fine  rice-paper  is  used,  generally,  stiffened 
slightly  with  buckwheat-flour  paste,  which,  the  Chinese  say,  adds  to 
its  inflammability.  A  strip  of  this  paper  £rd  of  an  inch  wide  by 
14  inches  (a  Chinese  foot)  long  is  laid  on  the  table,  and  a  very  little 
powder  put  down  the  middle  of  it  with  a  hollow  bamboo  stick.  A 
quick  twist  of  the  paper  makes  the  fuse  ready  for  use.'  '  The  straw 
paper  is  first  rolled  by  hand  round  an  iron  rod,  which  varies  in  size 
.according  to  the  size  of  cracker  to  be  made.  To  complete  the  rolling 
a  rude  machine  is  used.  This  consists  of  two  uprights  supporting 
an  axis,  from  which  is  suspended  by  two  arms  a  heavy  piece  of  wood, 
slightly  convex  on  the  lower  side.  There  is  just  room  between  this 
swinging  block  and  the  top  of  the  table  to  place  the  cracker.  As  each 
layer  of  paper  is  put  on  by  hand,  the  cracker  is  placed  on  the  table 
and  the  suspended  weight  is  drawn  over  the  roll,  thus  tightening  it 
until  no  more  can  be  passed  under  the  weight.  For  the  smallest 
"whip"  cracker,  the  workmen  uses  for  compression,  instead  of  this 
machine,  a  heavy  piece  of  wood,  fitted  with  a  handle,  like  that  of  a 
carpenter's  plane.  In  filling  crackers  200  to  300  are  tied  together 

28l 


Things  Chinese 

tightly  in  a  bunch.  Red  clay  is  spread  upon  the  end  of  the  bunch  and 
forced  into  the  end  of  each  cracker  with  a  punch.  While  the  clay  is 
being  tamped  in,  a  little  water  is  sprinkled  on  it,  which  makes  it  pack 
closer.  The  powder  is  poured  in  at  the  other  end  of  the  cracker. 
With  the  aid  of  an  awl,  the  edge  of  the  paper  is  turned  in  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  cracker,  and  the  fuse  is  inserted  through  this.  A  variety  has 
two  chambers  separated  by  a  plug  of  clay  through  which  runs  a 
connecting  fuse.  There  is  also  a  fuse  extending  from  the  powder  in 
the  lower  chamber  through  the  side  of  the  cracker.  When  the  cracker 
is  to  be  fired  it  is  set  on  end  and  fire  set  to  the  fuse.  The  powder 
exploding  in  the  chamber  throws  the  cracker  high  in  the  air  where  the 
second  charge  is  exploded  by  fire  from  the  fuse  extending  through  the 
plug  between  the  two  chambers.  In  the  manufacture  of  these  the 
clay  is  first  tamped  in  with  a  punch  to  form  the  separating  plug.  The 
lowest  chamber  is  then  loaded  with  powder  and  closed  by  turning  over 
the  paper  at  the  end.  The  upper  chamber  is  loaded  and  closed  with 
clay.  A  hole  is  punched  in  the  side  of  the  lower  chamber  with  an  awl, 
and  the  fuse  inserted  through  this  opening.'  The  hours  are  6  A.M.  to 
1 1  P.M.  The  work  is  largely  done  by  women  and  children.  Thirty 
women  and  ten  men  can  make  100,000  per  day,  women  getting  5 
cents  and  men  7  cents  a  day.  An  apprentice  to  the  business  serves  four 
years,  only  having  his  board.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  if  a  fairly  good 
workman,  he  receives  150  cash  a  day,  an  expert  getting  200.  The 
business  is  said  to  be  unhealthy  and  dangerous.  '  The  fumes  of  the 
powder  and  other  things  used  in  the  make-up  of  the  cracker  bring  on 
dread  diseases  which  soon  end  the  careers  of  the  poor  creatures 
engaged  in  the  work.'  (Leslie's  Weekly,  i2th  July  1899.) 

The  following  description  of  a  pyrotechnic  display  will 
give  an  idea  of  Chinese  fireworks  : — 

'The  Chinese  are  proficients  in  the  pyrotechnic  art,  and  the  fireworks 
which  were  exhibited  at  the  end  of  this  entertainment  were  chefs 
(fa'uvre  of  all  skill — the  four  elements  having  been  called  into  re- 
quisition to  furnish  animals,  birds,  fishes,  and  reptiles,  both  real  and 
imaginary  ;  from  whose  bodies  issued  streams  of  flame.  Five  dragons 
ascended  into  the  air,  and  were  metamorphosed  into  fire-vomiting 
lions  ;  a  huge  bird,  of  some  unknown  species,  fluttered  in  the  air  in  a 
sheet  of  flame,  presently  a  huge  serpent  crawled  from  out  of  the  beak 
of  the  bird,  and  was  lost  to  view  in  many-tinted  flames  ;  one  large 
lantern  ascended,  in  a  mass  of  fire,  from  which  smaller  lanterns  issued, 
which  in  their  turn  sent  forth  various  and  innumerable  forms.  On  the 
back  of  an  enormous  fish  was  seated  a  portly  mandarin,  from  whose 
aldermanic  corporation  burst  forth  streams  of  fire,  which  appeared  to 
cause  intense  delight,  and  excite  the  greatest  merriment  amongst  the 
spectators.  The  last  firework  was  by  far  the  most  beautiful  and 
perfect,  being  completely  artistic  in  its  details  ;  this  represented  a 
mandarin's  house  with  the  whole  of  the  adjacent  buildings  belonging 
to  the  residence,  the  roofs  being  ornamented  with  bells  and  figures  ; 
this  burned  for  some  time,  and  then  changed  into  a  mandarin  seated 
in  his  sedan-chair,  with  the  usual  train  of  attendants,  bearing  flags, 
beating  gongs,  and  carrying  lanterns  ;  the  effect  of  this  mass  of 
many-coloured  flames,  defining  the  outline  of  the  various  forms, 

282 


Floods 

baffles  description  ;  and  as  the  last  sparks  died  away,  we  could  have 
been  tempted  to  follow  Oliver  Twist's  example  and  asked  for  more.' 

FLAG. — A  distinctive  flag  for  China  is  only  a  recent 
thing.  When  China  got  a  foreign-built  navy  it  was 
necessary  that  a  flag  should  be  devised  for  the  ships  and 
for  the  use  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs.  The  first 
flag  thus  used  was  triangular  in  shape ;  but  a  number  of 
years  ago  this  was  altered  to  the  usual  oblong  shape  in  use 
amongst  other  nations.  The  flag  is  yellow,  with  a  dragon 
after  a  pearl,  a  most  fitting  emblem  for  the  national  flag  of 
a  country  in  which  the  dragon  is  the  sign  and  symbol  of 
the  ruling  power. 

FLOODS. — Floods  are  of  frequent  occurrence  in  China. 
No  idea  of  the  evils  of  deforestation  appear  to  be  realised 
by  the  people,  to  many  of  whom  a  broken  twig  or  stick  is  an 
important  factor  in  the  preparation  of  a  meal. 

The  enormous  rivers  are  fed  after  the  winter  by  the 
snows  melting  at  their  sources,  hundreds  or  thousands  of 
miles  from  their  mouths,  and  the  mighty  streams  rise  some- 
times 40  or  more  feet  above  the  height  they  attain  during 
the  rest  of  the  year,  with  the  result  that  vast  tracts  of 
country  are  flooded.  Here  is  part  of  a  telegraphic 
summary  of  one  of  the  floods  on  the  Yellow  River  in 
1898: — 'Nine  counties  devastated,  hundreds  of  villages 
submerged,  thousands  of  homes  ruined.' 

Modern  engineering  skill,  if  applied  to  these  catas- 
trophies  and  to  the  proper  embankment  of  this  river,  could 
and  would  succeed  in  curbing  its  course,  and  restraining  its 
wanderings  ;  but  the  weak  attempts  of  the  natives,  further 
palsied  by  the  persistent  peculations  of  the  dishonest 
mandarins  charged  with  the  labour  of  supervising  the  work, 
who  divert  much  of  the  money  entrusted  to  them  to  their 
own  benefit,  increases  the  feebleness  of  the  efforts  to 
master  this  unruly  river.  It  has  been  well  termed  the 
River  of  Death. 

'The  River  of  Death  : — The  Yellow  River,  which  has  been  named 
the  "  Sorrow  of  China,"  is  probably  the  most  destructive  stream  on  the 

283 


Things  Chinese 

face  of  the  earth.  In  less  than  a  hundred  years  it  has  changed  its 
channel  four  times,  and  the  point  where  it  empties  into  the  sea  has 
from  time  to  time  been  moved  up  and  down  the  coast  a  distance  of 
three  miles.  It  runs  through  a  vast  alluvial  plain,  and  is  fed  by 
streams  from  a  great  system  of  mountains  in  the  north.  When  the 
snow  melting  on  this  range  comes  at  a  time  of  heavy  rains,  the  result 
is  sure  to  be  a  terrible  flood.  It  has  been  estimated  that  in  the  past 
three  centuries  over  ten  million  human  beings  have  perished  in  the 
floods  of  the  Yellow  River.  For  destructivencss,  both  of  life  and 
property,  this  stream  is  unparalleled,  and  the  soubriquet  bestowed 
upon  it  is  amply  justified  by  its  history.' 

FLOWERS.— The  inhabitants  of  the  '  Flowery  Land/ 
as  China  is  called,  are  fond  of  flowers.  No  lady  is  dressed 
without  sweet-scented  beautiful  flowers  stuck  in  her  glossy 
black  hair,  and  the  lower  classes  are  glad  to  copy  their 
superiors  whenever  a  holiday,  or  any  event  out  of  the 
common,  gives  them  the  chance  to  bloom  forth  in  Nature's 
own  adornments.  Failing  the  natural,  they  have  recourse 
to  artificial  flowers,  some  of  which  are  very  well  made, 
especially  the  pith  flowers  at  Amoy,  for  which  the  place  is 
famous.  In  most  houses,  and  even  shops,  a  vase  or  two  is 
found,  if  nowhere  else,  at  least  in  front  of  the  idol's  shrine, 
where  some  lovely  chrysanthemums,  if  they  are  in  season, 
white,  yellow,  or  red,  add  a  touch  of  colour  or  beauty  to  the 
formal  primness  of  the  set  and  stiff  furniture. 

At  China  New  Year,  flowers  are  all  the  rage.  The 
beautiful  white  and  yellow  narcissus  with  its  long,  lance- 
shaped,  stiff,  green  leaves  is  par  excellence  the  New  Year's 
flower.  It  is  considered  lucky  to  have  the  first  bud  open 
on  New  Year's  Day.  Another  variety  has  the  leaves  all 
gnarled,  being  trained  like  crab's  claws,  and  the  plant, 
instead  of  being  tall  and  upright,  is  reduced  by  art  into  a 
curled  and  curious-shaped  looking  object.  Another 
essentially  New  Year's  flower  is  the  tiu-chung  fa  (Enky- 
anthus  rcticulatiis}.  Each  blossom,  about  half  an  inch  in 
length,  hangs  down  like  a  miniature  bell  from  the  woody 
branches,  while  the  delicate  green  of  the  new  springing 
leaves  forms  a  fine  shade  of  contrast  to  the  pink  and  white 
of  the  innumerable  tiny  flowers.  These  are  not  grown  in 
the  house,  as  the  first  is,  but  branches  of  them  are  stuck 

284 


Flowers 

into  the  quaint-looking  vases.  A  branch  of  flower  culture 
which  we  quite  neglect  in  the  West  is  that  of  fruit-blossoms. 
The  Chinese  cut  off  the  branches  of  fruit-trees  as  they  burst 
into  bud,  and  the  delicate  tints  of  the  peach,  the  white 
flowers  of  the  plum,  and  the  tender  blossoms  of  the  almond, 
are  all  eagerly  sought  for,  to  decorate  their  homes  at  that 
festive  season  of  the  year.  Another  common  form  of 
flower-decoration  is  the  employment  of  flower-baskets.  A 
wire  framework,  made  into  the  shape  of  a  basket,  is 
used,  and  the  buds  and  blossoms  artistically  arranged  on 
it  so  as  to  completely  hide  it.  These  are  hung  up  in 
the  room  or  at  the  doors,  and  diffuse  a  grateful  odour 
through  the  heated  apartments  on  a  warm  summer's  day. 
They  are  largely  employed  at  weddings,  as  well  as  at 
other  times,  nor  are  the  designs  confined  only  to  flower- 
baskets. 

There  are  no  window  plants,  so  esteemed  by  the  better 
class  of  artisans  amongst  us,  as  well  as  by  others  higher  in 
the  social  scale,  but  their  place  is  sometimes  taken  by  a 
solitary  plant,  often  some  woody  non-flowering  shrub, 
which  has  been  dwarfed  with  much  ingenuity,  and  is 
tended  with  constant  care — the  whole  object  only  some  six 
inches  in  height,  but  a  perfect  little  tree  in  its  way.  This 
idea  is  further  developed  at  times,  and  a  little  rockery  is 
produced,  frightful  in  its  ruggedness, — an  idealised  bit  of 
mountain  scenery — on  projecting  points  of  which  toy 
arbours  in  earthenware  are  perched,  little  paths  meander 
from  one  to  the  other,  crossing  the  lilliputian  gorges  and 
ravines  on  equally  small  earthenware  bridges,  while  below, 
and  in  front  of  all,  lies  a  tiny  piece  of  water,  in  which  gorgeous 
and  grotesque  goldfish  swim  about.  The  heights  above  are 
covered  at  every  vantage  point  with  small  clumps  of  dwarf 
bamboo,  and  numerous  other  equally  small  trees  and  shrubs 
clothe  with  greenness  the  bare  masses  of  the  dry  rugged 
rock,  all  in  proportion  with  the  minuteness  of  this  morsel 
of  quaint  imitation  of  Nature's  beauties,  looked  at  from  a 
Chinese  standpoint — the  whole  affair  only  being  a  foot  or 
two  in  height.  Infinite  care  and  tender  pains  are  taken  in 

285 


Things  Chinese 

planting,  watering,  and  tending  this  microcosm  of  a  land- 
scape, thus  revealing  that  the  Chinese  are  not  wanting 
in  a  love  of  Nature,  as  seen  through  their  goggle-like 
spectacles. 

Amongst  flowers,  the  tree-peony  is  highly  esteemed, 
being  called  'the  King  of  Flowers.1  The  skill  of  the 
Chinese  has  been  exercised  in  producing  many  varieties. 
Another  flower  much  thought  of  is  the  lotus.  There  is  a 
white,  as  well  as  a  red  variety,  and  they  are  so  highly 
cultivated  as  to  cause  the  petals  to  spring  from  the  seed- 
holes  even.  They  are  magnificent  flowers,  with  their 
delicately  veined  petals,  quaint-shaped  seed  repositories, 
and  curious  peltate  leaves.  They  are  much  used  in 
Chinese  decorative  art,  and  form  a  fine  throne  for  a  god 
or  goddess  to  sit  on  in  a  state  of  ecstatic  and  nirvana-like 
contemplation. 

It  is  impossible  to  even  enumerate  all  the  beautiful 
flowers  in  which  the  Chinese  delight :  the  white  tuberoses 
laden  at  the  evening  hour  with  heavy  perfume,  roses  with 
but  little  scent,  beautiful,  double  dahlias,  lovely  sweet- 
smelling  magnolias,  pure  white  lilies,  superb  camellias, 
chrysanthemums  of  different  shades,  and  many  others 
with  no  English  names,  a  mere  list  of  which  would  fill 
pages,  and  the  use  of  such  terms  as  Taberricemontana 
Coronaria  flore  plena  would  frighten  the  majority  of 
our  readers. 

Most  Chinese  cut  flowers  are  short-lived  compared  with 
those  in  the  West.  Bouquets  and  button-holes  have  not 
reached  the  Far  East  yet,  as  far  as  native  use  is  concerned. 
Many  Chinese  flowers  have  been  introduced  into  the  lands 
of  the  West,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  as  foreign  residents 
have  many  varieties  of  English  flowers  in  their  own 
gardens,  the  natives  will  in  time  add  them  to  their  stock 
of  cultivated  plants,  the  best  of  the  floral  productions 
of  both  sides  of  the  globe  being  thus  given  in  exchange. 
In  Hongkong  many  foreign  flowers  are  cultivated  by 
the  flower  gardeners  for  sale  to  the  exile  from  home 
lands. 

286 


Food 

Much  attention  is  bestowed  on  plants  by  the  Chinese, 
and  not  a  few  monographs  on  flowers,  such  as  the  peony, 
and  chrysanthemum,  have  been  written  describing  the 
varieties  and  mode  of  culture,  etc. 

Books  recommended. — See  Article  on  Botany. 

FOOD. — Most  erroneous  notions  are  current  as  to  the 
food  of  the  Chinese,  for  it  appears  to  be  a  generally  received 
opinion  that  their  common  food  consists  of  rats,  cats,  dogs 
and  mice.  It  would  be  almost  as  true  to  say  that  the  only 
meat  the  French  live  on  is  that  of  horses,  or  that  the 
English  are  fond  of  snails,  because  some  people  in  both 
these  countries  esteem  such  as  delicacies.  Pork  is  the  chief 
meat  of  the  Chinese  in  the  south — in  fact,  in  some  of  the 
southern  languages  of  China,  the  word  meat  is  used  to 
mean  pork.  The  consumption  of  fish,  both  fresh  and  salt, 
is  enormous.  Fowls  are  a  favourite  article  of  diet,  and  a 
little  beef  is  also  eaten. 

There  are  one  or  two  restaurants  in  Canton  where  dogs' 
and  cats'  flesh  can  be  bought.  The  writer  has  seen  the 
former  hung  up  for  sale  in  a  shop,  but  both  are  rarely 
consumed  in  comparison  with  other  kinds  of  meat  and 
food.  At  the  races  in  Hongkong,  stalls  for  the  sale  of 
dogs'  flesh  are  opened  for  the  three  or  four  days,  confirming 
the  foreigner  in  his  opinion  that  Chinese  live  on  dogs,  but 
at  no  other  time  are  any  stalls  of  the  kind  to  be  found  in 
the  Colony.  Our  cats  in  Canton  used  to  disappear,  and 
one  of  them  came  home  one  day  all  wet,  as  if  it  had  just 
escaped  from  the  pot,  but  then  we  lived  on  the  banks  of 
the  river,  and  the  boat  people  are  not  so  very  particular  as 
to  their  food  as  some  of  the  higher  classes  would  be. 
Many  of  the  respectable  Chinese  would  feel  as  much 
disgust  at  the  idea  of  eating  dogs,  cats,  rats,  and  mice,  as 
we  do.  We  had  at  one  time  in  our  employ  at  Canton  a 
boy,  a  young  fellow  named  A-ling,  who  got  the  sobriquet  of 
'  Ratty  A-ling '  from  his  fellow-servants,  probably  for  the 
twofold  reason  of  his  father  being  a  rat-catcher,  and  because 
when  at  home,  he  used  to  enjoy  a  meal  of  which  the  chief 

287 


Things  Chinese 

dish  consisted  of  these  rodents  ;  but  none  of  the  other 
servants  would  have  touched  one.  It  is  not  an  uncommon 
sight  to  see  dried  rats  hung  up  in  shops  with  dried  ducks 
and  a  number  of  other  dried  meats.  A  favourite  dog  of 
ours  was  once  killed  by  a  snake,  and  when  committing  his 
body  to  the  river,  in  Canton,  a  miserable  leper  seized  hold 
of  it  and  took  it  into  his  wretched  little  sampan,  notwith- 
standing our  warning  as  to  the  cause  of  the  dog's  death. 
But  in  spite  of  all  these  facts,  which  only  show  that  some 
Chinese  eat  such  food,  we  again  repeat,  it  is  not  the  case 
that  dogs,  cats,  rats,  and  mice,  form  the  staple  articles  of 
diet  of  the  people  as  a  whole. 

At  the  same  time,  there  are  other  articles  of  food  which 
to  us  appear  as  disgusting  as  our  fondness  for  butter  and 
cheese  does  to  the  Chinese.  It  is  not  every  foreign  stomach 
that  can  stand  the  sight  of  hundreds  of  greenish-brown 
worms,  fresh  from  the  rice  fields,  hawked  about  the  streets 
for  sale ;  nor  do  salted  and  pickled  eggs,  getting  dis- 
coloured by  age,  and  eggs  high  from  long  keeping,  prove 
agreeable  to  our  palate,  though  why  we  should  so  take  our 
game  and  turn  with  disgust  from  an  egg  in  a  similar 
condition  is  a  mystery  to  a  Chinese.  Silkworm  grubs  do 
not  sound  very  tempting  to  a  foreign  ear,  yet  the  Chinese 
are  very  fond  of  them. 

In  some  parts  of  China  the  poor  people  eat  snakes  ;  for 
instance,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Amoy ;  but  as  far  as  the 
author  could  learn,  it  was  the  non-venomous  ones  that  were 
eaten.  In  some  districts  of  the  Canton  province,  the  same 
horrible  reptiles  form  articles  of  diet,  but  it  is  a  question 
whether,  under  the  same  name,  other  reptiles  of  a  similar 
shape  and  form  may  not  be  included  as  well.  One  of  our 
English  friends,  on  a  trip  in  the  country,  has  tasted  what 
his  host  considered  a  dainty  dish,  viz.,  cooked  snake ;  and 
poisonous  ones  appeared  to  be  relished  in  that  district. 
In  Swatow,  the  author  saw  a  man  hawking  long,  brown 
snakes  in  a  basket  for  food.  There  were  three  or  four 
of  them  tied  with  strings  round  the  neck,  the  strings 
being  fastened  to  the  top  of  the  basket  to  prevent  their 

288 


Food 

escape.  They  are  rather  an  expensive  article  of  diet, 
costing  about  seventy  cents,  each.  They  are  used  to 
make  soup. 

Birds'  nests,  sharks'  fins,  and  fish  maws,  come 
more  under  the  name  of  curious  articles  of  diet, 
than  disgusting :  for  the  first  are  gelatinous  and  not 
like  '  ordinary '  birds '  nests  (See  Article  on  Birds' 
Nests) ;  and  the  second  and  third  are  so  cleaned  and 
washed  that  they  are  as  pure  as  any  articles  eaten 
by  us. 

In  the  South  of  China,  rice  is  the  principal  vegetable 
food,  but  instead  of  vegetables  being  an  adjunct  to 
the  meat,  as  with  us,  the  meat  is  taken  as  a  tasty 
article  with  the  rice,  which  is  the  staple  article  of  diet. 
Either  dried,  salt,  or  fresh  vegetables  are  eaten  at 
nearly  every  meal. 

The  Chinese,  like  the  French,  have  nominally  two 
meals.  One  about  8  or  10  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  the  other  at  5  or  6  in  the  evening,  or  thereabouts. 
With  the  poorer  classes  these  consist  of  a  number  of 
bowls  of  rice — cooked  till  so  dry  that  each  grain  is 
separate — a  little  pork  or  fish,  salt  or  fresh,  and  some 
fried  vegetables.  Everything  of  meat  kind  is  chopped 
up  fine,  or  cut  into  pieces,  as  the  Chinese  would  think 
it  barbarous  to  carve  anything  at  the  table,  and  also 
to  enable  the  chop-sticks  to  pick  it  up  it  has  to  be 
in  little  morsels,  or  at  all  events  of  such  dimensions 
as  to  be  easily  picked  to  pieces  by  them,  or  lifted  to 
the  mouth  and  a  bite  taken  off".  A  drink  of  tea  from 
the  rice  bowl  finishes  the  frugal  meal.  The  dinner  is 
the  same  as  the  breakfast.  This  then  is  the  ordinary 
everyday  food  of  millions  in  the  South  of  China,  and 
costs  only  about  a  couple  of  dollars  a  month  ;  or,  of 
late  years,  say  three  dollars  or  so.  The  more  a  man 
has,  the  more  he  expends  on  his  food,  both  as  regards 
quality  and  quantity,  and  as  a  consequence  he  has  a 
more  varied  fare.  Though  nominally  only  taking  two 
set  meals  a  day,  nearly  every  one  takes  a  snack 

289  T 


Things  Chinese 

about  the  middle  of  the  day;  it  may  be  only  a  few 
cakes,  as  the  Chinese  clerks  in  the  Government  offices 
in  Hongkong  indulge  in ;  it  may  be  a  bowl  of  fish- 
congee,  or  some  other  tasty  soup  or  dish  from  the 
numerous  restaurants,  or  from  some  of  the  many 
refreshment  stalls,  stationary  and  peripatetic. 

Some  of  the  hard-toiling  labourers,  when  there  is  a 
constant  demand  on  physical  strength  or  muscle,  take 
a  number  of  meals  to  prime  them  up  for  their  work, 
such,  for  instance,  as  some  of  the  boatmen  on  the 
rivers  in  the  South  of  China,  who  work  from  daylight 
to  sunset,  and  to  whom  five  meals  a  day  are  allowed, 
when  in  work. 

Chinese  food,  like  French,  does  not  consist  of  roasts, 
but  of  a  multitude  of  made-up  dishes.  Peanut  oil  and 
soy  are  added  to  them,  and  soups  and  broths  are 
much  taken. 

The  Chinese,  as  far  as  their  own  food  is  concerned, 
are  born  cooks.  Among  the  lower  classes  almost  any 
man  can  turn  his  hand  to  preparing  the  simple  dishes, 
and  in  workmen's  messes  it  is  the  youngest  hand 
(the  apprentice)  who  has  the  drudgery  of  the  cooking 
to  do. 

The  dinners  to  which  the  foreign  residents  or 
travellers  are  sometimes  invited  by  the  Chinese,  bear 
about  the  same  relation  to  an  everyday  dinner,  that 
a  Lord  Mayor's  or  Fishmongers'  Hall  dinner  does  to 
an  ordinary  one  partaken  of  by  pater-familias  in  the 
bosom  of  his  family.  As  a  sample  of  these  grand 
dinners  in  Hongkong,  the  menu  of  the  one  to  which 
the  Duke  of  Connaught  was  invited  will  be  found 
below.  We  must,  however,  state  that  some  of  the 
dishes  were  added  for  the  benefit  of  the  foreign  visitors, 
who  wanted  something  more  substantial  than  the  numerous 
broths  and  slops  of  a  Chinese  fine  dinner ;  for  one  rises 
from  such  a  function  with  a  vague  feeling  of  having 
tasted  of  an  infinite  variety  of  unknown  dishes,  but, 
notwithstanding  the  hours  spent  at  the  table,  with  an 

290 


Food 

unsatisfied   feeling   that   a    good    English  dinner  of  solid 
food  would  remove. 

MENU. 

I.  Birds'  Nest  Soup.      2.  Stewed  Shell  Fish.      3.  Cassia  Mushrooms. 
4.  Crab  and  Sharks'  Fins.         5.  Roast  Beef  (a  PAnglaise). 

6.  Roast  Chicken  and  Ham.         7.  Pigeons'  Eggs. 
8.  '  Promotion' (Boiled  Quail,  &c.).        9.  Fried  Marine  Delicacies. 

10.  Roast  Turkey  and  Ham  (a  PAnglaise). 

n.  Fish  Gills.         12.  Larded  Quails.         13.  Sliced  Teal. 

14.  Peking  Mushrooms.         15.  Roast  Pheasant  (a  PAnglaise). 

16.  Winter  Mushrooms.         17.  Roast  Fowl  and  Ham. 

18.  Beche-de-Mer.         19.  Sliced  Pigeon. 
20.  Snipe  (a  PAnglaise).        21.  Macaroni  (a  la  Peking). 

SIDE  DISHES. 
Cold  Roast  Sucking  Pig. 
Cold  Roast  Fowl.         Cold  Roast  Duck. 
Cold  Roast  Mutton. 

TABLE  DISHES. 

Cold  Sausages. 

Prawns.         Preserved  Eggs.         Livers. 
&c.,        &c.,        £c. 

FRUITS. 
Preserved  Apples. 

Citrons.        Tientsin  Pears.         Pomegranates.         Carambolas. 

Greengages.         Pine  Apples. 

&c.,        &c.,        &c. 


PASTRY. 

Sweet  Lotus  Soup.         Almond  Custard.         Rice. 
&c.,         &c.,         &c. 


WINES. 

Champagne  (Krug). 

Claret.         Orange  Wine.         Rice  Wine.         Rose  Dhu. 
'Optimus'  Wine.         Pear  Wine. 

We  give  a  few  Chinese  receipts  which  we  have 
translated  from  a  Chinese  Cookery  Book  :— 

STEAMED  SHARKS'  FINS. 

Sun-dried  sharks'  fins  are  to  be  washed  clean  [as  follows] : — 
First  take  the  fins  [as  bought]  and  place  in  a  cooking  pan,  add  wood- 
ashes  and  boil  in  several  waters.  Then  take  out  and  scrape  away  the 
roughness  [on  the  fins].  If  not  clean,  boil  again,  and  scrape  again, 
until  properly  clean.  Then  change  the  water  and  boil  again.  Take 

291 


Things  Chinese 

out,  remove  the  flesh,  keeping  only  the  fins.  Then  boil  once  again. 
Put  in  spring  water.  Be  careful  in  changing  the  water,  and 
thoroughly  soak  them,  for  it  is  necessary  that  the  taste  of  lime  should 
be  taken  out  of  them.  Then  put  the  fins  into  soup,  stew  three  times 
till  quite  tender.  Dish  in  a  bowl,  placing  meat  of  crabs  below  them, 
and  add  a  little  ham  on  the  top.  The  taste  is  clear,  neither  tender 
nor  tough,  something  like  the  taste  of  pomeloes  at  times. 

CHICKEN  WITH  THE  LIQUOR  OF  FERMENTED  RICE. 

Take  the  bones  out  of  a  chicken  and  steam  till  just  ready.  Then 
take  it  out  and  let  it  cool.  Cut  into  thin  slices.  Take  gelatinous  rice, 
which  has  been  fermented  with  yeast  and  water  added,  and  cook  with 
this  for  two  hours,  afterwards  add  the  juice  expressed  from  fresh 
ginger,  soy,  sesamum,  and  oil,  of  each  a  little.  Mix  together  with 
boiled  peanut  oil.  Dish  and  add  fragrant  herbs. 

GENII  DUCK. 

Take  a  fat  duck.  Open  and  clean.  Rub  two  mace  of  salt  all 
over  it,  both  outside  and  in.  Put  into  an  earthen  dish  and  take 
of  fan  spirits  one  cup,  and  put  the  cup  with  the  spirits  inside  the  duck. 
Do  not  let  the  spirits  spill  on  to  the  duck  ;  only  the  vapour  of  the 
spirits  is  wanted.  Steam  over  water  till  quite  tender.  Lift  out  the 
wine-cup  into  a  bowl.  Done  in  this  way,  there  is  no  need  of  minor 
vegetables. 

FOREIGNER  IN  FAR  CATHAY,  THE.— If  the 
record  of  Chinese  intercourse  with  the  West  is  interesting, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  accounts  of  the  adventures  and 
travels  of  foreigners  in  the  distant  land  of  Cathay  are  also 
full  of  interest  and  adventure.  Are  they  not  to  be  found 
recorded  in  the  innumerable  volumes,  published  during  the 
past  few  centuries ;  are  they  not  chronicled  in  the  old- 
fashioned  language  of  mediaeval  writers,  so  full  of  wonders 
as  to  astound  their  contemporaries  who  often  would  have 
none  of  these  travellers  tales,  and  treated  them  as  Baron 
Munchausens  ? 

The  achievements  of  commerce,  though  in  the  general 
written  in  a  soberer  strain,  sometimes  almost  approach  the 
interest  of  a  romance.  There  are  fragmentary  records  of 
the  early  trade  of  the  Chinese  with  neighbouring  and 
distant  nations  in  the  dim  remote  periods  of  antiquity  ;  but 
the  origin  and  earlier  transactions  of  this  primitive  period 
are  lost  in  the  hazy  oblivion  of  ancient  times.  The  Serica 
vestis  tempted  the  practical  Roman  merchants  to  undergo 
hardships  and  difficult  journeys  of  which  the  majority  of 

292 


Foreigner  in  Far  Cathay,  The 

our  present-day  merchants  know  but  little;  nor  less 
adventurous  were  the  long  journeys  of  the  Arab  traders. 
The  Portuguese,  who  took  such  a  leading  position  in  the 
van  of  nations  in  the  sixteenth  century,  had  the  honour  of 
being  the  pioneers  of  modern  European  commerce  in  China, 
in  the  year  A.D.  1516.  They  were  followed  in  later  years 
by  the  Spanish,  Dutch,  and  Russians.  '  The  intercourse  of 
the  English  with  China,  though  it  commenced  later  than ' 
that  of  'other  maritime  nations  of  Europe,  has  been  far  more 
important  in  its  consequences,  and  their  trade  greater  in 
amount  than  all  other  foreign  nations  combined.'  It 
commenced  in  A.D.  1635.  American  trade  with  China 
began  in  A.D.  1784.  (See  Article  on  Trade.) 

At  the  present  day  there  are  different  settlements  of 
foreigners  at  different  ports  on  the  coast  and  on  the  large 
rivers,  while,  scattered  here  and  there  throughout  the 
empire,  may  be  found  some  solitary  individuals  and  families. 

The  larger  proportion  of  foreigners  in  China  at  the 
present  day  are  British  subjects.  In  1890  the  different 
nationalities  in  China  were  represented  as  follows  : — 


Austrians     .  65  j  French    .        .         589 

Brazilians    .        .        21  Germans         .         648 


Belgians  .  .      28 

British  .  3,3 1 7 

Danish  .  .81 

Dutch.  .  .      41 


Italians  .  .  74 

Japanese  .  883 

Portuguese  .  610 

Russians  .  131 


Spanish       .         .    304 
Swedes  and  \ 
Norwegians/       '    J55 
United  States,  \ 
Citizens  of  the f     '  33 


making  a  total  of  8,081.  In  1880,  4,000;  in  1899,  about 
17,000. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Hongkong  and  Macao 
are  not  included  in  this  return,  as  they  are  not  a  portion 
of  the  Chinese  empire  politically,  though  as  far  as  geo- 
graphy is  concerned  they  are.  The  total  of  Europeans  and 
Americans  in  the  British  Colony  of  Hongkong,  by  the 
census  of  1891,  was  8,545,  or  total  British  and  Foreign 
community  10,446.  According  to  returns  made  in  1879, 
there  were  4,476  Portuguese  in  Macao,  and  78  of  other 
nationalities  not  Chinese. 

The  number  of  foreigners  resident  in  the  different 

293 


Things  Chinese 

Chinese  Treaty  Ports  in  1898  and  1899,  as  given   by   a 
German  paper,  were  as  follows  : — 

1898  1899 

English 5,148  5,562 

Japs 1,698  2,440 

Americans 2,056  2,335 

Russians 165  1,621 

Portuguese 1,082  1,423 

French 920  i»i83 

German 1,043  I»I34 

Spanish 395  448 

Scandinavian    .....            200  244 

Belgians 169  234 

Danes 162  178 

Italians 141  124 

Dutch 87  106 

Other 155  161 

Total         .         .         13,421  17,193 

Port  Arthur,  Hongkong,  Tsingtau,  etc.,  are  not,  of 
course,  included  in  the  above  statistics. 

The  following  table  is  one  of  the  foreign  firms  at  the 
Treaty  Ports. 

1898  1899 

English 398  401 

Japanese 114  195 

German 107  115 

French 37  76 

American 43  70 

Russian          .         .         .         .         .         .           16  19 

Portuguese 20  10 

Belgian 9  9 

Italian 9  9 

Dutch 8  9 

Spanish          ......             4  9 

Austrian 5  5 

Danish  .......             3  4 

Scandinavian                                    .         .  2 


Total        .        .          773  933 

There  were  3,839  foreigners  in  the  large  Treaty  Port  of 
Shanghai  in  1895  !  the  whole  foreign  community  of  Amoy 
was  stated  to  be  400  or  500  in  1899  ;  other  smaller  ports 
have  many  less. 

The  foreign  population  in  the  British  and  American 
concessions  at  Shanghai  were  as  follows  : — 

294 


Forfeits 


'  The  recently  completed  census  of  foreign  residents  in 
Shanghai  (exclusive  of  those  living  in  the  French  Settle- 
ment) gives  the  following  figures,  with  which  may  be  com- 
pared those  for  1895  :— 

British      .... 

Portuguese 

Japanese  .... 

American 

German    . 

Indian      .... 

French     .... 

Manila  and  Malay  . 

Spanish    .... 

Austrian  and  Hungarian 

Danish     .... 

Swedish    .... 

Italian       .... 

Russian    .         .         .         . 

Norwegian 

Turkish    .... 

Dutch       .... 

Swiss        .... 

Belgian    .... 

Various    .... 


1900 

I89S 

2,692 

1,936 

978 

731 

736 

250 

562 

328 

525 

314 

296 

119 

176 

138 

157 

32 

II  I 

'54 

83 

39 

76 

86 

63 

46 

60 

83 

47 

28 

45 

35 

4i 

32 

40 

15 

37 

16 

22 

21 

28 

21 

Total 


6,774 


4,424 


'  The  preponderance  of  British  subjects  in  Shanghai 
remains,  therefore,  as  great  as  ever  it  was.  In  1870  there 
were  894  British  subjects,  255  Americans,  138  Germans, 
46  Spaniards,  and  16  French,  no  other  nationality  running 
into  double  figures.'  The  French  concession  also  contains 
a  considerable  foreign  population. 

An  interesting  subject  to  enlarge  upon  would  be  the 
benefits  that  this  foreign  intercourse  with  China  has 
conferred  on  her,  as  well  as  a  view  of  the  other  side  of  the 
case,  but,  though  tempting,  we  must  forbear. 

Books  recommended. — Amongst  other  books  that  might  be  named  as 
containing  interesting  notices  of  foreign  intercourse  with  China,  may  be 
mentioned  Williams's  '  Middle  Kingdom,'  The  Chinese  Repository,  and 
The  China  Review. 

FORFEITS. — The  Chinese  have  a  noisy  game  of 
forfeits  often  played  at  the  dinner-table  at  feast  times.  It 
consists  in  the  player  flinging  out  one  or  more  fingers  of 

295 


Things  Chinese 

the  hand,  and  shouting  out  a  number,  when  the  other,  who 
is  playing  with  him,  must  instantly  fling  out  as  many  of 
his  fingers  as  will,  if  added  to  the  number  mentioned  by 
his  opponent,  make  up  the  total  to  ten,  and  while  doing 
this  he  also  shouts  out  the  number  of  his  fingers  that  he 
throws  out.  If  a  mistake  is  made,  the  one  who  makes  it 
has  to  drink  a  cup  of  spirits  as  a  forfeit.  As  they  proceed, 
the  party  of  six,  eight,  or  ten,  get  more  and  more  excited 
and  boisterous,  and  the  shouting  at  the  top  of  their  voices 
proves  very  annoying  and  exasperating  to  Europeans  who 
may  unfortunately  have  their  residences  near  to  those  of 
the  Chinese.  Such  a  nuisance  is  this  noisy  game,  that 
the  playing  of  it  after  11  o'clock  at  night  is  prohibited 
in  Hongkong  by  Ordinance. 

Looking  at  it  from  another  point  of  view,  this  game  of 
chdi-mui  (chiee  mooee)  is  a  most  interesting  one,  as  the 
Italians  have  a  similar  game,  which  they  call  morra ;  in 
France  it  is  known  as  mourre,  while  the  ancient  Egyptians 
had  some  corresponding  game,  as  represented  on  their 
sculptures,  and  the  Romans  had  their  micare  digitis  over 
which  butchers  and  their  customers  gambled  for  bits  of 
meat,  from  which  game  descended  the  Italian  one  already 
mentioned. 

FROGS. — The  batrachians  of  China  have  not  been  fully 
treated  of.  There  are  a  number  of  varieties.  The  edible 
frog — Rana  esculenta — is  an  article  of  European  diet  in 
Hongkong  as  well  as  of  Chinese.  Tree-frogs  are  found 
in  Hongkong,  Macao,  and  Swatow,  and  doubtless  in  other 
places  as  well.  Bull-frogs  are  common,  at  all  events  in 
the  South.  The  rice-fields  in  the  southern  provinces  of 
China  afford  ideal  breeding  places  for  frogs,  as  their 
constant  croaking  fully  testifies. 

FRUIT. — One  of  the  advantages  of  living  in  a  hot 
climate  is  the  quantity  of  fruit  that  one  gets.  After  a  long 
residence  in  the  East,  one  notices  on  a  return  to  Europe, 
unless  it  be  in  a  plentiful  strawberry  season,  how  much 

296 


Fruit 

more  readily  one  can  get  fruit  morning,  noon,  and  night  in 
the  East  than  in  the  West.  There  is  quantity  in  the  East, 
but  quality  (with  regard  to  many  fruits)  in  the  West ;  for, 
after  all,  few  fruits  are  superior  to  those  grown  in  hot- 
houses in  England.  This  is,  however,  not  so  much  the 
fault  of  the  fruit,  as  the  fault  or  misfortune  of  the  cultivator  ; 
for  it  is  often  due  to  circumstances  over  which  he  has  no 
control.  As  a  rule,  unless  the  fruit  is  plucked  when  yet 
unripe  it  will  spoil  with  the  heat  before  the  slow  means  of 
locomotion  available  will  allow  of  its  being  conveyed  to 
its  destination.  One  can  try  to  imagine  what  would 
become  of  our  vaunted  hot-house  productions  were  they  all 
plucked  while  green — pears  picked  while  hard,  strawberries 
gathered  before  they  were  ripe,  and  a  week  taken  in 
carrying  them  to  the  market. 

In  the  South  of  China,  at  Hongkong,  Canton,  and 
Macao  (for  in  some  other  places,  such  as  Amoy,  fruits  are 
scarcer,  though  in  Swatow  they  seem  plentiful  and  of  fine 
quality)  there  is  a  succession  of  fruit  nearly  the  whole  year 
through ;  for  not  only  is  there  such  a  variety  of  it  in- 
digenous to  the  soil,  but  so  many  different  kinds  have  been 
introduced  during  the  last  few  centuries  from  foreign 
countries,  that  before  one  has  had  time  to  get  tired  of  one 
sort,  another  has  succeeded  it — sometimes  all  too  soon. 
Oranges  are  very  common  in  the  South,  having  been 
introduced  from  that  part  of  China  into  Europe  in  A.D. 
1548  by  the  Portuguese.  The  German  name  Apfelsina, 
shows  their  origin,  while  the  Italian  name,  Portugallo, 
points  out  their  introducers  in  the  West.  The  common 
coolie  orange,  however,  differs  rather  from  those  brought  to 
England  from  Spain  at  the  present  day,  perhaps  the 
change  of  soil,  climate,  and  cultivation,  have  caused  a 
difference  in  the  fruit.  The  small  kat-tsaf,  as  they  are 
called  in  China,  but  erroneously  named  '  mandarin 
oranges'  in  London,  have  a  fine  acid  taste,  and  were 
only  brought  into  Europe  in  the  present  century  :  they  are 
like  Tangiereens.  The  real  mandarin  orange,  or  chii-shd 
kat,  is  a  much  larger  fruit — larger  even  in  diameter  than 

297 


Things  Chinese 

the  common  coolie  orange,  which  last  is  about  the  shape  and 
size  of  the  ordinary  kind  in  England.  It  is  the  finest 
of  all,  having  a  skin  of  a  cinnabar  red  colour  very  loosely 
adherent  to  the  fruit  itself,  the  segments  of  which  are  much 
larger  in  every  way  than  the  small  kat  (though  the  shape 
of  the  two  varieties  is  much  the  same),  and  without  the 
acid  taste,  but  very  juicy  and  sweet.  It  is  much  dearer 
and  rarer  than  the  smaller  one,  or  than  the  coolie,  or  '  tight 
skin.'  The  Swatow  orange  seems  to  be  a  variety  between 
the  mandarin  and  the  loose-skinned  orange  as  known 
in  Canton  and  neighbourhood. 

Of  plantains  there  are  numerous  varieties,  amongst 
which  may  be  named  the  coarse  large  ones — almost  unfit 
to  eat  raw — the  '  dragons'  tusks,' '  fragrant  plantains,' '  over- 
the-hill  plantains,'  and  others.  One  sort  or  another,  with 
but  few  breaks,  carries  one  through  the  year,  while  the 
oranges  are  a  winter  fruit. 

Amongst  other  indigenous  fruits  in  the  Canton 
province,  may  be  named  : — first,  the  whampee,  a  yellow- 
skinned  fruit,  as  its  name  implies,  and  pendent  in  clusters 
from  the  glossy-leaved  trees  which  produce  it,  about  the 
size  of  a  small  grape,  tart,  and  nearly  filled  with  two, 
three,  or  four,  comparatively  speaking,  large  and  greenish 
stones.  Second,  the  li-chi,  better  known  in  England  by 
the  dried  ones,  which  are  exported  there  in  some  quantities, 
but  the  pulp  of  which,  being  shrivelled  into  a  dryish, 
sweetish,  black  substance  round  the  dark  stone,  gives  no 
idea  of  the  taste  of  the  fresh  fruit.  The  skin,  when  fresh, 
is  more  like  a  shell,  being  rough  and  of  a  bright,  red  colour, 
like  a  very  large  round  strawberry,  when  seen  at  a  distance. 
Inside  this  is  a  thin  white  membrane,  enclosing  the  watery, 
translucent  pulp  of  a  sweetish  taste,  surrounding  the 
brownish-black  ovoid  stone.  The  colour  of  the  fruit  is  like 
that  of  a  glass  of  water  with  a  few  drops  of  milk  mixed  in 
it.  There  are  two  or  three  kinds  of  li-chis  ;  the  best  variety 
has  a  very  small  stone.  Third,  the  lung-ngan  or  'dragon's 
eye,'  is  a  fruit  about  the  size  of  a  li-chi,  with  a  yellowish- 
green  skin,  a  large  stone,  and  a  watery  pulp  of  a  dis- 

298 


Fruit 

agreeable,  rawish  taste,  though  the  Chinese  and  a  few 
Europeans  are  fond  of  it.  Fourth,  the  lo-quat,  which 
Williams  describes  as  a  kind  of  medlar.  There  is  a  thin 
yellow  skin  adherent  to  the  fruit,  and  within,  in  a  cavity  in 
the  centre  of  the  fruit,  is  a  large  seed  or  two.  The  fruit  is 
not  unpleasant  in  taste. 

The  peaches,  when  ripe,  are  good,  though  smaller  than 
the  English  hot-house  ones.  There  are  two  or  three 
varieties  of  the  common  kind,  one  being  the  eagle-bill, 
with  the  point  prolonged,  and  a  curious  kind,  somewhat 
like  a  very  small  apple  in  shape,  but  more  flattened,  the 
stone  inside  partaking  of  the  spheroid  form. 

There  are  two  varieties  of  pear ;  one  hard,  like  a  turnip, 
rather  sweet  in  taste,  but  better  when  cooked,  and  growing 
in  the  South  :  the  other  comes  from  Tientsin,  and  is  much 
nicer,  being  sweeter  and  more  juicy  in  its  turnipy  substance. 
Grapes  are  also  brought  from  the  North,  a  few  are  grown 
in  the  South,  but  very  different  are  both  pears  and  grapes 
from  English  ones.  Apples  come  from  the  North  of  China, 
but  are  very  spongy  in  taste. 

The  mango  is  a  flattish,  oblong  fruit  of  a  bright  yellow, 
gold  colour,  and  very  nice,  having,  however,  a  slight 
turpentine  taste.  It  is  a  fruit  overflowing  in  its  juiciness. 
The  best  come  from  Saigon  and  Manila,  whence  they  are 
brought  over  in  steamers. 

China  has  not  only  given  the  orange  to  Europe,  but 
has  on  the  other  hand  benefited  by  the  introduction  of  not 
a  few  fruits  from  other  parts  of  the  world,  amongst  which 
may  be  mentioned  the  pineapple,  which  was  cultivated  as 
early  as  A.D.  1594  in  China,  'to  which  it  was  brought  from 
the  Western  shore  of  America  through  the  Philippines.' 
The  delicious  custard-apple  also,  as  its  name  in  Chinese — 
fdn-lai-chi,  foreign  li-chi — implies,  is  a  foreign  introduction, 
and  is  identical  with  the  sweet -sop  of  the  West  Indies. 
Besides  this,  there  is  that  most  curious  of  fruits,  the 
carambola,  called  by  the  Chinese  the  yong-tb,  or  foreign 
peach,  though  why  this  name  should  have  been  selected  is 
a  mystery,  for  when  cut  through,  it  looks  like  a  star  with 

299 


Things  Chinese 

five  rays.  By  Europeans  it  is  also  known  as  the  Cape 
gooseberry.  There  is  another  variety  called  the  sdm-nhn, 
which  is  sourer  than  the  other.  These  belong  '  to  the 
belladonna,  or  deadly  nightshade  family,  without  having,  of 
course,  its  poisonous  qualities.' 

There  is  also  the  guava,  having  a  smell  something  like 
onions.  The  Amoy  pumelo  is  a  fine  fruit,  the  shaddock 
of  the  West  Indies.  There  are  two  or  three  varieties  of 
persimmons ;  a  yellow,  hard  kind,  a  bright  red,  soft  sort, 
about  the  size  and  shape  of  a  middling-sized  apple,  and  a 
small,  red  variety  somewhat  like  a  small  egg.  There  are 
also  several  varieties  of  plums,  some  very  nice,  and  the 
sour  arbutus,  too  sour  at  Canton  and  neighbourhood  to  be 
eaten  as  a  fruit,  but  making  a  good  fruit-syrup ;  it,  how- 
ever, is  sweeter  and  better  at  Swatow  than  at  Canton. 
The  jack-fruit  is  also  found  in  China,  and  the  roseapple, 
a  highly  scented  fruit,  giving  one  the  idea  of  eating 
solidified  scent,  about  the  size  of  a  small  apple  and  of  the 
form  of  a  hollow  sphere,  the  seeds  being  inside  the  hollow 
part.  Besides  the  above  mentioned  fruits  there  are  citrons, 
cocoa-nuts  in  Hainan,  limes,  melons  of  various  kinds, 
papaya,  pomegranates  which  are  a  mass  of  dried  seeds  in 
the  South  of  China,  and  consequently  not  eaten,  pumpkins, 
etc.  In  the  north  of  China  the  fruits  are  more  of  the 
European  type — apricots  and  strawberries,  besides  some 
we  have  already  mentioned. 

FUN. — Although  the  Chinese  look  so  serious  and 
grave,  they  enjoy  a  bit  of  fun  immensely.  The  lower 
classes  enter  heartily  into  jokes,  and  practical  ones  are 
constantly  to  be  seen  practised  in  the  streets  by  the  chair- 
coolies  waiting  for  hire.  Even  what  seems  to  most 
Europeans  a  cumbersome  language  lends  itself  to  puns. 
Hilarity  reigns  at  wine  and  dinner-parties.  Comedies  are 
in  great  vogue  at  theatres.  Jest-books  are  to  be  bought 
at  the  street  book-stalls ;  but,  unfortunately,  many  of  the 
broad  jokes  in  them  verge  on  the  indecent  and  some  of 
them  are  quite  obscene. 

300 


Gardens 

GARDENS. — Here  is  again  a  word,  like  many  other 
words,  which  represents  a  different  idea  in  China  from 
what  it  does  in  the  West.  One  who  comes  to  China 
prepared  to  see  the  beautiful  beds,  the  grouping  of 
colours,  and  blending  of  shades,  the  massing  of  foliage, 
the  parterres,  the  trim  gravel  -  walks,  the  grass  -  lawns, 
and  the  tout  ensemble  that  goes  to  make  up  the  idea 
represented  by  the  word  garden  amongst  us,  must 
be  prepared  to  be  disappointed.  In  their  place  are 
fantastic  masses  of  artificial  rockwork,  or  pools  filled 
with  the  large,  rich,  green,  disc-like  leaves  of  the 
lotus,  while  the  formal  but  lovely  red  flowers  give  some 
warmth  or  colour  to  the  scene.  A  Chinese  garden  must 
have  a  suggestion,  at  least,  of  water :  if  nothing  else, 
a  tiny  pond  with  artificial  rockwork  and  a  bridge — a 
veritable  arch  —  up  which  one  climbs  to  its  top  and 
descends  on  the  other  side.  At  times,  as  on  the  earth's 
surface,  water  abounds  more  than  the  dry  land,  for 
numerous  sheets  of  water  take  up  the  space  which  would 
be  occupied  in  Western  lands  by  flower-beds ;  but  still 
the  flower-beds  are  not  foregone ;  in  other  words,  the 
Chinese  have  no  flower-beds  on  land,  but  their  flower- 
beds are  in  the  water ;  for  the  still  surface  of  the  ponds 
is  embellished  with  the  large,  round,  peltate  leaves  of 
the  lotus,  having  a  stiff  beauty  of  their  own,  relieved 
in  the  summer  months  by  the  many  petaled,  purple, 
chalice-like  flowers  borne  on  their  long,  green  stalks 
above  the  leaves,  and  rising  from  the  underlying  mud 
— a  Buddhist  emblem  ;  for  '  as  it  lifts  up  its  buds  out 
of  the  slimy  ground  to  a  greater  or  less  height  above 
the  water,  unfolding  its  leaves  and  flowers,  on  whose 
spotless  petals  no  traces  are  to  be  found  of  the  mire 
from  which  it  has  sprung,  so  the  souls  of  men  .  .  .  rise 
from  the  slime  of  sin,  by  their  own  power  and  effort,  to 
different  heights,  and  reach  the  blessedness  of  Nirvana.' 
Later  on,  when  the  petals  are  scattered  and  have  floated 
away  like  tiny  boats,  the  green  and  curious  shaped  seed- 
vessels  are  seen.  Bridges,  as  we  have  said,  cross  these 

301 


Things  Chinese 

ponds,  while  kiosks,  or  summer-houses,  are  placed  here 
and  there,  in  the  midst  of  the  water  or  on  land,  as  fancy 
suggests.  Here  picnics  or  summer  parties  are  held,  and 
the  literary  tastes  of  the  guests  are  met  by  the  quotations, 
or  excerpts,  from  the  classics  hung  up  by  the  hundreds 
under  the  roofs  of  the  sheltered  walls,  while  the  votaries  of 
the  histrionic  art  have  their  tastes  provided  for  by  a  stage 
erected  especially  for  that  purpose.  Larger  buildings  are 
scattered  about  the  grounds,  fitted  with  the  straight- 
backed  and  antique-looking  blackvvood  chairs,  matched 
with  teapoys  and  sofas,  while  rustic-looking  stools 
stand  about,  formed  each  of  an  irregular  stone,  sup- 
ported on  a  wooden  stand  of  three  legs.  Those  who 
have  not  been  in  the  tropics  know  nothing  of  the 
luxury  of  one  of  these  cold,  smooth,  stone  seats  on  a 
hot  summer's  day. 

The  plants  are  ranged  in  rows  in  hundreds  of  coarse 
earthenware  pots,  or  at  the  best,  green  glazed  ones  sup- 
ported on  similar  stands  or  on  wooden  ones.  Very  few,  if 
any,  flowers  are  planted  in  the  ground.  Plants  of  privet 
are  trained  into  figures  of  animals  and  men,  to  which  eyes, 
hands,  feet,  and  hats  of  earthenware  are  added.  Long 
rows  of  these,  interspersed  with  flowers  and  shrubs,  all  in 
flower-pots,  line  the  walks.  Trees  are  allowed  to  grow  in 
certain  places,  but  there  are  no  ferneries,  no  glass-houses, 
and,  though  the  minutest  care  is  taken  in  the  cultivation, 
the  results  do  not  produce  what  we  would  look  upon  as  a 
garden.  Gardens,  in  this  Chinese  sense  of  the  term,  are 
attached  to  temples,  to  ancestral  halls,  or  form  the  pleasure- 
grounds  of  wealthy  gentlemen,  and  are  sometimes,  in  the 
latter  case  especially,  of  considerable  extent.  Most 
Chinese  who  can  afford  it,  or  who  have  the  space  for  it, 
have  a  few  flowers,  or  shrubs,  in  pots,  some  rockery  work, 
and  a  little  water  with  goldfish,  in  the  inner  part  of 
their  house,  or  congeries  of  buildings  which  do  duty  for  a 
mansion. 

The  following  account  of  a  native  garden,  the  Lotus 
Gardens,  the  residence  of  the  Literary  Chancellor  in  Pao- 

302 


Geography 

ting  fu,  will  give  some  idea  of  what  they  are  like,  even  to 
the  touch  of  decay  so  often  present  :— 

There  are  'extensive  rockeries,  fine  old  trees  of  several  varieties, 
grottoes,  an  irregular  lake  covering  an  acre  of  ground  perhaps,  while 
in  the  buildings  are  collections  of  tablets  engraven  from  texts  written 
by  different  Emperors  for  this  place.  It  has  been  a  fine  place  in  its 
day,  but  is  now  much  out  of  repair.  Until  recently  the  "lake"  was  a 
stagnant  pond,  but  this  spring  it  was  deepened,  the  ways  opened,  so 
that  the  water  flows  at  a  very  slow  pace,  which  could  hardly  be  other- 
wise on  this  plain.  This  necessitated  the  removal  of  the  Lotus  roots, 
and  doubtless  with  them  the  removal  of  the  cause  of  much  sickness. 
The  whole  place  needs  renovating,  and  might  be  made  a  lovely  spot. 
There  are  wistarias  said  to  be  600  years  old,  and  trees  perhaps  equally 
aged.' 

GEOGRAPHY.— The  China  of  to-day  is  not  the 
China  of  ancient  times ;  its  boundaries  have  extended 
greatly  while  the  history  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  was 
being  made.  Unlike  England,  which  had  to  go  beyond 
the  sea  to  add  to  her  empire,  the  nucleus  of  the 
Chinese  people  had  all  around  them  their  grand  future, 
and  having  acted  well  up  to  their  possibilities,  these  have 
developed  into  the  actualities  of  their  present  extended 
dominions — dominions  which,  with  all  their  tribute-bearing 
neighbours,  form  the  most  extensive  'ever  swayed  by  a 
single  power  in  any  age  or  any  part  of  the  world.'  The 
germs  of  this  mighty  realm  are  supposed  to  be  found  some 
thousands  of  years  before  Christ,  in  a  nomadic  people  in 
the  present  province  of  Shen-si.  Settling  in  villages,  they 
became  tradesmen  and  agriculturists,  and  from  the  dim 
mists  of  myths  and  tradition,  amidst  which  scarce  anything 
can  be  seen  clearly  or  with  certainty,  we  find  the  empire 
growing,  getting  the  sea-board  as  a  boundary,  and  extend- 
ing its  limits.  We  do  not  intend  in  the  course  of  this 
short  article  to  give  a  historical  account  of  the  geographical 
growth  of  the  empire.  It  would  lead  us,  were  we  to  do  so, 
far  beyond  our  limits,  and  its  scope  would  necessitate  an 
account  of  all  the  petty  states  into  which,  at  times,  China 
was  divided.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  for  many  centuries 
China  did  not  extend  beyond  the  great  River,  the  Yang- 
tsz-kiang.  Eventually  an  offshoot  was  sent  south  into  the 

303 


Things  Chinese 

eastern  portion  of  the  present  Kiang-nan,  and,  like  the 
rootlets  from  the  banian  tree,  grew  and  formed  finally 
another  trunk  to  support  the  tree  of  empire,  which  was 
destined  to  gradually  cover  the  whole  land.  For  a  long 
period  the  extreme  South  of  China  was  not  embraced  in 
the  realm  except  as  a  tributary  state  or  with  spasmodic 
attempts  at  Government,  but  at  last  the  bonds  which  united 
it  with  the  northern  portion  were  strengthened  until  it 
formed  an  integral  portion  of  China. 

The  present  dynasty  has  recovered  much  of  the  territory 
that  was  lost  under  the  last,  the  Ming  ;  till  now  it  is  nearly 
equal  to  what  it  was  under  Kublai  Khan,  when  Marco 
Polo  wrote  of  him  '  in  respect  to  number  of  subjects, 
extent  of  territory,  and  amount  of  revenue,  he  surpasses 
every  sovereign  that  has  heretofore  been  or  that  now  is  in 
the  world.'  In  1840,  it  was  estimated  that  the  Chinese 
Emperor  ruled  over  5,300,0x30  square  miles,  from  lat.  48° 
10'  N.  to  long.  144°  50'  E.  in  the  N.E.  part  of  the  empire, 
to  the  island  of  Hainan  in  the  south,  in  lat.  18°  10'  N.,  and 
on  the  extreme  West  to  long.  74°  E.  It  has  since  lost 
about  half  a  million  square  miles,  which  have  gone  to  add 
to  the  dominions  of  the  other  colossal  empire  of  the  world, 
Russia,  which  is  China's  neighbour  in  the  North,  while 
more  is  apparently  going  the  same  way  in  the  shape  of 
Manchuria.  England  and  France  in  their  colonial  empires 
also  touch  her  territories  in  the  south.  'Of  the  12,000 
miles  which  form  the  land  girdle  of  China,  6,000  touch 
Russian  territory,  4,800  British  territory,  and  only  400 
French,  while  800  miles  may  be  described  as  doubtful.' 
Japan  has  also,  with  the  last  war,  by  the  acquisition  of 
Formosa,  been  brought  into  near  neighbourhood  to  China. 
Since  the  greater  part  of  the  above  was  written,  Germany 
has  likewise  established  herself  on  the  coast  of  Shan-tung 
at  Kiao-chao,  Russia  has  obtained  Port  Arthur,  and  the 
French,  Kwong  Chau  Wan  in  the  South.  England  has 
also,  besides  Wei-hai-wei,  obtained  a  lease  of  land  at  the 
back  of  the  Kaulung  Peninsular,  Hongkong,  and  some 
islands.  What  the  near  future  has  in  store  for  China 

304 


Geography 

remains  to  be  seen.  Will  this  great  empire  so  loosely 
knit  together  remain  intact,  or  will  it  fall  to  pieces  from 
the  combined  pressure  from  without  and  the  corruption 
and  disintegrating  forces  from  within  ?  Efforts  are  being 
made  to  preserve  it  as  a  nation,  as  vide  the  late  Anglo- 
Japanese  alliance. 

In  shape,  the  Chinese  empire  approaches  a  rectangle, 
whose  circuit  is  14,000  miles,  or  more  than  half  the 
circumference  of  the  world  ;  her  coast-line  is  roughly 
stated  to  be  4,400  miles.  This  vast  empire  naturally 
divides  itself  into  the  three  divisions  of  China  proper, 
Manchuria,  and  the  Colonial  Possessions. 

China  proper  embraces  the  whole  of  the  eighteen 
provinces,  as  well  as  the  large  island  of  Hainan  ;  Manchuria 
lies  to  the  North  of  Corea  and  part  of  China  proper  ;  and 
the  Colonial  possessions  include  Mongolia,  Hi,  Kokonor, 
and  Tibet. 

These  eighteen  provinces  cover  about  2,000,000  square 
miles.  It  would  take  seven  Frances,  or  fifteen  Great 
Britains  and  Irelands,  to  cover  the  same  extent  of  ground. 
China  is  surrounded  by  different  mountain  chains,  forming 
a  wall  almost  all  round  it,  with  their  different  ranges, 
such  as  the  Altai,  the  Stanovai,  the  Tien-shan,  and  others  ; 
also  four  large  chains  occur  inside  the  boundaries,  assist- 
ing in  delimiting  territory,  the  highest  peaks  of  some  of 
which  are  snow-clad  the  whole  year  through  ;  some  of  the 
mountains  in  Yun-nan,  in  the  south-west  of  the  empire, 
are  the  same. 

The  three  great  basins  form  a  great  part  of  China. 
These  are  drained  respectively  by  the  Yellow  River,  say  2,500 
miles  long,  the  Yang-tsz-kiang,  3,000  miles  long,  while  the 
Canton  River  and  its  numerous  tributaries  drain  130,000 
square  miles.  We  cannot  mention  the  other  rivers,  though 
they  are  by  no  means  insignificant  nor  few,  for  '  the  rivers 
of  China  are  her  glory,  and  no  country  can  compare  with 
her  for  natural  facilities  of  inland  navigation.' 

Among  the  lakes  may  be  mentioned  the  Tung-ting, 
about  220  miles  in  circumference,  and  the  picturesque 

305  U 


Things  Chinese 

Po-yang,  with  its  numerous  islands,  90  miles  long  by  20 
in  breadth. 

Besides  the  three  basins  drained  by  the  three  great 
rivers,  there  is  the  Great  Plain  of  700  miles  in  length,  vary- 
ing in  width  from  1 50  to  400  miles,  having  the  same  area 
as  the  plain  of  Bengal,  drained  by  the  Ganges.  It  supports 
an  enormous  population;  in  1812,  the  number  was 
177,000,000,  that  is  two-thirds  of  that  of  Europe,  being  the 
most  densely  settled  portion  '  of  any  part  of  the  world  of 
the  same  size.' 

China  may  likewise  be  '  divided  into  the  mountainous 
and  hilly  country  and  the  Great  Plain.'  (See  Article  on 
Geology.)  The  mountainous  is  nearly  half  of  the  whole  of 
China,  the  hilly  is  in  the  south-east,  another  Great  Plain  is 
in  the  north-east. 

From  the  Yang-tsz  to  Hainan,"  the  whole  coast  is 
studded  with  numerous  islands  and  rocky  islets. 

The  most  important  Channels  are  that  of  Formosa, 
between  the  Island  of  Formosa  and  the  mainland,  and  the 
Straits  of  Lui-chau,  between  the  Island  of  Hainan  and  the 
Promontory  of  Lui-chau. 

The  most  noteworthy  gulfs  or  bays  are  the  Gulf  of 
Liang-tung  in  Manchuria,  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chih-li  in  the 
province  of  the  same  name,  and  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin  in  the 
extreme  south. 

Among  the  principal  promontories  may  be  named  that 
of  Liang-tung,  forming  the  Gulf  of  the  same  name,  the 
Shantung  promontory,  and  the  Lui-chau  promontory, 
already  named. 

The  principal  seas  are  the  Yellow,  between  Corea  and 
China ;  the  Eastern,  between  Japan  and  the  Lew-chew 
Islands  and  China  ;  and  the  China  Sea  to  the  south. 

In  political  geography,  China  proper  is  divided  into  the 
eighteen  provinces,  these  again  are  sub-divided  into  pre- 
fectures, the  latter  are  formed  of  different  kinds  of  districts, 
which  may  be  compared  to  the  counties  in  England.  It  is 
not  an  uncommon  thing  to  group  two  of  the  provinces 
together  for  administrative  purposes,  such  as  the  two 

306 


Geology 

Kwang — Kwang-tung    and    Kwang-si  ;     the    two    Hu— 
comprising  Hu-peh  and  Hu-nan. 

Of  the  principal  cities,  it  is  impossible  to  give  an 
enumeration,  so  numerous  are  they.  The  capital  of  each 
of  the  eighteen  provinces  would  come  under  this  category, 
some  of  them  boasting  of  a  million  or  more  of  inhabitants, 
such  as  Peking,  Canton,  and  others.  Every  province  has 
numbers  of  important  centres  of  commerce  and  government, 
such  as  the  district  cities  and  marts  ;  the  former  taking  the 
place  of  county  towns,  and  often  having  tens  or  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  inhabitants  ;  the  latter  forming  centres  of 
commercial  activity,  and  distributing  centres  for  agricultural 
produce,  etc.,  to  the  surrounding  country  districts. 

Books  recommended. — 'Historical  Atlas  of  the  Chinese  Empire,'  by  E.L. 
Oxeuham,  gives  maps  of  China  during  successive  dynasties,  and  shows  in  a 
striking  form  the  geographical  growth  of  the  Empire,  while  the  preface  is 
most  interesting.  Several  works  arc  in  existence  dealing  each  with  one 
province,  such  as  '  La  Province  Chinois  du  Yun-nan,'  par  Emile  Rocher,  and 
'  Shan  Tun":  a  Chinese  Province,' by  A.  Armstrong,  F.E.I. S.  ilost  text- 
books on  China  contain  a  chapter  on  the  geography.  One  of  the  best  is  in 
E.  H.  Parker's  'China.' 

GEOLOGY. — The  geology  of  the  Chinese  empire  has 
not  been  fully  investigated.  When  it  is  remembered  that 
vast  tracts  of  country  have  not  yet  been  trodden  by  the 
man  of  science,  it  will  be  seen  how  much  remains  to  be 
done  towards  the  acquisition  of  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
geological  conditions  of  the  large  portion  of  the  globe  ruled 
over  by  the  Chinese. 

In  the  centre  of  China  is  the  great  alluvial  plain 
produced  by  the  large  rivers,  the  Yang-tsz-kiang  and  the 
Yellow  River,  as  Egypt  has  been  created  by  the  Nile.  The 
great  quantities  of  silt  brought  down  by  the  Yellow  River, 
combined  with  other  causes,  such  as  deforestation,  etc., 
produce  the  periodical  floods  (See  Article  on  Floods)  and 
cause '  China's  Sorrow,'  as  it  has  been  aptly  termed,  to  seek 
new  means  of  reaching  the  sea.  The  Yang-tsz-kiang, 
which  has  been  styled  '  The  Girdle  of  China/  carries  its 
silt  more  out  to  sea  than  the  Yellow  River  does.  The  land 
it  has  made  during  its  existence  must  have  been  enormous, 

307 


Things  Chinese 

for  it  has  been  estimated  that  it  discharges  770,397  cubic 
feet  of  water  per  second  into  the  sea,  and  the  '  amount  of 
suspended  material  carried  down  every  year  to  the  sea  at 
6,428,858,255  cubic  feet.'  An  island  32  miles  long  by 
10  broad  has  been  formed  since  the  fourteenth  century,  in 
the  estuary  of  the  Yang-tsz.  This  mighty  river  takes  the 
third  place  in  the  list  of  the  largest  rivers  in  the  world,  the 
Amazon  and  the  Congo  heading  it,  and  the  Mississippi 
coming  fifth.  It  has  been  calculated  that  the  Yang-tsz, 
the  Yellow  River,  and  the  Pei  Ho,  would  in  sixty-six  days 
form  an  island  a  mile  square  in  the  sea,  and  in  36,000  years 
the  Gulfs  of  Pe-chih-li  and  Liau-tung,  the  Yellow  Sea,  and 
the  Eastern  Sea  as  far  south  as  about  half-way  between 
Ningpo  and  Wenchow,  and  as  far  east  as  about  midway 
between  the  coast  of  China  and  Japan,  would  become  solid 
ground.  Passing  from  the  future  to  the  past  it  has  been 
reckoned  that  it  has  taken  20,000  years  for  the  delta  of 
this  gigantic  river  to  be  formed.  The  oscillations  of  land 
level  do  not  appear  to  have  had  much  share  in  its  formation, 
as  they,  in  this  portion  of  China,  seem  to  have  been  of  the 
slightest,  during  this  period  at  all  events. 

Even  during  the  historical  period,  the  changes  appear 
to  have  been  great,  for  the  Shii  King,  which  contains  the 
most  ancient  account  of  Chinese  geography,  mentions  three 
mouths  of  the  Yang-tsz,  though  only  one  now  remains.  At 
the  time  of  Christ  a  '  great  part  of  the  Shanghai  plain  was 
not  yet  reclaimed  from  the  sea ;  and  the  Woo-sung  River 
or  Soo-chow  Creek  was  also  anciently  a  large  river  twenty 
//  (6  or  7  miles)  broad  at  what  is  now  the  city  of  Shanghai.' 
The  land  has  extended  further  out  into  what  was  then  the 
sea,  by  50  miles.  With  regard  to  the  underlying  stratum, 
or  strata,  Dr.  Macgowan  said  :  '  Whether  it  rests  immedi- 
ately upon  granite,  which  forms  the  basis  of  the  nearest 
mountain  ;  or  immediately  upon  new  red  sandstone,  of 
which  some  of  the  adjacent  hills  are  composed  ;  or  upon 
limestone,  which  is  found  protruding  at  the  Great  Lake 
(Tai-hii),  it  is  impossible  for  us  without  more  information 
to  determine.'  In  A.D.  1865  an  artesian  well  revealed,  at  a 

308 


Geology 

depth  of  248  feet,  grey  sand  beneath  10  feet  of  loam,  and  a 
few  feet  lower,  pebbles  ;  at  240  feet,  a  fragment  of  lime- 
stone. 

At  one  time  the  Shan-tung  promontory  with  the 
contiguous  mountainous  portion  of  the  province  was  an 
island,  and  the  province  of  Kiang-su  had  no  existence. 
The  steppe-like  plains  of  Pe-chih-li  show  their  recent 
elevation  above  the  sea.  On  the  other  hand,  there  arc 
evidences  of  the  encroachments  of  the  sea  on  the  land  to  a 
no  less  remarkable  extent.  The  eastern  border  of  the 
continent  has  experienced  a  slight  depression,  and  the  real 
eastern  border  included  Sumatra,  Java,  Borneo,  the 
Philippines,  Formosa,  the  Liu  Chiu  Islands,  Japan,  and  the 
Kuriles,  to  Kamtschatka. 

Among  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  geology  of 
North  China  is  the  loess.  It  covers  a  vast  extent  of 
country,  'extending  over  thousands  of  square  miles  and 
often  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness,'  and  is  a  brownish- 
coloured,  or  yellowish-brownish,  or  greyish  earth  ;  it  is 
split  up  into  numerous  clefts  ;  is  of  a  terrace  formation, 
and  steppe-like  contour ;  but  admirably  adapted  for 
agricultural  purposes  ;  and  lends  itself  to  the  picturesque 
most  effectively.  One  opinion  about  it  is  that  '  it  is  a  sub- 
aerial  deposit,  dating  from  a  geological  era  of  great  dry- 
ness  before  the  existence  of  the  Yellow  and  other  rivers  of 
the  northern  provinces.'  Another,  and  the  latest,  is  that  it 
is  a  sedimentary  deposit,  and  probably  of  marine  origin. 

'  Its  striking  peculiarity  is  that,  while  so  soft  and  friable  that  it 
may  be  powdered  between  the  fingers,  it  is  of  such  firm  consistency 
that,  when  excavations  are  made  in  it,  walls  hundreds  of  feet  high  will 
remain  standing  like  granite,  though  quite  perpendicular.  Its  particles 
are  so  fine  that  they  are  said  to  disappear  on  being  rubbed  into  the 
pores  of  the  skin.  In  China  roads  become  worn  out  to  depths  of  70  or 
80  feet,  the  walls  being  quite  perpendicular  ....  Its  greatest  thickness 
in  Europe  and  America  is  100  to  200  feet.  But  in  China  it  reaches  a 
depth  ten  times  as  great,  and  it  is  held  responsible  for  the  frequent 
shiftings  of  the  Yellow  River.' 

In  Southern  China,  between  Canton  and  Hankow,  the 
succession  of  rocks  is  first,  granite ;  second,  grits  and 
slates  ;  these  are  covered  by  old  limestones,  on  which  rests 

309 


Things  Chinese 

another  series  of  limestone  strata,  and  over  some  coal-beds 
lies  red  sandstone.  Of  this  part  of  the  country  it  has  been 
written  :— 

'  The  whole  country  is  ...  divided  into  several  isolated  basins, 
any  one  of  which  can  be  studied  by  itself,  whilst  in  most  instances,  the 
lines  of  demarcation  follow  roughly  the  political  divisions  of  the 
empire.  Amongst  these  natural  divisions  of  the  country,  we  may 
adduce  the  provinces  of  the  two  Kwang,  Kiang-si,  Fuh-kien  and  Che- 
kiang,  Ngan-whui,  Kwei-chau,  Kiang-su,  etc., — all  forming  separate 
districts,  divided  by  ranges  of  mountains  and  distinguished  each  by 
geological  characteristics.' 

'  The  central  and  eastern  portions  of  Kwang-tung,  contain,  within 
a  limited  area,  a  connected  sequence  of  formations,  ranging  upwards 
from  the  early  paleozoic  rocks  of  Hongkong  and  the  adjacent  coast 
and  islands,  to  the  new  red  sandstone  of  Canton  and  the  delta  of  the 
Pearl  River,  intermixed  with  some  traces  of  still  later  formations,  and 
being  accompanied  by  masses  of  rocks  of  igneous  origin  extending 
probably  over  a  still  more  prolonged  epoch.'  '  From  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Canton  to  the  sea,  the  rocks  are  composed  of  red  sandstone 
resting  on  granite,  until,  on  reaching  the  clusters  of  islands  that  line 
the  coast,  these  are  found  to  consist  of  a  coarse  granite  only,  crossed 
by  perpendicular  veins  of  quartz  ;  over  the  irregular  surfaces  of  the 
islands,  and  at  the  summits  of  the  highest,  are  strewn  immense 
rounded  blocks  of  the  same  rock.  They  are  generally  imbedded  in 
the  coarse  earth,  which  is  a  disintegration  of  the  general  substance  of 
the  islands,  and,  as  this  is  washed  from  under  them,  roll  down  the 
steep  declivities  until  they  reach  a  level  space,  and  commonly  stud 
the  sandy  margin  of  the  islands  with  a  belt  of  piled  rocks,  some  of 
them  many  tons  in  weight.  The  scenery  of  these  islands  has  often 
been  compared  to  that  of  the  Hebrides,  and  is  quite  as  barren.' 

'  The  island  of  Kulangsu  (Amoy)  is  typical  of  the  coast  formation 
of  Southern  China  ;  granite  is  its  principal  feature,  and  it  seems  to  be 
a  general,  but  by  no  means  unexceptional,  rule  that  along  the  coast, 
from  South  to  North,  the  granite  becomes  coarser  grained,  less 
micaceous  and  more  felspathic.' 

The  following  is  an  account  of  the  country  north  of 
Amoy : — 

'  Considerable  diversity  of  the  geological  structure  of  the  district 
from  Amoy  to  Tarn-si, — the  most  northern  portion  of  the  province 
visited — obtains  ;  this  is  not,  however,  the  case  with  the  Physical 
(ieography,  as  in  the  latter  respect  the  whole  country  is  a  series  of 
high  mountains,  the  general  character  being  physically  very  persistent, 
although  geologically  ranging  from  the  ingenite  or  granitic,  plutonic, 
and  volcanic  rock  at  Amoy  (as  observed  along  the  greater  portion 
of  the  East  Coast  of  China  and  typically  represented  in  the  island  of 
Hongkong)  the  Transition  or  Metamorphic  sedimentary  rocks  being 
developed  in  proceeding  northwards,  culminating  in  the  Derivate 
rocks,  the  Subaqueous  containing  the  whole  series  of  the  Paleozoic 

310 


Geology 

period,  the  Devonian,  Carboniferous,  and  Permian  systems  being 
highly  developed,  particularly  the  Carboniferous  ;  and  the  Sub-aerial 
being  represented  in  the  Mesozoic  period,  principally  by  the  upper 
new  red  sandstone  in  the  Triassic  system.  The  whole  country  must 
have  been  subject,  long  after  the  Mesozoic  period,  to  extraordinary 
convulsions  of  Nature.  One  "fault"  in  the  Carboniferous  Group, 
which  the  writer  had  a  good  opportunity  of  studying,  extended  a 
distance  of  8  miles;  the  mountain  in  which  the  "fault"  appeared 
being  over  1,500  feet  above  the  adjacent  valley,  standing  at  a  scarped 
angle  of  about  8  degrees,  exposing,  amongst  other  groups  of  the 
system,  the  coal  measures  in  numerous  seams  fully  300  feet  thick.' 

Shan-tung  is  a  most  interesting  province  from  a 
geological  point  of  view. 

The  following  extract  from  '  Across  Shan-tung,'  by 
S.  B.  J.  Skertchly,  F.G.S.,  M.A.I.,  puts  in  a  succinct  form  an 
account  of  the  geological  formation  of  the  Eastern  portion 
of  China : — 

'  Travelling  northwards  from  Hongkong  by  Amoy,  Foochow, 
Ningpo,  Shanghai  to  Chefoo,  we  pass,  speaking  generally,  from  older 
to  newer  rocks.  The  granites  of  Hongkong  with  their  associated 
beds  of  diorite  and  felspar  porphyries  are  the  oldest  rocks  of  China, 
the  backbone,  geologically  speaking,  upon  which  has  been  laid  down 
the  newer  beds  which  take  the  surface  over  by  far  the  greater  part  of 
this  vast  empire.  These  rocks  are  again  seen  at  Amoy  and  Foochow, 
are  hidden  beneath  newer  volcanic  rocks  at  Ningpo,  where  the 
beautiful  mottled  volcanic  agglomerate  yields  the  fine  building  stone 
which  adds  such  beauty  to  the  architecture  of  Shanghai  ;  then  the 
land  sinks  down  to  the  broad  plain  of  the  mighty  Yangtsz,  to  be 
succeeded  by  old  crystalline  rocks,  probably  of  Laurentian  age,  which 
run  all  the  way  to  Chefoo  on  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli,  whose  northern 
shores  in  Manchuria  and  Chihli  are  largely  made  up  of  beds  belonging 
to  the  Carboniferous  system. 

'  Travelling  inland  a  similar  series  of  rocks  is  found,  the  granites 
being  overlaid  by  crystalline  schist,  and  gneiss  and  quartzites,  over 
which  again  lie  the  carboniferous  beds,  with  patches  of  volitic  rock 
here  and  there,  yielding  as  in  Eastern  Shantung  beautiful  fossil 
fishes. 

'  The  granite  rocks  rise  in  bold  hills  and  mountains,  weathered  into 
rounded  masses,  which  ofttimes  become  quite  isolated,  and  stand  like 
boulders  upon  the  hill-sides,  or  lie  embedded  in  the  well-known 
"decomposed  granite  "  .  .  .;  these  boulders  are  simply  harder  masses 
of  granite  which  have  withstood  the  dissolving  action  of  the  elements  ; 
they  tell  neither  of  frost-bound  coasts,  nor  changes  of  level,  nor 
volcanic  outbursts,  but  are  stolid  witnesses  of  the  silent  forces  of  rain 
and  river,  of  tropic  showers  and  burning  suns  and  chilly  nights. 

'  In  marked  contrast  to  the  swelling  contours  of  the  granite  series, 
are  the  jagged  and  gnarled  hills  and  mountains  of  the  crystalline 
schists,  which  beautify  the  landscape  with  every  variety  of  crag  and 
peak  and  sierra,  the  rocks  themselves  bent,  twisted,  and  crumpled,  as 


Things  Chinese 

though,  instead  of  being  tough  enough  for  nether  millstones,  they  were 
plastic  as  dough. 

'  Very  different  again  are  the  limestone  hills  of  the  carboniferous 
system  with  their  gentle  flexures,  fretted  into  picturesque  castellated 
ramparts,  and  running  in  long  lines  along  the  dip.' 

The  province  of  Shan-si  is  rugged.  The  southern  part 
1  presents  a  geological  formation  of  great  simplicity.  .  .  . 
There  are  coal  formations  and  limestone,'  and  a  plateau  of 
later  rocks — sandstones,  shales  and  conglomerates  of  green, 
red,  yellow,  lilac,  and  brown  colours.  Some  granite  peaks 
rise  to  a  height  of  8,000  feet.  '  On  the  eastern  side  .  .  . 
rocks  are  made  up  of  ancient  formations  or  deposits  of  the 
Silurian  age.' 

There  are  most  extensive  coalfields  in  China ;  for  she 
is  credited  with  possessing  the  largest  coal  mines  in  the 
world  '  covering  200,000  square  miles,'  '  Most  of  the  rocks 
belong  to  the  paleozoic  or  early  secondary  ages  ;  the  later 
deposits  in  the  central  and  seaboard  provinces  at  least 
being  confined  to  a  few  sandstones  and  clays.'  The  great 
coalfields  of  China  stretch  from  '  near  Peking  along  the 
frontiers  of  Pe-chih-li  and  Shan-si,  and  thence  through 
Honan  and  Hu-peh,  into  the  great  coal  and  iron  district  of 
Hu-nan.'  '  The  less  important  fields  are  those  of  Kiang-si, 
Hu-peh,  Ngan-hwui,  Kiang-su,  Cheh-Kiang,  Fuh-Kien,  and 
Kwang  -  tung.'  They  all  belong  '  to  the  true  "  coal 
measures  "  of  the  carboniferous  system.' 

All  kinds  of  minerals  and  precious  stones  are  found  in 
China. 

Books  recommended. — There  are  numerous  articles  on  the  geology  of  certain 
districts  and  coal  formations,  etc.  etc.,  in  the  Chinese  Recorder  and  Mission- 
ary Journal,  the  'Journals  of  the  N.C.  Branch  of  R.A.S.'  and  'Notes  and 
Queries  on  China  and  Japan '  ;  as  well  as  notices  on  geology  in  Williams'* 
'  Middle  Kingdom.'  For  Xorth  China,  the  great  work  in  German  by  Baron 
von  Richthoven,  '  China,'  is  the  standard  work.  See  also  '  Across  Shan  Tung,' 
l>y  S.  B.  J.  Skertchly,  consisting  of  a  series  of  Articles  in  the  Hongkong 
Daily  Press  in  September  and  October  1892. 

GEOMAXCY,  OR  FUNG-SHUI.— This  superstition 
in  connection  with  the  worship  of  ancestors  has  the  greatest 
hold  on  the  Chinese  mind.  To  them  the  whole  of  Nature 
is  alive  with  influences  for  good  or  evil,  revealed  to  those 

312 


Geomancy,  or  Fung-Shui 

who  have  made  their  indications  a  study :  the  course  of  a 
stream,  the  trend  of  a  mountain,  the  position  of  a  clump  of 
bamboos,  the  curve  of  a  road,  the  site  of  a  grave,  and  a 
number  of  other  things  too  numerous  to  mention,  all  form 
the  visible  manifestations  to  the  initiated  eye,  of  Nature's 
future  actions,  or  the  good  and  evil  intentions  of  the 
departed  dead. 

The  rudiments  of  this  magic  art  are  to  be  found  in 
ancient  China,  but  it  was  not  till  the  twelfth  century  that  it 
was  elaborated  into  the  system  of  science,  falsely  so-called, 
that  has  now  such  a  hold  on  the  Chinese.  Adopting  what 
was  popular  and  attractive  in  the  modern  school  of  Con- 
fucianism, and  being  already  in  consonance  with  the 
Taoistic  and  Buddhistic  philosophies,  this  system,  based 
to  some  degree  on  the  rudiments  of  natural  science,  has 
subtly  laid  hold  of  the  whole  being  and  existence  of  the 
Chinese  people.  They  believe  not  only  that  the  comfortable 
sepulture  of  their  ancestors  will  redound  to  their  own 
comfort,  but  that  if  the  union  of  the  elements,  the  nature  of 
the  soil,  the  configuration  of  the  ground,  and  all  the  other 
things  which  enter  into  this  farrago  of  nonsense  are  such 
as  to  produce  a  felicitous  combination,  that  riches,  honour, 
and  posterity  will  be  vouchsafed  to  them.  It  is  these 
beliefs  that  cause  the  coffin  to  be  so  often  kept  for  months  or 
years  unburied,  for  a  site  is  being  searched  for  which  shall 
combine  all  that  is  productive  of  good  to  the  children  and 
grandchildren.  Even  when  the  eldest  son  has  discovered 
such  a  site,  and  is  confident  that  happiness  and  prosperity 
will  be  his  lot,  it  may  be  that  another  son  has  found  out 
that  what  will  benefit  his  brother  will  not  be  productive  of 
good  to  him,  but  of  evil  ;  consequently  the  whole  search 
will  have  to  be  gone  over  again  till  one  favourable  to  all 
parties  can  be  discovered.  So  many  different  elements 
come  in,  in  determining  the  lucky  sites,  that  the  professors 
of  geomancy  are  easily  able  to  make  a  living  out  of  the 
gullibility  of  their  employers.  When  it  is  added  that  in 
building  a  house,  in  fixing  on  a  site  for  an  ancestral  hall,  in 
commencing  a  temple,  and  in  numerous  other  projects  and 

313 


Things  Chinese 

businesses  demanding  the  attention  of  the  Chinese,  these 
doctors  of  geomancy  have  to  be  consulted,  it  may  readily 
be  seen  that,  in  the  hands  of  clever  and  designing  men, 
much  room  is  open  for  earning  an  honest  (?)  penny. 

The  compasses  exposed  for  sale  in  such  numbers  in 
the  streets  in  Chinese  cities  are  not  mariner's  compasses, 
which  are  seldom  to  be  met  with,  but  geomancer's  com- 
passes, which  contain  the  elements  of  their  mystic  art,  by 
the  aid  of  which  they  largely  determine  their  judgments 
on  sites  and  localities. 

Just  one  instance  of  how  Fung-Shui  is  troublesome  to 
Europeans  in  China :  in  the  phraseology  of  this  occult 
science  '  when  two  buildings  are  beside  one  another,  the 
one  on  the  left  is  said  to  be  built  on  the  green  dragon  and 
the  one  on  the  right  on  the  white  tiger.  Now  the  tiger 
must  not  be  higher  than  the  dragon,  or  death  or  bad  luck 
will  result.'  Supposing  now  a  European  or  American  gets 
a  site  for  a  residence  next  to,  and  on  the  right-hand  side  of, 
a  native  dwelling.  Here  then  are  all  the  elements  ready 
for  trouble  ;  for,  to  begin  with,  the  foreigner  will  naturally 
desire  to  erect  a  house  more  suited  for  habitation  than  the 
low  abode  which  would  satisfy  the  average  Chinaman. 

Another  curious  instance  of  the  reasonings,  or  shall  we 
rather  call  them  insane  vapourings,  that  its  professors 
indulge  in,  will  give  a  practical  illustration  of  the  workings 
of  Fung  -  Shui :  when  it  was  proposed  to  construct  a 
telegraph  between  Canton  and  Hongkong,  the  ground  of 
the  opposition  against  it  was  as  follows  : — Canton  is  the 
'  City  of  Rams,'  or  '  Sheep,'  the  mouth  of  the  river  is  known 
as  the  '  Tiger's  Mouth ' ;  the  district  opposite  Hongkong  is 
the  '  Nine  Dragons '  (Kau  Lung).  What  more  unfortunate 
combination  could  be  found — a  telegraph  line  to  lead  the 
Sheep  right  into  the  Tiger's  Mouth  and  amongst  the  Nine 
Dragons  ! ! ! 

It  is  this  pseudo  science  which  has  so  strenuously 
opposed  the  introduction  of  railways,  telegraph  lines,  and 
foreign  innovations,  in  the  past,  or  was  made  to  do  duty  as 
an  objection  to  them.  But  it  has  not  been  an  insuperable 

314 


Ginger 

obstruction  ;  for  whenever  the  Chinese  Government  has 
made  up  its  mind  to  the  introduction  of  any  of  the  inven- 
tions of  Western  science,  Fung-Shui  has  not  been  allowed 
to  be  an  obstacle :  while  pandering  to  its  absurd  ideas 
as  far  as  is  practicable  without  hindering  the  feasibility  of 
their  scheme,  yet  the  populace,  if  obstructive,  has  usually 
been  made  to  feel  that  the  will  of  the  rulers  has  to  be 
obeyed. 

Books  recommended. — '  Fung  Shui  ;  or,  the  Rudiments  of  Natural  Science 
in  China,'  by  Rev.  E.  J.  Eitel,  M.A.,  Ph.D.  The  chapter  on  'Ancestral 
Worship'  in  Rev.  B.  0.  Henry's  '  The  Cross  and  the  Dragon,' and  different 
pages  under  the  heading  of  geomancy  and  geomancers  in  Rev.  II.  C.  Du  Dose's 
'The  Dragon,  Image,  and  Demon."  Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom,'  Arch- 
deacon Gray's  'China,'  and  Rev.  J.  Doolittle's  'Social  Life  of  the  Chinese.' 

GINGER. — Most  of  the  ginger  produced  in  the  world 
is  furnished  by  the  root  of  the  Zitigibcr  officinale  (Roscoe); 
but  that  from  China,  as  well  as  Siam,  is  the  product  of 
another  plant,  the  Alpinia  galangas,  'yet,  considering  the 
wide  distribution  of  Zingiber  officinale,  it  is  quite  possible 
that  the  true  ginger  may  also  be  cultivated  in  some  parts 
of  China.' 

It  is  grown  largely  in  the  Kwang-tung  province,  where 
it  is  found  in  nearly  every  part,  the  Miau-tsz  aborigines 
even  cultivating  large  quantities  of  it.  The  best  and  most, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city  of  Canton,  coming  from  the 
Nam-hoi  District  itself,  in  a  portion  of  which  the  provincial 
city  is  partially  situated. 

In  another  district,  some  days'  journey  from  Canton, 
three-tenths  of  the  flat  land,  and  seven-tenths  of  the 
cultivated  soil  in  the  hills  are  planted  with  ginger. 

'A  distinction  is  made  between  the  flat-land  ginger  .  .  .  which  is 
generally  soft  and  tender,  and  mountain  ginger  .  .  .  which  is  brittle 
and  very  pungent.  This  is  generally  used  for  home  consumption  ; 
the  Chinese  pickle  it  in  vinegar.  The  expensive  .  .  . — syrup  ginger — 
is  almost  exclusively  consumed  by  foreigners,  or  exported.' 

Ginger  is  also  grown  to  a  large  extent  in  Hu-peh  and 
Kiang-si,  where  it  is  largely  eaten  in  the  green  state.  This 
ginger  of  mid-China  is  said  to  be  very  fragrant,  but  '  too 
sticky  '  to  make  '  a  very  excellent  preserve.' 

315 


Things  Chinese 

Ginger  is  used  as  a  medicine  in  China.  The  author 
has  seen  it  cure  a  violent  headache  when  applied  in  the 
Chinese  fashion,  which  is  to  heat  fresh  ginger  in  the  fire, 
and  slice  in  thin  pieces  which  are  stuck  on  the  forehead 
and  temples. 

The  Alpinia  galangas  grows  wild  in  Hongkong,  and 
forms  when  in  flower  a  conspicuous  object  in  the  glens  and 
on  the  hill-sides,  with  its  narrow,  long  leaves  and  bright 
panicles  of  flower,  each  flower  being  nearly  an  inch  in 
length. 

GINSENG. — Kaempfer  says  that  next  to  tea  ginseng 
is  the  most  celebrated  plant  in  the  whole  Orient,  on  account 
of  its  root.  It  has  indeed  well  been  termed  the  cure-all,  as 
the  Chinese  have  a  most  wonderful  faith  in  its  curative  and 
strengthening  properties,  for  which  reason  it  has  been  also 
styled  '  the  chinchona  of  China.'  It  is  considered  to  be  '  a 
cure  for  fevers  and  weaknesses  of  all  sorts — the  chief  and 
most  costly  medicine.' 

The  plant  belongs  to  the  family  of  the  Araliacece,  and 
the  scientific  name  for  it  is  Pamax  Ginseng.  It  is  found 
'  wild  in  the  mountain  forests  of  Eastern  Asia,  from  Nepal 
to  Manchuria.'  It  formerly  grew  in  Fuh-kien,  Kiang-nan 
and  Shan-si ;  '  their  stock  would  seem  to  be  extinguished, 
or  the  plan  of  cultivation  by  seed,  described  in  the  "  Pen 
Ts'ao,"  might  have  been  given  up  in  the  face  of  the  grow- 
ing favour  of  the  Manchurian  wild  plant."  Ginseng  is  one 
of  the  treasures  of  Manchuria.  Dr.  Lansdell,  in  his  book 
'  Through  Siberia,'  thus  writes  of  it : — 

'  Ginseng  is  found  chiefly  in  the  valleys  of  the  Upper  Ussuri,  where 
it  is  cultivated  in  beds,  planted  in  rows.  The  earth  must  be  a  rich, 
black  mould,  and  loose  ;  and  when  the  plant  has  attained  the  height  of 
four  or  five  inches,  it  is  supported  by  a  stick.  The  beds  are  carefully 
weeded  and  watered  and  protected  from  the  sun  by  tents  or  sheds  of 
wood.  Wild  ginseng  is  said  to  be  the  best.  From  May  to  September 
hundreds  go  out  to  seek  the  plant.  .  .  .  The  prices  named  ...  for 
this  root  were  almost  fabulous,  a  single  root  being  valued  in  Manchuria 
at  from  .£250  to  .£300.  I  was  told  on  the  river  that  ginseng  sells  for 
.£30  per  Russian  lb.,  but  that  in  a  bad  year  the  Chinese  count  it  as 
valuable  as  gold,  and  give  up  to  ^40  per  lb.  .  .  .  The  root  is  straight, 
spindle-shaped,  knotty,  and  up  to  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  eight 

316 


Ginseng 

inches  in  length.  The  leaves  are  cut  off,  and  the  root  is  boiled  in 
water,  apparently  to  remove  some  injurious  quality  ;  and  when  it  has 
undergone  fitting  preparation  its  colour  is  a  transparent  white,  with 
sometimes  a  slight  red  or  orange  tint ;  its  appearance  then  is  that  of 
a  stalactite.  It  is  carefully  dried,  wrapped  in  unsized  paper,  and  sent 
to  the  market.' 

Dr.  Porter  Smith,  in    the   course  of  a  long  article  on 
ginseng,  says : — 

'The  root  is  carefully  hunted  for  by  Manchus,  who  boast  that  the 
weeds  of  their  country  are  the  choice  drugs  of  the  Chinese.  The 
pieces,  after  carefully  trimming  with  a  bamboo  knife  and  drying  in 
still  air,  are  made  to  assume  something  of  the  form  of  the  human 
body.  They  generally  do  resemble  a  miniature  human  hand,  the 
larger  pieces  being  of  the  size  of  a  man's  little  finger,  with  some  two 
to  four  finger-like  branching  rootlets.  They  are  yellowish,  semi- 
transparent,  firm,  brittle  to  some  extent,  and  of  a  sweet  mucilaginous 
taste,  accompanied  with  a  slight  bitterness.  .  .  .  Fabulous  stories 
are  told  of  the  finding  of  special  depots  of  this  root,  which  is  associated 
with  guiding  voices,  stars,  and  other  good  and  peaceful  omens.  .  .  . 
The  trade  in  the  drug  is  a  speciality.  Great  care  is  required  to  pre- 
serve choice  specimens  from  the  effects  of  damp  and  the  attacks  of 
worms,  to  which  the  drug  is  very  liable.  This  drug  is  prepared  as 
an  extract,  or  as  a  decoction,  in  silver  vessels  as  a  rule.  .  .  .  Several 
cases  in  which  life  would  seem  to  have  been  at  least  prolonged  by  the 
taking  of  doses  of  this  drug,  so  as  to  allow  of  intelligent  disposition 
of  property,  indicate  that  some  positive  efficacy  of  a  sustaining 
character  does  really  exist  in  this  species  of  Ivywort.' 

Manchuria  does  not  supply  sufficient  quantity  to  meet 
the  constant  demand  for  it,  and  Corea  and  Japan  furnish 
it  as  well,  but  they  (the  Japanese  and  Corean)  are  not  con- 
sidered equal  in  quality  to  the  first-named  variety.  That 
found  wild  in  Chinese  Manchuria  is  a  government 
monopoly,  and  is  gathered  '  by  detachments  of  soldiers 
detailed  for  this  purpose.'  The  Emperor  sometimes  makes 
presents  of  it  to  high  officials,  as  a  mark  of  great  favour. 
There  is  even  a  variety  of  it  which  is  indigenous  in  the 
Appalachian  range,  and  which  is  exported  from 
Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  (U.S.A.)  (and  also  from  the 
Western  States  as  well)  to  China.  In  1877  nearly 
8700,000  worth  were  sent  to  the  Celestial  Empire.  The 
trade  is  not  increasing,  of  late  years,  remaining  '  stationary 
owing  to  the  gradual  extinction  of  the  plant  [Pana.r 
Quinquefolius\  which  cannot  be  grown  artificially  with 
success." 

317 


Things  Chinese 

GODOWN. — Godown  is  a  word  in  use,  amongst  the 
foreign  residents  in  China,  for  a  storehouse  or  warehouse 
where  cargo  or  goods  are  stored.  It  is  a  corruption  of  the 
Malay  gedong. 

GOLDFISH.— The  original  habitat  of  the  goldfish 
appears  to  have  been  China :  according  to  the  Chinese  the 
native  place  is  Lake  Tsau  in  the  province  of  Ngan-hwui. 
They  were  taken  to  Europe  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

Williams  says  of  them  : — 

'  The  effects  of  domestication  in  changing  the  natural  form  of  this 
fish  are  great ;  specimens  are  often  seen  without  any  dorsal  fin,  and 
the  tail  and  other  fins  tufted  and  lobed  to  such  a  degree  as  to  resemble 
artificial  appendages  or  wings  rather  than  natural  organs.  The  eyes 
are  developed  till  the  globe  projects  beyond  the  socket  like  goggles, 
presenting  an  extraordinary  appearance.  Some  of  them  are  so  fan- 
tastic, indeed,  that  they  would  be  regarded  as  lusus  natures,  were  they 
not  so  common.  The  usual  colour  is  a  ruddy  golden  hue,  but  both 
sexes  exhibit  a  silvery  or  blackish  tint  at  certain  stages  of  their  growth, 
and  one  variety,  called  the  silver-fish,  retains  this  shade  all  its  life. 
The  Chinese  keep  it  [the  gold-fish]  in  their  garden  ponds,  or  in 
earthen  jars,  in  which  are  placed  rocks  covered  with  moss,  and 
overgrown  with  tufts  of  ferns,  to  allow  them  a  retreat  from  the  light. 
When  the  females  spawn,  the  eggs  must  be  removed  to  a  shallow 
vessel,  lest  the  males  devour  them,  where  the  heat  of  the  sun  hatches 
them  ;  the  young  are  nearly  black,  but  gradually  become  whitish  or 
reddish,  and  at  last  assume  a  golden  or  silvery  hue.  Specimens 
upwards  of  two  feet  long  have  been  noticed,  and  those  who  rear  them 
emulate  each  other  in  producing  new  varieties.' 

Japanese  in  Japan  produce  these  double-tailed  goldfish 
known  as  Carassius  auratus,  by  taking  the  eggs  of  the 
single-tailed  variety  and  shaking  or  disturbing  them.  The 
result  of  which  is  that  unnatural  developments  take  place 
and  double  monsters  result,  some  having  double  tails  and 
some  single  tails  and  mirabile  dictu  double  heads.  Those 
with  a  pair  of  tails  are  likely  to  live  and  perpetuate  in  their 
offspring  this  peculiar  feature.  For  this  to  become  a  fixed 
trait,  it  would  appear  that  all  that  was  required  was  care 
taken  in  selection  of  the  fish  to  breed. 

GOVERNMENT.— The  Government  of  China  is  that 
of  an  absolute,  despotic  monarchy.  The  Emperor  rules 
by  virtue  of  a  divine  right  derived  direct  from  Heaven, 

'   318 


Government 

and  he  is  styled  'The  Son  of  Heaven.'  This  divine 
right  he  retains  as  long  as  he  rules  in  conformity  with 
the  decrees  of  Heaven.  When  the  dynasty  falls  into 
decay  by  the  vices  of  its  rulers,  Heaven  raises  up 
another  who,  by  force  of  arms,  the  virtue  of  bravery, 
and  fitness  for  the  post,  wrests  the  sceptre  from  the 
enfeebled  grasp  of  him  who  is  unfit  to  retain  it  any 
longer.  This  idea  has  exerted  a  beneficial  effect  on 
the  sovereigns  of  China,  who  feel  that  on  the  one 
hand  they  are  dependent  upon  high  Heaven  for  the 
retention  of  their  throne,  and  who  humbly  and  publicly 
confess  their  shortcomings  in  times  of  floods  and 
drought.  On  the  other  hand,  though  there  is  no  House 
of  Commons  to  exercise  a  check  on  the  unrestrained 
power  of  the  Sovereign,  there  is  the  general  public 
opinion  of  the  people,  who,  being  educated  in  the 
principles  that  underlie  all  true  government,  are  ready 
to  apply  them  to  their  rulers  when  they  forget,  or 
act  grossly  in  opposition  to,  them.  To  see  the  system 
of  patriarchal  government  carried  out  in  its  entirety, 
one  must  come  to  China.  The  Emperor  stands  in 
loco  parentis  to  the  common  people,  and  his  officers 
occupy  a  similar  position.  The  principles  which  have 
formed  the  framework  of  government  for  millenniums 
among  these  ancient,  stable,  and  peace-loving  people, 
may  be  found  in  a  study  of  the  rule  of  the  ancient 
kings,  Yao  and  Shun,  and  their  successors,  and  in  the 
precepts  inculcated  by  Confucius  and  Mencius.  With 
all  its  defects,  their  system  appears  to  be  better  adapted 
for  the  punishment  of  the  criminal  classes  amongst 
them  and  the  prevention  of  their  fraudulent  bankruptcies 
than  our  systems,  which  are  the  outgrowth  of  centuries 
of  civilisation,  not  yet  passed  through  by  the  Chinese, 
who  consequently  are  not  yet  educated  up  to  our 
standpoint.  The  unit  in  China  is  not  the  individual, 
but  the  family,  therefore  it  is  impossible  for  a  fraudulent 
bankrupt  to  settle  his  goods  on  his  wife  or  family,  as 
the  family  must  make  good  his  losses ;  in  the  same 

319 


Things  Chinese 

way  a  family  is  responsible  for  the  good  behaviour  of 
its  members ;  a  neighbourhood  for  its  inhabitants ;  and 
an  official  for  those  governed  by  him.  Thus  results  a 
system  of  '  mutual  responsibility  among  all  classes.' 
This  acts  as  a  great  deterrent  of  serious  crime  and 
defalcations ;  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  in  our 
rule  of  the  Chinese,  such  a  system  could  not  have 
been  carried  out,  with  such  modifications  as  to  free  it 
from  its  defects,  instead  of  introducing  a  new  system 
foreign  entirely  to  their  feelings  and  understanding. 

The  right  of  succession  to  the  throne  in  China  'is 
hereditary  in  the  male  line,  but  it  is  always  in  the 
power  of  the  Sovereign  to  nominate  his  successor  from 
among  his  own  children.'  This  nomination,  most  wisely, 
is  not  made  public  during  the  lifetime  of  the  reigning 
Sovereign,  thus  preventing  intrigue  and  obviating  all 
necessity  for  those  bloody  scenes  which  disgrace  the 
accession  of  so  many  Eastern  potentates  to  their 
thrones. 

The  Emperor  has  two  councils  to  advise  him  and 
to  consult  with.  One  is  the  Cabinet,  or  Imperial  Chancery 
(the  Nui  Koh).  A  more  influential  body  is  the  Council 
of  State,  or  General  Council,  approaching  more  to  the 
Ministries  of  Western  nations,  though  necessarily  quite 
unlike  them.  It  meets  in  the  Emperor's  palace  daily. 
Under  these  two  councils  are  the  Six  Boards  —  Luk 
P6 — their  names  give  a  pretty  good  idea  of  their 
functions :  The  Boards  of  Civil  Office,  Revenue,  Rites, 
War,  Punishment,  Works — and  a  Naval  Board  has  been 
added  in  recent  years,  and  still  more  recently  a  Board  to 
deal  with  the  foreign  relations  of  China,  forced  reluctantly 
into  the  comity  of  civilised  and  enlightened  nations. 

There  are  other  departments  of  government,  one  of 
which,  the  Censorate,  deserves  more  than  passing  notice. 
On  account  of  its  peculiar  duties  it  has  attracted  much 
attention  from  Western  writers.  In  conjunction  with  some 
of  the  other  Boards,  it  forms  a  Court  of  Appeal ;  and,  with 
other  departments  of  government,  it  deliberates  on  import- 

320 


Government 

ant  affairs  of  State ;  it  exercises  an  oversight  over  all 
criminal  cases ;  and  superintends  the  affairs  of  the  metro- 
polis. These  duties  call  for  but  little  remark,  but  it  is  the 
extraordinary  powers  that  are  vested  in  its  members,  of 
censuring,  not  only  the  manner  in  which  other  officials 
have  performed  or  neglected  their  duties,  but  even  the 
conduct  of  the  Emperor  himself — powers  that  are  often 
availed  of  in  the  interests  of  justice,  with  a  boldness  and 
courage  most  unusual  under  a  despotic  rule,  that  at  times 
meet  with  their  reward,  and  at  other  times  call  forth  over- 
whelming censure  and  punishment  from  the  Sovereign 
himself.  When  rightly  used  by  a  high-minded  and  con- 
scientious official  (for  such  are  to  be  found  in  China)  in 
the  consciousness  of  right,  and  with  the  best  interests  of 
the  country  at  heart,  and  with  broad  and  enlightened  views, 
these  extraordinary  powers  must  be  productive  of  good, 
though  many  must  be  loath  to  use  these  privileges  of 
outspoken  speech  for  fear  of  the  consequences  which  may 
recoil  on  their  own  heads,  often  indeed  so  serious,  as  to 
make  the  best  intentioned  hesitate  before  committing 
themselves. 

For  the  government  of  the  provinces  there  is  a  perfect 
ramification  of  officials  from  superior  to  inferior,  from  the 
ten  or  twelve  Viceroys  of  one  or  two  provinces  each,  down 
to  the  petty  officials. 

One  very  curious  feature  in  Chinese  official  life  is  the 
manner  in  which  judicial,  military,  naval,  and  fiscal  duties 
are  performed  by  one  and  the  same  official  at  different 
stages  of  his  official  life.  He  is  transferred  from  one  post 
to  the  other,  irrespective  of  former  experience  in  the 
particular  duties  of  his  appointment.  With  the  intro- 
duction of  Western  naval  vessels  and  military  arma- 
ments this  eclectic  system  of  filling  offices  is  bound 
in  the  long  run  to  give  way.  Were  bribery  and  corrup- 
tion absent  from  official  ranks,  this  complete  system  of 
officialdom,  with  all  its  business-like  methods  of  accom- 
plishing work,  would  produce  much  more  beneficent 
results ;  but  a  premium  is  put  on  '  squeezing,'  as  no 

321  X 


Things  Chinese 

official  is  paid  a  sufficient  salary  to  meet  his  necessary 
expenses.  Notwithstanding  this,  there  are  noble  excep- 
tions to  the  general  rule  of  corruption,  and  these  honest 
mandarins  meet  with  the  honour  of  the  people,  who  justly 
appreciate  such  conduct.  They  have  no  other  rewards  but 
this,  and  that  of  their  own  self-approving  consciences,  for 
such  probity  brings  no  pecuniary  benefits  in  its  train ;  in- 
deed, it  often  lands  the  noble  man  in  the  lowest  depths  of 
poverty. 

'A  Viceroy  in  the  provinces  gets  as  his  yearly  official  salary  about 
£100,  and  allowances  amounting  to  .£900  or  £1,200  more  ;  but  he  has 
to  defray  out  of  these  sums  all  his  yamen  expenses,  including 
stationery,  etc,  salaries  and  food  to  his  secretaries,  writers,  and  A.D.C., 
his  body-guards  and  general  retinue,  to  entertain  his  innumerable 
guests,  and  send  his  annual  tributes  to  the  various  high  officials  in  the 
capital,  to  say  nothing  of  supporting  his  high  station  and  his  numerous 
family  [doubtless  consisting  of  a  number  of  wives  and  sons  and 
daughters]  and  relations.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  to  meet  his  expenditure 
he  would  require  no  less  than  ,£10,000  or  ,£15,000  per  annum.  .  .  . 
From  these  high  magnates  downwards,  the  Chinese  officials  are 
underpaid  in  the  same  proportion,  until  we  get  to  the  lowest  grade, 
the  petty  mandarin,  whose  official  pay  is  scarcely  better  than  that  of 
a  well-paid  Hongkong  coolie,  and  the  soldiers  and  sailors  who  receive 
four  to  ten  shillings  a  month,  subject  oftentimes  to  various  unjust 
deductions  and  squeezes  by  their  superiors.' 

As  an  indication  of  a  peculiarity  in  Chinese  life,  the 
following  extract,  taken  from  a  paper  written  by  a 
Chinese  in  the  Asiatic  Quarterly  Review,  is  given.  It 
touches  lightly  on  the  people  being  allowed  to  a  certain 
extent  to  govern  themselves  so  long  as  no  flagrant  breach 
of  the  laws  comes  to  light : — 

'The  Central  Government  does  not  do  its  plain  duty,  and  the 
people  have  in  consequence  been  compelled  to  evolve  some  sort  of 
local  administration  for  themselves.  The  authorities  do  not  interfere 
with  this,  because  it  is  not  their  interest  to  do  so.  It  is  a  cheap  and 
easy  way  of  getting  some  sort  of  administration  carried  on,  while  the 
money  which  should  go  in  administering  the  country  is  squandered  in 
other  ways.' 

GRAPES. — Grapes  are  very  poor  in  the  South  of  China, 
and  but  little  cultivated  or  eaten.  Those  from  Tientsin  or 
the  North  are  much  better,  but  still  far  behind  the  English 
hot-house  production  in  every  respect. 

322 


Hakkas 

GUAVA. — This  fruit  is  very  common  in  the  South  of 
China.  Its  strong  odour  when  fresh  is  much  disliked  by 
many  foreigners.  Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  concerning 
the  fruit  itself,  the  jelly  made  from  it  is  highly  esteemed  by 
all.  The  Chinese  have  not  yet  taken  up  the  manufacture 
of  this  delicious  article. 

HAKKAS. — Who  the  Hakkas  are  is  a  question  of  some 
interest.  The  author  remembers,  when  a  boy,  travelling 
in  the  interior,  and  coming  across  a  village  where  the 
people  spoke  quite  a  different  speech  from  that  of  the 
other  inhabitants  round  them  ;  it  is  like  this  that  the 
Hakkas  are  often  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  population, 
quite  distinct  from  them  in  language,  differing  in  customs, 
to  a  slight  extent  in  dress,  and  even  in  some  of  the  idols 
worshipped.  Those  found  in  the  South  of  China  were  not 
originally  of  that  region,  but  their  family  genealogies  show 
that  they  have  come  from  the  North,  being  the  last  wave  of 
immigration  from  the  North  to  the  South,  settling  in  some 
cases  in  different  places  till  they  have  finally  established 
themselves  in  their  present  surroundings.  In  certain 
districts  they  have  monopolised  the  whole  country-side,  as 
in  the  prefecture  of  Ka-yin-chii,  in  the  Canton  province, 
'  which  is  entirely  peopled  by  Hakka,'  while  in  other  places 
they  form  a  half,  a  third,  or  more,  of  the  population,  being 
interspersed  among  the  Pun-tei,  as  the  older  Chinese 
inhabitants  are  termed.  In  some  places,  partly  peopled 
by  them,  they  have  settled  on  the  higher  land,  leaving  the 
Pun-tei  to  the  low-lying  lands,  and  from  this  circumstance 
they  have  been  called  Chinese  Highlanders  by  some,  but 
the  name  is  a  misnomer,  as  it  is  only  capable  of  local 
application,  for  in  other  places  they  are  spread  over  the 
plains  as  well  as  the  hilly  ground.  They  are  not  confined 
to  the  Canton  province,  where  they  are  considered  to  form 
a  third  of  the  inhabitants,  but  are  found  in  different 
parts  of  China — in  Kwang-si,  in  Fuh-kien,  and  in  Che- 
kiang  ;  it  has  also  been  said  that  'the  chief  part  of 
the  Kiang-si  province '  is  Hakka,  and  that  the  language 

323 


Things  Chinese 

spoken  in  the  Capital  of  that  province,  Nan-chang-fu,  is 
Hakka. 

Their  language  is  more  akin  to  Mandarin,  being  a  half- 
way house  between  Cantonese  and  Mandarin  :  '  the  Hakka 
dialect  is  the  remnant  of  a  phase  of  transition  through 
which  the  common  Chinese  language  passed  in  developing 
itself  from  Cantonese  to  Mandarin.'  It  is  perhaps  spoken 
by  about  four  millions  of  people  in  the  Canton  province 
alone  ;  but  for  more  about  their  speech  we  must  refer  the 
reader  to  our  article  on  Dialects  in  this  book.  The  German 
Missionaries  and  English  Presbyterians  have  some  most 
successful  missions  among  this  interesting  people. 

The  sexes  are  not  so  strictly  separated  in  domestic  life 
as  is  the  case  with  some  of  the  other  Chinese  ;  nor  do  the 
women  bind  their  feet.  Perhaps  this  last  might  be  taken 
as  an  indication  that  they  left  their  original  home  before 
foot-binding  came  into  vogue,  and,  not  having  practised  it 
at  first,  never  took  to  it. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  they  are  a  poor  people,  having  to 
work  hard  for  their  living,  though  there  are  rich  men 
among  them,  as  well  as  literary  graduates.  In  dress  the 
women  differ  somewhat  from  the  Cantonese,  their  jackets 
being  longer  and  reaching  down  nearly  to  their  knees  ; 
their  shoes  have  squarer  toes  ;  they  wear  a  peculiar  hat 
consisting  of  a  broad  brim  with  a  valance  of  cloth  round 
it ;  the  bunch  of  hair,  done  up  on  the  top  of  the  head, 
goes  through  the  open  crown.  The  women's  ornaments 
are  somewhat  dissimilar,  such  as  their  bangles,  which  are 
made  of  thick  silver,  and  of  different  patterns  from  those 
in  use  among  the  Pun-tei'  population.  The  earrings  are 
also  of  curious  construction  ;  one  kind,  of  silver,  hooking 
through  the  ear  and  thickening  up  to  the  other  end,  while 
every  short  distance  they  are  embossed  with  rings  of  silver  ; 
another  kind  of  earring  is  formed  of  tassels  of  silk.  The 
Hakka  children  often  have  a  ring  of  silver  round  their 
neck ;  Cantonese  children  do  not  wear  the  same,  but  one 
or  two  of  the  attendants  of  the  Chinese  idols  have  such  a 
ring. 

324 


Hakkas 

In  the  Straits  Settlements  there  were,  in  1891,  as  many 
as  16,736  Hakkas,  out  of  a  Chinese  population  of  227,989. 

The  Hakkas  are  a  simple  people,  but  very  contentious, 
and  they  show  a  litigious  disposition  in  the  few  cases  which 
occur  in  the  English  Courts  in  Hongkong ;  for  there  are 
a  great  number  of  them  in  the  Colony :  the  barbers,  stone- 
cutters, and  foreign  ladies'  tailors  being  mostly  Hakkas. 

The  word  Hakka  means  '  strangers,'  and  refers  to  their 
origin.  In  the  Straits  they  are  known  as  Khek,  or  Kehs, 
so  called  from  the  Swatow  and  Amoy  pronunciation  of  the 
word  Hak. 

We  give  a  short  summary  of  the  history  of  this  curious 
people  as  far  as  is  at  present  known  about  them  : — 

The  North  of  China  is  '  the  original  home  of  the 
Hakkas '  where,  about  the  third  century  before  Christ,  they 
were  located  in  Shan-tung  principally,  as  well  as  to  a  slight 
extent  in  Shan-si,  and  Ngan-hwui. 

They  were  subjected  to  a  bloody  persecution  in  the 
time  of  the  Ts'in  dynasty  (B.C.  249-209),  and  this  started 
them  off  on  their  travels.  Settling  in  Ho-nan,  Ngan-hwui, 
and  Kiang-si,  some  changed  their  names,  but  a  more 
prosperous  time  followed.  Another  persecution  under 
another  Ts'in  dynasty  (A.D.  419)  finally  scattered  them 
entirely  from  that  part  of  China.  This  resulted  in  a 
general  stampede  '  which  carried  some  of  them  even  into 
the  mountainous  regions  in  the  south-east  of  Kiang-si  and 
to  the  very  borders  of  the  Fuh-kien  province.'  At  the 
beginning  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  (A.D.  618)  they  were 
compelled  to  move  again,  the  majority  took  '  refuge  in  the 
mountains  of  Fuh-kien,  whilst  a  few  hovered  on  the  high 
mountain  chains  which  separate  the  Kiang-si  and  Kwang- 
tung  (Canton)  provinces.' 

Under  the  Sung  dynasties  (A.D.  960-1278)  many  became 
soldiers,  and  thousands  of  them  perished  with  the  last 
Chinese  prince  of  the  Southern  Sung,  in  A.D.  1279,  west  of 
Macao,  when  the  Mongols  were  coming  into  power. 
Under  these  last  they  '  made  their  first  appearance  within 
the  borders  of  the  Canton  province,'  but  not  settling  down 

325 


Things  Chinese 

permanently  here,  or  in  large  numbers,  until  the  beginning 
of  the  Ming  dynasty  (A.D.  1368),  when  the  Fuh-kien 
Hakkas,  after  centuries  of  residence  there,  were  compelled 
by  disturbances  to  seek  a  new  home.  They  came  in  such 
overwhelming  numbers  '  that  they  drove  everything  before 
them '  in  the  Ka-yin-chii  prefecture,  which  has  remained 
their  headquarters  ever  since.  About  the  same  time  others 
came  from  Kiang-si  and  settled  to  the  north-west  of  the 
Fuh-kienese  Hakkas.  From  these  places  they  have  spread 
more  or  less  over  different  parts  of  the  province. 

The  change  of  dynasty,  which  resulted  in  the  present 
house  being  established  on  the  throne,  caused  them  to  spread 
to  the  west  and  south-west  of  Canton.  The  nucleus  of  the 
great  T'ai-P'ing  rebellion  was  formed  of  Hakkas  from  the 
Canton  province,  and  it  was  among  them  that  it  started. 
During  the  present  dynasty  many  have  become  soldiers  and 
have  been  employed  by  government,  gaining  admission  to 
the  competitive  examinations  for  both  literary  and  military 
degrees.  A  dreadful  internecine  strife,  in  which  1 50,000,  at 
least,  perished,  took  place  between  the  Hakkas  and  Pun-tefs 
in  the  south-western  districts  of  the  Canton  province,  from 
A.D.  1864  to  1866,  and  arms  and  even  armed  steamers, 
were  procured  from  Hongkong  by  both  parties.  Finally, 
the  Chinese  Government  took  vigorous  measures,  the  half- 
hearted schemes  hitherto  pursued  having  proved  ineffectual, 
afrd,  with  the  aid  of  money  to  assist  immigration  of  the 
Hakkas  to  waste  lands,  succeeded  in  getting  some  of  them 
to  move  to  the  province  of  Kwang-si,  the  Island  of  Hainan, 
and  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Books  recommended. — A  series  of  articles  appeared  in  the  Hongkong  Daily 
Press  for  1866,  dealing  with  the  customs  of  Hakkas,  from  a  native  pen  for 
the  most  part ;  there  is  also  a  more  interesting  set  in  '  Notes  and  Queries  on 
China  and  Japan,'  vol.  i. ,  written  by  Rev.  E.  J.  Eitel,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  and 
another  article  on  their  history  by  the  same  author  in  The  China  He  view, 
vol.  ii.  p.  160  ;  also  see  an  article  by  Rev.  Ch.  Piton,  in  same  vol.,  p.  222. 
As  to  books  for  the  study  of  the  language  of  the  Hakkas,  see  Article  on  Books 
for  Learning  Chinese. 

HISTORY. — Chinese  history  deserves  more  attention 
than  it  has  received  from  Western  scholars  ;  it  has  both 

326 


History 

been  unduly  lauded  and  unduly  depreciated.  Like  all 
histories,  it  may  be  divided  into  the  mythological,  ancient, 
and  modern. 

The  line  of  demarcation  between  the  first  and  second  is 
blurred  and  indistinct.  The  mythological  period  covers 
from  45,000  to  500,000  years,  and  commences  with  '  the 
opening  of  heaven  and  earth,'  as  the  Chinese  say.  Different 
accounts  have  been  given  of  the  creation,  one  of  the  most 
popular  is  that  of  Pwan-ku,  who  is  represented  with 
hammer  and  chisel  bringing  the  rude  masses  of  chaotic 
matter  into  shape  and  form.  His  labours  lasted  for  18,000 
years,  and  day  by  day  he  increased  in  stature  six  feet,  while 
the  heavens  rose,  and  the  earth  expanded  and  thickened. 
His  task  completed,  and  the  earth  roughly  fitted  for  its 
future  inhabitants,  Pwan-ku  by  his  death  benefited  the 
world  as  much  as  by  his  life,  for,  as  the  story  goes : — 

'  His  head  became  mountains,  his  breath  wind  and  clouds,  and  his 
voice  thunder  ;  his  limbs  were  changed  into  the  four  poles,  his  veins 
into  rivers,  his  sinews  into  the  undulations  of  the  earth's  surface,  and 
his  flesh  into  fields  ;  his  beard,  like  Berenice's  hair,  was  turned  into 
stars,  his  skin  and  hair  into  herbs  and  trees,  and  his  teeth,  bones,  and 
marrow,  into  metals,  rocks,  and  precious  stones  ;  his  dropping  sweat 
increased  to  rain,  and  lastly  (nascitur  ridiculns  mus)  the  insects 
which  stuck  to  his  body  were  transformed  into  people ! ' 

The  Chinese  believe  that  there  were  giants  in  the  earth 
in  those  days,  for  Pwan-ku  was  followed  by  three  sovereigns, 
named  the  Celestial,  the  Terrestrial,  and  the  Human,  who 
were  of  gigantic  form.  Another  18,000  years  was  occupied 
by  their  reigns,  during  which  numerous  inventions  and 
improvements  were  effected  for  the  good  of  mankind,  such 
as  good  government,  the  union  of  the  sexes,  and,  what 
must  have  been  of  paramount  importance,  men  learned  to  eat 
and  drink,  and  sleep  was  invented.  Two  more  sovereigns 
succeeded  these,  Yu-chau  and  Sui-jin  ;  the  latter  brought 
fire  down  from  heaven,  and  mankind  had  the  blessing  of 
cooked  dishes. 

The  ancient  or  legendary  history  commences  with 
Fu-hsi :  he  and  his  four  successors  are  called  '  The  Five 
Sovereigns.'  Now  begins  the  'highest  antiquity'  of  the 

327 


Things  Chinese 

Chinese,  B.C.  2852,  2953,  or  3322,  according  to  different 
authorities,  which  is  about  the  same  time  as  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Assyrian  Monarchy.  Amongst  other  blessings 
conferred  at  this  period  was  marriage  ;  the  bounds  of  the 
kingdom  were  extended  to  the  eastern  sea  ;  and  Fu-hsi's 
capital  was  in  the  present  province  of  Ho-nan.  His  successor 
wasShen-nung,who  shortly  changed  hiscapital  to  Shan-tung. 
Fu-hsi  and  his  seven  successors  reigned  747  years,  or  an 
average  of  93  years  each.  This  period  has,  of  course,  much 
of  the  mythical  about  it,  but  standing  out  very  prominently 
is  the  reign  of  Huang  Ti.  He  triumphed  over  his  several 
rivals,  and  divided  his  territory  according  to  the  decimal 
system,  as  follows  : — 


10  towns  =  i  district. 

10  districts  =  i  department. 


10  departments  =  i  province. 
10  provinces  =  the  empire. 


Weights  and  measures  were  also  fixed  on  the  same 
principle.  He  is  credited  with  having  regulated  the 
calendar,  and  having  introduced  in  the  sixty-first  year 
of  his  reign  the  cycle  of  sixty  years,  which  in  its  sexagenary 
periods  bridges  over  the  thousands  of  years  from  that  time 
(B.C.  2637)  to  the  present,  namely,  seventy-five  revolutions 
of  sixty  years.  He  made  roads  and  built  vessels  for  inland 
waters,  as  well  as  for  the  open  sea.  He  is  looked  up  to  as 
the  founder  of  the  great  empire,  and  his  dominions  are 
said  to  have  extended  from  Sha-chow,  in  the  west,  to  the 
sea  ;  and  from  the  modern  Pe-chih-li,  in  the  north,  to  the 
Yang-tsz-kiang  in  the  south.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  and  the  latter  by  his  nephew,  who  is  said  to  have 
widened  the  borders  of  his  empire  to  Tonquin  in  the 
south,  and  to  Manchuria  in  the  north. 

Two  hundred  and  forty  years  (three  reigns)  intervened 
between  the  periods  of  Huang  Ti  and  a  galaxy  of  China's 
greatest  wo'rthies,  the  Emperors  Yao,  Shun,  and  Yii. 
Confucius  and  Mencius  have  held  up  to  all  future  time 
the  perfect  character  and  virtues  of  Yao  and  Shun— 
they  are  two  of  China's  greatest  sages.  During  this 
period  occurred  the  great  deluge  in  China,  which  the 

328 


History 

best  authorities  concur  in  considering  to  be  an  overflow  of 
the  Yellow  River,  possibly  when  changing  its  channel. 
Years  were  spent  in  coping  with  this  great  disaster, 
which  must  have  wrought  terrible  havoc  and  destruction, 
and  unremitting  toil  and  energy  were  expended  in  remedy- 
ing it.  It  is  about  this  time  that  the  first  Chinese  settlers 
arrived  in  their  future  home,  namely  B.C.  2200,  driving 
out  the  earlier  settlers  into  more  remote  parts  of  the 
country,  where  some  of  them  are  now  still  to  be  found 
as  aboriginal  tribes.  (See  Article  on  Aborigines.) 

The  history  preceding  the  time  of  Yao,  it  has  been 
suggested,  must  then  be  considered  either  as  that  of  the 
previous  inhabitants  of  the  land  incorporated  into  Chinese 
history,  or  their  own  previous  history  brought  over  with 
them  to  their  new  home ;  for  though  much,  if  not  a 
great  portion,  of  what  is  narrated  of  the  present  period 
under  review  is  mythical,  unsubstantial,  and  unreal,  we 
cannot  help  considering  it  the  height  of  folly  to  agree 
with  the  sceptical  school  of  Chinese  sinologues,  who 
reject  everything  because  the  greatest  proportion  is  incred- 
ible. It  seems  wiser,  in  our  eyes,  to  believe  that  amidst 
all  the  chaff,  some  grains  of  wheat  are  to  be  found.  The 
great  Yii  was  the  founder^of  the  Hsia  dynasty  (B.C.  2205- 
1818)  ;  and  with  this  period  the  throne  becomes  hereditary 
— having  hitherto  been  more  or  less  elective — seventeen 
rulers  belonged  to  the  same  family  ;  one  was  dethroned  by 
the  people,  and  another  by  a  minister,  but  the  heir-apparent 
was  preserved  alive  in  a  massacre  that  ensued 
in  an  attempt  to  recover  the  throne,  and,  after  man}' 
vicissitudes  ascended  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  (The 
whole  population  of  China  at  this  time  was  only  between 
one  or  two  millions,  forming,  so  it  is  supposed,  stations 
of  colonists  dotted  about  amidst  the  aborigines.  The 
greater  part  of  China  was  then,  except  in  Ho-nan  and  along 
the  Yellow  River,  overrun  by  luxuriant  vegetation.'  Wild 
beasts  abounded,  and  their  trails  formed  the  roads.  In 
certain  senses  life  must  have  been  a  harder  struggle  for 
existence  than  at  the  present  day.)  Yii's  son  \vas  worthy 

329 


Things  Chinese 

of  such  a  sire,  but  the  succeeding  nine  monarchs  were  of 
so  little  account  that  but  little  record  is  left  of  their  doings. 
In  B.C.  1818,  Chieh-kuei  and  his  consort  spent  all  they 
extorted  in  unbridled  voluptuousness.  A  pond  of  wine 
was  formed,  able  to  float  a  boat,  at  which  3,000  men 
could  drink  at  once ;  when  drunk,  they  were  allowed  to 
attack  the  pyramids  of  delicate  viands  surrounding  the 
lake  ;  and  the  vilest  orgies  were  held  in  the  palace.  Public 
opinion  was  outraged,  and  one  of  the  ministers,  a  descend- 
ant of  Huang  Ti,  assumed  the  throne,  and  founded  the  new 
dynasty  of  Shang  in  B.C.  1766,  which  lasted  for  644  years. 
The  Shu  King  contains  fragments  of  the  annals  of  this  time 
which  show  the  high  standard  aimed  at  by  China's  rulers. 
Twenty-eight  sovereigns,  good  and  bad,  ascended  the 
throne,  the  fortunes  of  the  State  fluctuating  in  response  to 
the  hand  that  held  the  helm,  the  wickedness  culminating 
in  the  person  of  Chou  Hsin,  the  last  of  the  line.  Two 
instances  of  his  wanton  cruelty  may  be  noted  : — Several 
women  who  were  gathering  shell-fish,  bare-legged,  on  a 
river's  bank,  one  winter's  morning,  had  their  legs  cut  off, 
that  the  inhuman  monarch  might  see  the  marrow  of  those 
who  were  so  insusceptible  to  cold  :  and  he,  likewise,  had 
the  heart  of  a  bold  minister,  who  reproved  him,  brought, 
that  he  might  see  the  difference  between  it  and  that  of  a 
cowardly  statesman.  Such  conduct  in  China  naturally 
produced  its  inevitable  result,  the  passing  away  of  the 
dynasty ;  and  the  founders  of  the  Chou  dynasty  (the 
Chou  dynasty  lasted  from  B.C.  1122  to  B.C.  660)  were  the 
agents  in  establishing  a  better  order  of  things.  Some 
sinologues  would  blot  out  all  that  precedes  this  dynasty 
and  make  this  the  starting-point  of  Chinese  history.  We 
have  already  expressed  our  opinion  on  the  subject. 

The  founders  of  the  Chou  dynasty,  Wan  Wang,  Wu 
Wang,  and  Chou  Kung,  '  are  among  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  antiquity  for  their  erudition,  integrity,  patriotism, 
and  inventions.'  Wan  Wang  united  the  principal  men 
against  the  reign  of  misrule,  but,  dying,  left  to  his  son  the 
completion  of  the  work  he  had  begun,  while  the  uncle  of 

330 


History 

Wu  Wang,  Duke  Chou,  advised  the  actual  sovereign. 
These  men  were  praised  and  held  in  the  highest  esteem  by 
Confucius.  Notwithstanding  all  his  ability  and  reverence 
for  the  Supreme  Ruler,  Wu  Wang  committed  a  grand 
political  blunder  by  dividing  the  empire  into  petty  states ; 
and,  harassed  by  attacks  of  the  Tartars,  a  later  sovereign, 
P'ing  Wang,  committed  an  equally  grave  error  of  judgment 
in  abandoning  his  eastern  capital  to  one  of  his  nobles,  to 
form  a  buttress  against  the  incursions  of  these  nomads, 
while  he  retired  to  the  western  capital,  thus  dividing  it  into 
the  Eastern  and  Western  Chou.  These  fatal  mistakes 
paved  the  way  for  the  weakening  of  the  central  authority  ; 
and  the  result,  of  the  first  especially,  was  a  multiplicity  of 
feudal  states — little  kingdoms  in  themselves,  engaged  in 
internecine  strife,  the  weaker  succumbing  to  the  stronger, 
and  all  belittling  the  authority  of  the  ruling  sovereign. 
The  number  of  these  states  varied  at  different  times,  125, 
41,  and  52  are  numbers  that  are  given.  Begun  so 
auspiciously,  this  dynasty,  like  its  predecessors,  reached  a 
period  of  decadence,  though  it  has  the  honour  of  having 
lasted  for  873  years,  with  35  rulers,  the  longest  time  known 
in  history. 

'A  series  of  wars,  intrigues,  diplomacy,  conspiracies,  and  plots, 
much  resembling  what  has  been  occurring  in  the  empires  of  Europe 
during  the  last  200  years,  ensued.'  '  The  Chinese  Empire  consisted 
of  Shan-si,  Ho-nan,  and  Shan-tung,  and  it  gradually  threw  out 
tentacles  to  embrace  the  rest  of  modern  China,  just  as  Rome  threw 
out  its  tentacles,  from  Italy,  Greece,  and  Spain,  to  embrace  parts  of 
Asia,  Africa,  Teutonia,  and  Sclavonia.' 

Eunuchs  probably  followed  the  introduction  of  the 
imperial  harem  at  the  beginning  of  this  dynasty,  the 
tributary  princes  copying  the  bad  example  of  the 
emperors. 

This  period  is,  however,  glorious  for  having  given 
birth  to  two  of  the  most  remarkable  men  the  world  has 
ever  seen,  Lao-tsz  and  Confucius.  Dissimilar  as  two  men 
could  possibly  be — the  one,  to  his  contemporaries,  a  wild 
visionary,  the  other  a  man  who  occupied  himself  with 
ceremonies  and  moral  precepts — they  were  both  destined 

331 


Things  Chinese 

to  exercise  an  important  influence  on  the  country.     Nor 
must  we  forget  that  Mencius  lived  during  this  time : — 

'There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  competition  in  arms,  in 
diplomacy,  in  military  discipline,  in  material  civilisation,  and  in 
education,  caused  the  Chinese  of  that  period  to  reach  a  very  high 
level  of  ability,  of  skill,  and  of  material  progress.  It  was  so,  under 
similar  circumstances,  in  Greece,  in  Arabia,  in  Italy,  and  it  is  so  in 
modern  Europe  ;  and  we  can  no  more  wonder  at  the  fond  pride  with 
which  the  Chinese  regard  that  famous  time  than  we  can  at  the  Euro- 
pean for  his  admiration  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  Against  Plato 
and  Aristotle  place  Confucius  and  Mencius  ;  whilst  China  had  then 
statesmen  and  orators  not  greatly  inferior  to  those  of  antiquity.' 

Millions  were  slain  during  the  constant  wars  which 
lasted  during  the  whole  of  the  Chou  dynasty ;  but  out  of 
all  this  continued  strife  between  the  feudal  princes  them- 
selves and  between  them  and  their  own  subjects  grew  the 
material  on  which  a  greater  China  should  be  established, 
for  before  the  Chou,  China  was,  without  doubt,  but  of  limited 
extent.  The  end  of  that  dynasty  saw  the  southern  border- 
line of  the  Chinese  Empire  extended  to  the  south  of  the 
Yang-tsz. 

Some  foreign  writers  are  again  inclined  to  reject  as  in- 
credible the  greater  part  of  this  period,  but  when  archaeo- 
logical researches  are  carried  on  in  a  systematic  manner  in 
China,  confirmatory  evidence  of  the  Chinese  records  may 
be  found  similar  to  the  ten  stone  drums  of  the  period  B.C. 
827. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  feudatory  states,  that 
of  Ts'in,  subdued  the  sovereign ;  and  the  son  of  the 
conqueror  assuming  the  imperial  power,  destroyed  the  last 
vestiges  of  the  famous  Chou  dynasty,  but  died  in  three 
years,  thus  forming  a  dynasty  with  only  one  Emperor. 
His  son,  ambitious  and  powerful,  took  the  name  of  the  first 
Emperor,  Shih  Huang-ti  (B.C.  220-204),  and  was  the  first 
of  the  Ts'in  dynasty.  A  man  of  consummate  skill  and 
ability,  he  consolidated  the  empire,  dividing  it  into  thirty- 
six  provinces.  His  name  is  known  throughout  the  habitable 
world  by  the  gigantic  work  with  which  it  is  associated,  viz., 
the  Great  Wall  of  China ;  but  this  stupendous  labour  was 
not  accomplished  entirely  during  his  reign,  as  the  first 

332 


History 

beginning  of  it  seems  to  have  been  commenced  in  240  B.C., 
and  even  as  late  as  the  Ming  dynasty,  in  the  year  A.D. 
1547,  between  250  and  300  miles  of  wall  were  added  to 
that  then  in  existence. 

Were  this  the  only  work  that  had  received  the  impress 
of  his  genius,  his  name  would  doubtless  have  lived  to  all 
time  as  that  of  one  of  the  great  benefactors  of  the  empire, 
but  the  restless  activity  of  this  Napoleon  of  China  also 
expended  its  energy  in  the  construction  of  palaces,  public 
edifices,  canals,  and  roads.  The  latter,  like  the  Roman 
roads  in  England,  remain  during  2,000  years  to  this  clay. 
Again,  had  he  contented  himself  with  these  engineering 
triumphs  and  architectural  undertakings,  supplemented  by 
his  vigorous  sway,  his  name  and  exploits  would  have  been 
had  in  everlasting  remembrance  ;  but  one  act  of  his  has 
blasted  his  reputation  to  all  eternity  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Chinese;  and  they  have  nothing  but  ill  to  say  of  him. 
Desirous  of  blotting  out  all  records  of  a  former  China,  and 
wishing  to  pose  before  posterity  as  the  First  Emperor,  he 
ordered  the  destruction  of  all  classical  works  by  fire,  as 
well  as  of  five  hundred  scholars. 

The  texts  were  recovered  by  transcribing  them  from 
the  retentive  memories  of  the  literati,  and  a  few  copies 
were  discovered  which  had  been  secreted.  To  a  literary 
nation  like  the  Chinese,  such  a  crime  was  never  to  be 
forgotten,  nor  was  it  to  be  forgiven. 

On  a  complete  survey  of  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  the 
Emperor,  though  the  act  was  cruel,  was  not  so  much  to 
blame  as  the  Chinese  make  out,  for  the  integrity  of  the 
empire  was  jeopardised  by  the  literati.  His  son  reigned 
but  seven  years,  and  was  unable  to  cope  with  the  feudal 
chieftains.  With  this  period  closes  the  ancient  history  of 
China. 

A  soldier  of  fortune,  a  commander  of  the  forces  of  one 
of  the  chiefs,  captured  the  capital,  and  started  the  Han 
dynasty  (B.C.  206  to  A.D.  25)  and  the  modern  history  of 
China. 

In  the  North  of  China,  Men  of  Han  (Han-jin)  and  Sons 

333 


Things  Chinese 

of  Han  (Han-tzu),  are  still  the  names  by  which  a  Chinese 
is  known,  thus  perpetuating  this  glorious  epoch,  whether 
looked  at  from  a  literary,  historical,  military,  commercial, 
or  artistic  point  of  view.  Many  public  works  were  under- 
taken, prominent  among  which  were  bridges.  The  capital, 
being  difficult  of  approach,  had  roads  cut  through 
mountains,  valleys  rilled  up,  and  suspension  bridges  built 
to  it.  It  was,  the  'formative  period  of  Chinese  polity 
and  institutions,  official  and  formal.' 

The  present  competitive  examinations  for  which  China 
has  been  so  famous  were  started.  (See  Article  on  Examina- 
tions.) A  penal  Code  was  drawn  up,  which  has  formed  the 
model  for  subsequent  Codes  in  China.  (See  Article  on  Law.) 
This  dynasty  is  famous  for  the  introduction  of  Buddhism  ; 
it  was  'one  of  the  most  popular  which  ever  ruled  the 
Chinese ' ;  years  of  peace,  during  which  the  nation  prospered, 
alternated  with  incursions  by  the  restless  Tartars.  The 
modern  Fuh-kien,  Yun-nan,  and  Canton,  etc.,  and  the 
greater  part  of  Sz-chuen  became  Chinese  provinces,  other 
territory  was  incorporated  with  that  of  the  empire,  and 
tribute-bearers  came  from  remote  countries.  Chinese  armies 
marched  across  Asia,  and  China  occupied  a  foremost  position 
among  the  nations  of  the  world. 

The  short  reign  of  a  usurper,  who  tried  to  found  a 
dynasty  of  his  own,  under  the  name  of  Sin,  divides  the  Han 
dynasty  into  the  Western,  or  Former,  and  Eastern,  or  Later, 
Han  (the  Eastern  Han  lasted  from  A.D.  25  to  A.D.  220). 
Commercial  relations  are  supposed  to  have  been  established 
with  the  Roman  Empire  at  this  period.  The  two  Hans 
lasted  467  years,  with  a  total  of  twenty -eight  monarchs. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  latter  part  of  the  Han,  and 
extending  to  a  later  period,  viz.,  from  A.D.  220  to  277,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  periods  of  Chinese  history,  and 
it  has  been  immortalised  and  a  halo  of  romance  thrown 
over  it  by  the  famous  historical  novel  called  'The  History 
of  the  Three  States.'  Were  any  instance  needed  of  the 
utility  of  works  of  fiction,  it  might  be  found  in  this  enter- 
taining book  which  has  spread  a  knowledge  of  what  took 

334 


History 

place  in  those  troublous  times  in  a  way  in  which  no  cut-and- 
dried  history,  though  it  might  have  proved  more  veracious, 
could  possibly  have  done. 

The  Ts'in  and  Eastern  Ts'in  dynasties  ruled  for  1 55  years 
under  fifteen  monarchs — a  time  big  with  disasters  and  wars. 
These  two  Ts'in  dynasties  lasted  from  A.D.  265  to  A.I).  419. 
A  General  then  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and  started  the 
dynasty  of  the  Northern  Sung,  but,  as  at  former  times,  the 
country  was  divided  among  separate  states,  and  it  did  not 
always  happen  that  the  house  which  the  historians  have 
considered  as  the  legitimate  one  was  the  most  powerful. 
This  observation  also  holds  good  with  regard  to  some  of 
the  succeeding  periods  as  well.  The  dynasty  ended  in  a 
series  of  crimes,  and  the  Ch'i  followed  it.  Both  of  them 
were  uninteresting  and  inglorious,  and  the  line  was  again 
extinguished  in  murders.  This  brings  us  to  the  year  A.D. 
502.  Three  small  dynasties  succeeded,  thus  making  five 
between  the  Han  and  T'ang. 

We  come,  in  the  T'ang  dynasty  (A.D.  618-907)  to 
another  of  those  most  illustrious  periods  in  Chinese 
history,  which  lasted  for  nearly  three  hundred  years. 
'  Under  that  beneficent  imperial  sway,  the  peasant  tilled 
his  land  and  the  trader  sold  his  goods  in  peace.  The 
fiercer  and  more  martial  spirits  found  an  outlet  for 
their  energies  in  extending  the  western  boundaries 
of  the  empire,  and  the  triumphs  of  war  and  the  tran- 
quil pleasures  of  peace  were  sung  and  hymned  by  some 
of  the  greatest  poets  which  China  has  produced.'  It 
augured  well  for  this  dynasty  that  its  founder  did 
not  cement  the  foundations  of  his  empire  with  the 
blood  of  his  predecessors,  as  was  so  frequently  the  case 
with  those  who  started  a  new  house  in  China.  Of  the 
second  Emperor,  it  has  been  well  said  that  : — '  no  ruler  of 
any  country  has  had  sounder  claims  to  the  title  of  great.' 
His  military  exploits,  with  but  one  exception,  were  always 
attended  with  success,  while  his  genius,  military  knowledge, 
and  courage,  were  tempered  with  the  gentleness  which 
maketh  great.  He  gave  peace  and  settled  government  to 

335 


Things  Chinese 

the  troubled  land,  while  his  conquests  ensured  the  same 
to  some  of  the  neighbouring  peoples.  He  patronised 
literature  ;  and  it  was  during  his  reign  that  the  Nestorian 
tablet  was  erected.  (See  Article  on  Missions — Nestorians.) 
It  was  during  this  dynasty  that,  after  a  century  of  struggle 
and  hard-bought  victory,  Corea  became  a  possession  of 
China  ;  and  so  powerful  was  China  that  even  Persia 
solicited  aid  from  the  Middle  Kingdom. 

We  find  the  empire  placed  at  this  time  in  what  would 
be  considered  an  anomalous  position  for  China  to  be  in, 
namely,  under  the  rule  of  a  woman  ;  this  however,  was  not 
so  very  uncommon,  especially  in  ancient  times  ;  but  the 
most  notable  instance  of  it  was  the  Empress  Wu,  who 
ruled  with  a  masculine  hand,  and  whose  reign,  notwith- 
standing her  cruelties,  was  one  of  benefit  to  the  people  for 
more  than  forty  years. 

The  siege  of  Tai-yuen  claims  notice  from  the  use  of 
cannon  for  its  defence,  which  threw  twelve-pound  stone 
shot  to  the  distance  of  three  hundred  paces.  Civil  wars  and 
troubles  with  Tibet  and  other  neighbouring  nations — wars 
which  lasted  for  two  centuries — dimmed  the  lustre  of  the 
earlier  reigns,  and  the  vigorous  hands  which  held  the 
sceptre  were  succeeded  by  weaker  ones  unable  to  grasp  the 
kingly  power  with  regal  grip  and  pass  it  on  intact  to  their 
successors.  The  eunuchs  arrogated  to  themselves  the 
character  of  king-makers,  and  took  far  too  much  on  them- 
selves, as  has  often  been  the  case  in  the  course  of  Chinese 
history.  The  closing  chapters  of  this  period  are  melancholy 
— a  desolate  country,  ruined  towns,  and  the  capital  in 
ashes.  It  had  lasted  for  259  years,  and  twenty  emperors 
sat  on  the  throne. 

The  people  of  the  South  of  China  have  immortalised 
this  dynasty,  and  marked  the  time  of  their  civilisation  and 
incorporation  into  the  Chinese  rule,  by  calling  themselves 
T'ong-yan,  or  Men  of  T'ong.  (In  Mandarin,  T'ang.) 

In  contrast  to  the  dark  ages  of  Europe,  China  presented 
the  brightest  spectacle  to  the  nations  of  the  world. 
Mohammedanism  was  introduced  ;  the  Greek  Emperor, 

336 


History 

Theodosius,  sent  an  envoy,  in  A.I).  643,  with  presents  of 
precious  stones  ;  as  also  did  the  Persians. 

We  next  come  to  a  series  of  petty  dynasties — '  The 
Five  Dynasties '  or  '  Ten  States '  (A.D.  9x37  to  A.D.  960),  as 
the  Chinese  call  them  ;  the  centre  of  the  empire  on  the 
Yellow  River  formed  their  arena,  while  the  rest  of  the 
country  was  held  by  different  Generals — '  a  period  of  wast- 
ing and  incessant  civil  war,  discord,  invasions,  and  commo- 
tions.' The  whole  time  occupied  by  them  is  less  than  sixty 
years  ;  the  most  noteworthy  thing  was  the  invention  of 
printing.  But  see  another  account  in  Article  on  Printing. 

The  Sung  (A.D.  960-1126)  is  another  of  the  great 
dynasties  of  Chinese  history.  It  is  divided  into  two,  the 
Sung  and  the  Southern  Sung.  There  was  a  greater 
centralisation  of  power  in  the  Supreme  Government,  the 
almost  autocratic  power  of  the  governors  of  the 
provinces  being  curtailed,  and  more  peaceful  times 
succeeded,  though  fierce  wars  were  still  waged  with  the 
Tartars.  The  empire  was  reunited,  and  literature  and  the 
arts  of  peace  were  cultivated.  Chinese  history  contains 
the  record  of  many  great  names  as  shedding  lustre  on 
this  period ;  the  Sung  dynasty,  however,  lacked  the 
military  prowess  to  hold  its  own  against  the  warlike 
ancestors  of  the  modern  Manchu-Tartars,  the  Kins  ;  these 
first  acted  as  treacherous  allies,  then  showed  their  true 
colours,  and  eventually  founded  a  kingdom  (A.D.  1115-1234) 
which  was  more  powerful  than  that  of  the  Sung ;  and 
the  two  held  concurrent  sway  in  China. 

The  rise  of  the  Mongol  power  prevented  what  might 
perhaps  have  happened  five  centuries  sooner,  namely,  the 
establishment  of  a  Manchu  dynasty  over  the  South  as  well 
as  the  North  of  China.  Constant  wars  took  place  between 
the  Chinese  and  the  Kins,  the  latter  compelling  the 
conquered  people  to  shave  their  heads,  as  at  the  present 
day,  until  their  waning  power  sank  before  the  rising  glory 
of  the  Mongols,  who  overthrew  them,  though  they  offered  a 
stubborn  resistance.  The  Sung  ruler  allied  himself  with 
the  Mongols,  out  of  hatred  to  the  Kins,  but  no  sooner  were 

337  Y 


Things  Chinese 

the  latter  conquered,  than  it  became  evident  that  the 
Chinese  and  Mongols  could  not  rule  together  in  China. 
After  a  war  carried  on  for  many  years  (70),  during  which 
parts  of  China  were  subdued,  the  Mongols,  under  different 
leaders,  but  finally  under  Kublai  Khan,  gradually 
conquered  China.  Among  many  memorable  battles,  the 
siege  of  Sian-yang,  which  was  defended  for  four  years,  is 
worthy  of  note.  After  the  conquest  of  Hankow  and  its 
neighbouring  cities,  the  conquerors  proceeded  in  their 
victorious  course,  subdued  the  country,  and  gained 
possession  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang,  while  the  Court  retreated 
to  the  south  of  China.  Mementoes  of  the  last  Emperor's 
flight  are  to  be  found  in  British  territory  on  the  mainland 
opposite  Hongkong,  while  the  last  scenes  of  his  life 
were  enacted  in  one  of  the  estuaries  of  the  Canton  River, 
to  the  west  of  Macao,  where,  after  a  disastrous  naval 
encounter,  one  of  his  courtiers  sprang  into  the  sea  with 
him  in  his  arms.  Thus  ended,  after  a  possession  of  the 
legitimate  throne  for  a  space  of  309  years,  the  Sung 
dynasty  in  its  two  divisions  of  Northern  and  Southern. 
This  House  was  not  equal  to  that  of  T'ang.  One  very 
interesting  feature  was  the  trial  of  socialistic  principles, 
after  long  discussion  and  opposition.  They,  however,  were 
not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  adapted  for  a  successful  issue, 
and  proved  a  failure, 

'An  elaborate  experiment  in  Socialism  was  tried  in  the  Province 
of  Shansi,'  '  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror  ;  the  poor  were 
exempted  from  taxes,  and  to  every  man  a  plot  of  land  and  seed  for 
it  was  given,  with  the  result  that,  according  to  the  Chinese  historio- 
graphers, Shansi  became  a  desert,  no  man  caring  to  work.' 

The  Mongol  sway  (A.D.  1260-1341)  was  a  foreign  one 
to  the  Chinese,  and  the  latter  being  the  superiors  of  the 
former  in  civilisation,  though  not  in  military  prowess,  the 
Mongols  very  naturally  allowed  the  Chinese  laws  to  remain 
in  force,  and  retained  all  the  advantages  of  the  superior 
state  of  the  Chinese.  To  those  who  are  anxious  to  learn 
fuller  particulars  of  the  '  vigorous  and  magnificent ' 
sovereign,  Kublai  Khan,  the  gossipy  pages  of  the 

338 


History 

mediaeval  Venetian  traveller  will  afford  many  details  of  in- 
terest, both  of  the  vast  domains  and  the  splendour  of  the 
Court  of  the  great  Khan  at  Peking  ;  this  city  was  first 
made  the  capital,  and  it  and  the  Court  were  at  that  time 
the  most  splendid  in  the  world.  Not  content  with  all  his 
victories  on  the  mainland,  this  born  conqueror  resolved  to 
win  Japan,  but  his  efforts  only  met  with  disaster  and  defeat ; 
his  armies,  though  encountering  a  similar  fate  in  Annam, 
were  successful  in  Burmah.  He  evinced  a  toleration  of  all 
creeds.  The  rule  of  the  invader  (the  Mongol  dynasty  was 
named  the  Yuan)  was  not  popular  with  the  Chinese,  but  the 
grandson,  Timur,  who  succeeded  him,  endeavoured,  with 
some  success,  to  make  it  more  so.  A  number  of  princes  of 
the  same  house  succeeded  to  the  throne,  whose  reigns  were 
of  short  duration  ;  Mongols  were  put  into  office  in  disregard 
of  the  Chinese  rule  of  that  event  following  upon  literary 
distinction.  This  innovation  caused  disgust  to  the  natives  ; 
abortive  insurrections  followed  one  another,  gaining 
strength  and  force  with  each  renewed  effort,  until  at  length 
the  Heaven-sent  man  arose,  and  the  Mongols  were  finally 
expelled,  in  A.D.  1368,  after  a  sway  of  89  years  over  China. 
The  dynasty  had  become  effete  and  powerless  through 
luxury,  misrule,  and  weakness,  and  had  to  give  way  to  one 
more  vigorous  and  powerful — a  native  dynasty  that  changed 
its  capital  to  Nanking. 

The  founder  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (this  dynasty  lasted 
from  A.D.  1368  to  1628),  having  been  left  an  orphan  at 
seventeen,  and  without  any  means  of  support,  became  a 
Buddhist  priest,  according  to  some  accounts.  He  afterwards 
joined  one  of  the  rebel  forces  as  a  soldier,  and  was  soon  in 
a  forward  position  in  the  strife  between  the  Chinese  and 
Mongols.  In  A.D.  1356,  he  made  himself  master  of  Nan- 
king, and,  continuing  to  extend  his  authority  for  some  ten 
years,  he  finally,  in  A.D.  1366,  commenced  '  the  war  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  foreign  rulers.'  Very  little  opposition  was 
experienced,  so  that  in  a  short  time  Peking  was  captured, 
and  the  last  of  the  Mongol  emperors  fled,  though  wars, 
necessary  for  the  consolidation  of  the  power  of  the  empire, 

339 


Things  Chinese 

lasted  for  some  years  longer,  the  Mongols  still  giving 
trouble  by  their  continued  raids.  Hung  Wu,  as  the  first 
Ming  ruler  was  called,  was  a  man  of  ability  and  prudence, 
wisdom  and  moderation  ;  a  man  of  peace,  he  promoted 
literature,  which  the  Mongol  rulers,  with  the  exception  of 
Kublai  Khan,  had  foolishly  slighted.  Among  many  other 
deeds  conducive  to  this  end,  he  caused  libraries  to  be 
placed  in  all  the  large  cities ;  not  this  act  alone,  but 
many  others,  not  least  of  which  was  the  distribution 
of  salt,  showed  he  had  the  welfare  of  his  people  at 
heart. 

Hung  Wu  was  succeeded  by  his  grandson,  who,  after  a 
short  reign,  was  displaced  by  one  of  his  uncles,  who 
reached  the  throne  after  a  protracted  and  frightful  civil 
war.  His  son  was  Emperor  for  a  few  months  only.  The 
Ming  dynasty  was  more  firmly  established.  Envoys 
bearing  presents  came  from  Bengal  and  Malacca.  The 
son  of  the  last  Emperor  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and 
during  his  reign  Tonquin,  which  had  been  a  Chinese 
province  for  ten  years,  was  given  up,  owing  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  its  administration.  The  next  reign  but  one  gave 
another  forcible  illustration  of  the  ill  effects  of  allowing  a 
eunuch  to  hold  the  reins  of  power,  for,  owing  to  the 
incapacity  of  one  of  this  class,  the  Emperor  was  well- 
nigh  brought  to  the  verge  of  ruin,  he  even  being  taken 
captive  by  the  Tartars. 

Periods  of  incessant  warfare  succeeded — wars  with  the 
Tartars,  insurrections,  seditions,  movements,  and  disturb- 
ances. One  of  the  Emperors  was  foolish  enough  to  start 
a  Council  of  Eunuchs — a  species  of  Chinese  star-chamber, 
but  the  public  outcry  against  it  was  so  loud  that  it  was 
suspended  after  five  years.  Another  bad  measure  by  the 
same  Emperor  was  the  granting  of  lands  to  several 
members  of  his  family,  thus  tending  to  build  up  Feudal 
States.  This  was  one  of  the  '  chief  causes  that  operated 
towards  effecting  the  overthrow  and  destruction  of  the 
Mings.'  The  Court  was  extravagant,  and  orders  were 
given  to  work  the  gold  mines  in  Central  China,  but  the 

340 


History 

result  was  next  to  nothing.  Undertakings  that  were  of 
use  must  be  noted,  amongst  which  was  the  repair  of  the 
Great  Wall. 

The  difficulties  that  surrounded  the  Ming  dynasty 
were  increasing :  troubles  in  Cochin  -  China,  further 
wars  with  the  Tartars,  and  raids  by  the  Japanese,  all 
kept  them  occupied  ;  and  the  misfortunes  culminated 
in  the  long  reign  of  Wan  Li,  when  the  troubles 
began  with  the  Manchus,  though  several  Emperors  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  before  the  final  overthrow  of  the 
native  dynasty.  The  Portuguese  arrived  in  China  in 
the  reign  of  Chia-Ching  (A.D.  1522-1567),  and  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries in  that  of  Wan  Li  (A.D.  1573-1620). 

A  small  Tartar  tribe,  presided  over  by  a  chief  of  ability, 
gathered  strength  and  amalgamated  its  power  with  other 
branches,  until,  after  a  long  and  desultory  warfare,  the 
opportunity  arose  in  the  success  of  a  rebel  chieftain  who 
ascended  the  Chinese  throne,  and  the  last  of  the  Ming 
Emperors  committed  suicide.  Wu  San-kwai,  a  renowned 
General,  called  in  the  aid  of  the  Manchus  to  expel  the 
usurper,  and  they,  in  their  turn,  after  a  long  contest  of 
forty  years,  succeeded  in  conquering  the  whole  empire, 
notwithstanding  that  several  Ming  princes  were  proclaimed 
Emperors  and  fought  against  the  conquerors.  Numerous 
uprisings  also  took  place,  but  the  Manchus  were  victorious 
over  all.  A  great  part  of  the  reign  of  the  first  Emperor 
(A.D.  1644)  of  the  Manchu,  or  Ts'ing  dynasty,  was  occupied 
by  these  wars ;  and  it  is  interesting  as  being  the  time 
when  several  embassies  from  the  West  arrived  in  China. 
Shun  Chih,  for  that  was  the  name  which  the  first 
sovereign  of  the  Ts'ing  dynasty  was  known  by  on  the 
throne,  was  succeeded  by  the  renowned  K'ang  Hsi.  These 
two  reigns  were  also  famous  for  the  exploits  of  the  semi- 
piratical  and  naval  hero  Koshinga,  who  expelled  the 
Dutch  from  Formosa.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  held  high 
positions,  on  account  of  their  mathematical  and  astrono- 
mical knowledge.  A  bold  rebellion,  headed  by  the  re- 
doubtable Wu  San-kwai,  complicated  amongst  other  things 

341 


Things  Chinese 

by  a  threat  of  the  Mongols  to  attack  China,  was  quelled 
by  the  Manchus,  and  as  a  result  Manchu  garrisons  were 
placed  in  the  cities,  where  they  are  still  maintained  at  the 
present  day.  Formosa  was  conquered,  and  a  protracted 
struggle  took  place  with  the  Eleuths  under  Galdan, 
but  the  Chinese  army  met  with  success.  This  was 
followed  by  much  trouble  with  the  Central  Asian 
question  ;  and  Chinese  authority  was  rendered  para- 
mount in  Tibet.  K'ang  Hsi  reigned  for  sixty-one  years, 
during  which  period  the  Manchu  rule  over  China  and 
the  neighbouring  States  was  firmly  established.  '  The 
public  acts  and  magnificent  exploits  of  his  reign  .  .  . 
show  him  wise,  courageous,  magnanimous  and  saga- 
cious.' '  In  the  smallest  affairs  he  seems  to  have  been 
truly  great.' 

His  son  Yung  Cheng  followed  him,  but  his  reign  was 
short  compared  with  that  of  his  father.  He  was  a  man 
who  cared  not  for  military  glory  and  aggrandisement ;  his 
reign  is  noted  for  the  restrictions  placed  on  the  growing 
power  and  influence  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  and  after 
Ch'ien  Lung  succeeded  to  the  throne  they  suffered  perse- 
cution. The  first  few  years  of  this  latter  monarch's  reign 
were  tranquil ;  but  they  were  succeeded  by  a  long  war  in 
Central  Asia,  where  his  authority  was  set  up  amongst  the 
turbulent  tribes  ;  and  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  the 
wisdom  of  Ch'ien  Lung's  able  and  far-seeing  policy  has 
been  visible  in  peaceful  frontiers.  Wars  were  also  carried 
on  against  the  Burmese  and  the  Miao-tze  with  success, 
and  also  against  the  bravest  of  the  Indian  tribes — the 
Goorkhas  in  Nepaul  —  who  had  attacked  Tibet.  An 
insurrection  in  Formosa  was  put  down,  as  well  as  some 
others.  This  long  reign  of  sixty  years  is  also  noted 
for  the  close  relations  that  were  entered  into  between 
China  and  the  nations  of  Europe.  We  cannot  leave 
our  short  summary  of  some  of  the  principal  events  of 
this  period  without  adding  our  tribute  to  the  universal 
voice  of  praise  of  the  energy  and  thoroughness  of  this 
Emperor,  and  the  assiduity  with  which  he  devoted  him- 

342 


History 

self  to  the  subjects  requiring  his  attention.  The  Manchu 
power  was  brought  to  the  zenith  of  its  glory,  and  had 
as  able  rulers  always  sat  on  the  throne  as  K'ang  Hsi 
and  Ch'ien  Lung,  much  of  the  misery  of  later  days  might 
have  been  prevented. 

The  succeeding  reign,  that  of  Chia  Ch'ing  was  not  one 
of  peace  and  quiet :  there  were  secret  combinations  against 
the  Government,  and  insurrections  and  piracies  abounded  ; 
a  formidable  force  of  pirates  infested  the  coast  of  Kwang- 
tung  for  some  years  ;  the  Portuguese  assisted  the  Chinese 
in  attacking  them,  but  the  two  piratical  leaders  quarrelled, 
and  finally  submitted  themselves  to  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment. 

Chia  Ch'ing's  son  Tao  Kuang  was  a  more  energetic  and 
just  ruler  than  his  father.  Many  local  insurrections  and 
disasters  took  place,  among  which  was  the  first  war  with 
England,  which,  however,  resulted  in  one  good  thing,  the 
opening  of  China  to  foreign  trade.  The  frightful  T'ai  P'ing 
rebellion  broke  out  at  the  close  of  this  sovereign's  reign, 
and  demanded  the  prowess  of  a  K'ang  Hsi  or  Ch'ien  Lung 
to  subdue  it,  but  Hsien  Feng,  who  succeeded  Tao  Kuang, 
was  not  cast  in  the  same  mould  as  his  grandfather,  or  great- 
great-grandfather.  A  second  war  with  England  took  place, 
and  resulted  in  the  country  being  still  further  opened  to 
Western  nations. 

In  the  next  reign,  that  of  T'ung  Chih,  the  great 
T'ai-P'ing  rebellion  was  subdued,  Chinese  Gordon  having 
a  very  great  share  in  the  matter ;  this  rebellion  had 
lasted  from  A.D.  1850  to  1864  and  had  desolated 
several  provinces.  A  Mohammedan  rising  was  also 
quelled  ;  and  diplomatic  intercourse  was  started  with 
the  Treaty  Powers. 

His  cousin  succeeded  T'ung  Chih,  under  the  style  of 
Kuang  Hsu.  As  far  as  can  be  judged  by  the  imperfect 
light  of  the  historic  past,  China  is  better  governed  now, 
under  the  present  dynasty,  than  she  has  ever  been.  A  slow 
progress  towards  Western  civilisation  has  commenced  :  the 
construction  of  railways  has  begun  ;  cotton  mills  have  been 

343 


Things  Chinese 

established  ;  mints  have  been  opened  for  the  coining  of 
copper  and  silver  after  the  Western  fashion  ;  a  navy  of 
foreign-built  vessels  was  formerly,  and  is  now  being  again 
acquired  ;  bodies  of  troops,  trained  in  the  European  style  ; 
arsenals,  started  ;  and  various  other  minor  improvements 
effected.  But  the  almost  universal  corruption  and  in- 
efficiency of  the  mandarins  has  resulted  in  a  series  of 
disastrous  defeats  of  the  army  and  navy,  the  results  of 
which  amongst  other  things  were  seen  in  the  loss  of  the 
magnificent  Island  of  Formosa,  the  dismantling  of  Port 
Arthur,  and  in  the  destruction  or  taking  of  the  vessels  of 
the  Northern  Fleet  by  the  Japanese.  These  were  followed 
by  the  Boxer  rising,  fomented  by  the  Chinese  Government 
or  officials,  finally  culminating  in  the  siege  of  the  foreign 
legations  in  the  heart  of  the  capital  by  the  Boxers  and 
Chinese  soldiery,  and  massacres  of  missionaries  and  foreign 
residents  and  native  converts  in  the  North.  Since  this, 
signs  of  progress  are  visible,  and  yet  again  signs  of  retro- 
gression to  be  followed  by  forward  '  spurts.'  The  Audience 
Question  appears  to  have  been  at  last  settled  (See 
Article  on  Audience).  All  who  are  interested  in  the 
future  of  this  mighty  empire  are  watching  with  keen 
eyes  every  sign  of  progress,  now  rejoicing  in  indica- 
tions of  foresight  and  prudence  on  the  part  of  her 
rulers,  and  now  lamenting  the  apparent  ineptitude  and 
inability  to  grasp  the  position  of  affairs  on  the  part  of 
those  in  power.  The  future  alone  will  show  how  the 
balance  will  turn. 

What  the  results  of  the  present  condition  of  affairs  will 
be  is  hard  to  say.  Russia  is  extending  her  hold  over 
Manchuria  and  holds  Port  Arthur ;  Germany  has  Kiao- 
chau ;  Great  Britain,  Weihaiwei  ;  France,  Kwongchau- 
wan.  '  Spheres  of  influence,'  and  '  open  doors,'  and  different 
plans  for  building  up  or  upsetting  the  present  house  are 
talked  about  by  different  persons,  but  no  one  knows  what 
will  happen  next.  The  latest  move,  the  Anglo-Japanese 
Alliance,  is  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  integrity 
of  the  Chinese  Empire :  a  politically  polite  way  of  saying 

344 


History 

'  hands  off'  to  all  who  would  desire  the  dismemberment  of 
China. 

We  have  thus  traced  in  the  shortest  manner  possible  the 
history  of  the  Chinese  nation  from  a  mythological  period 
to  a  mythical  and  semi-mythical  one,  until,  under  the 
House  of  Chou,  the  facts  of  Chinese  history  are  more 
reliable.  We  have  seen  the  ebb  and  flow  of  dynastic 
changes  ;  how,  with  the  new  vigour  of  a  fresh  dynasty,  the 
power  of  China  was  extended  for  a  few  centuries,  to  be 
succeeded,  when  effete  rulers  followed,  by  an  ebb  of 
dominion  and  influence,  until,  with  each  successive  change, 
a  higher  tide  of  power  reclaimed  what  weak  hands  had  lost, 
and  the  boundaries  of  the  empire  were  again  expanded 
with  each  rise  of  fortune  to  a  greater  extent :  how  the 
Feudal  States  of  China,  with  a  nominal  paramount  lord, 
were  succeeded  by  '  the  foundations  of  a  coherent  empire ' 
under  the  first  Emperor  of  Ts'in  ;  next,  we  have  seen  '  the 
stately  House  of  Han,'  '  making  vast  strides  towards  a  more 
settled  state  of  prosperity  and  civilisation ' ;  the  troublous 
times  of  the  Three  States  and  other  dynasties  from  which 
China  rose  in  the  brilliant  epoch  of  the  T'ang ;  another 
ebb  and  transition  period  of  the  Five  Dynasties,  when  the 
recurring  tide  of  prosperity  came  in  with  the  Sung,  to  be 
followed  by  an  efflux,  and  another  stormy  wave  of  con- 
quest under  the  Mongols,  which  quickly  retired,  to  return, 
with  renewed  force,  with  the  great  Ming  dynasty  on  its 
crest  again,  to  again  retire,  and  with  fresh  energy,  to  once 
more  return  with  the  conquering  Manchu. 

Books  recommended.— Boulger's  'History  of  China,';  'Historic  China 
and  other  Sketches,'  by  Prof.  H.  A.  Giles.  "NVilliams's  '  Middle  Kingdom,' 
Ross's  'Corea,'  and  the  same  authors  'History  of  the  Manchus.'  '  Historical 
Atlas  of  the  Chinese  Empire  from  the  earliest  times  down  to  the  close  of  the 
Ming  Dynasty,'  by  E.  L.  Oxenham,  gives  maps  of  China  at  different  periods, 
and  contains  a  most  interesting  summary  of  Chinese  history.  To  all  of  those 
we  are  more  or  less  indebted  in  the  preparation  of  this  paper.  Numerous 
sketches  of  dilferent  epochs  of  Chinese  History  will  be  found  treated  of  in 
different  articles  in  the  China  Review,  Missionary  Recorder  and  The  Enst 
of  ASM  ;  amongst  these,  particularly  note  'China  in  the  Light  of  History,' 
by  Rev.  E.  Faber,  Dr.  Theol :  A  series  of  articles  translated  from  the  German 
and  published  in  the  Chinese  Recorder,  vol.  xxvii.  '  Macgowan's  History  of 
China'  is  one  of  the  latest  histories  of  China.  The  historic  portion  of  Williams's 
'  Middle  Kingdom  '  has  also  been  published  separately  as  a  volume. 

345 


Things  Chinese 

HORNBILLS:- 

' These  answer  to  the  "Toucans"  of  America.  Their  apparently 
cumbrous  beaks  and  helmets  are  in  reality  very  light,  only  one  species 
having  the  portion  above  the  head  solid.  It  is  from  this — a 
yellow,  wax-hke-looking  substance—  that  the  Chinese  carve  brooches, 
earrings,  etc.' 

HOK-LO. — This  name  is  applied  to  the  inhabitants  of 
certain  parts  of  the  north-eastern  portion  of  the  Canton 
province,  who  differ  in  speech,  manners,  and  customs,  from 
the  rest  of  the  population.  Their  language  (See  Article  on 
Dialects,  under  the  word  Swatow)  is  near  akin  to  the  Fuh- 
kienese,  but  has  several  dialects.  The  Swatow  is  spoken 
at  that  port,  and  the  Hof-fung  and  the  Luk-fung  in  the 
districts  of  country  so  named,  and  some  other  dialects 
would  probably  be  discovered  were  the  subject  fully 
examined  into. 

The  Hok-lo  occupy  the  whole  of  some  districts,  and 
are  scattered  through  other  parts,  having  migrated  from 
the  Fuh-kien  province  a  few  centuries  since.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  within  the  Canton  province  there  are  about 
three  million  Hok-lo  speakers.  There  are  some  traces 
of  a  very  ancient  origin  in  this  speech ;  it  is  not  so 
soft  and  musical  as  the  Cantonese,  having  many  nasal 
twangs. 

In  dress  they  differ  slightly  from  the  Cantonese ;  the 
jackets  of  the  men  are  rather  longer  at  times,  and  they 
often,  in  common  with  the  Fuh-kienese,  wear  turbans. 
They  are  a  rougher,  wilder  set  of  men  than  the  Cantonese. 
There  are  other  points  of  difference  between  them,  into 
which  we  cannot  enter. 

The  American  Baptist  and  English  Presbyterian 
Missions  have  many  stations  in  the  Hok-lo  country. 

There  are  a  number  of  Hok-lo  in  Hongkong,  many  of 
the  chair  coolies  belonging  to  that  part  of  the  country. 
They  make  good  bearers,  being  physically  stronger  than 
the  natives  further  south.  Many  Hok-lo  have  gone 
abroad,  and  are  to  be  found  in  different  parts  of  the 
world.  By  the  census  of  1891  there  were  43,791  Teo 

346 


Infanticide 

Chews  in  the  Straits  Settlements :  Teo  Chews  is  the  term 
applied  generally  to  them  in  Singapore,  Penang,  and  the 
Malay  States,  while  Hok-lo  is  the  name  by  which  they  are 
generally  known  by  the  Cantonese  speakers  in  China  ;  the 
former  name  being  derived  from  the  Departmental  city  of 
Ch'ao  Chao  fu  (in  the  local  dialect  Tfii  Chfu  fu,  or  Teo  Chew 
fu),  to  which  the  different  districts,  from  which  many  of  the 
Hok-los  come,  belong ;  while  Hok-lo  means  Men  from 
the  Fuk  (or,  as  it  is  locally,  Hok)  province,  i.e.  Fuh-kien 
province.  The  inhabitants  of  this  portion  of  the  Canton 
province,  as  we  have  already  said,  having  been  settlers 
from  that,  the  Fuh-kien,  province. 

INFANTICIDE. — The  longer  one  lives  in  China  the 
more  one  feels  the  necessity  for  caution  in  saying  what 
does  and  what  does  not  exist  here.  In  our  younger  days 
we  have  been  guilty  of  dogmatically  asserting  that  such 
and  such  things  were  not  done  in  China,  to  be  sometimes 
confuted  in  later  years  by  the  evidence  of  our  own  eyes 
and  ears  ;  nor  are  we  singular  in  this  respect,  as  doubtless 
many  other  old  residents  in  China  could  testify.  Some 
authors  have  been  egregious  sinners  in  thus  writing  about 
a  small  portion  of  China  in  which  they  have  resided  :  they 
have  judged  of  the  whole  of  this  vast  empire,  with  its 
diverse  inhabitants,  manners  and  customs,  from  a  small 
part  of  it,  reversing  the  mathematical  axiom  that  the 
whole  contains  its  parts,  into  'one  small  part  contains  the 
whole.' 

About  no  subject  is  this  perhaps  more  strikingly  true 
than  that  of  infanticide,  for  what  holds  perfectly  good  of 
one  small  district,  is  entirely  false  when  applied  to  other 
large  tracts.  Also  what  happens  at  one  time,  an  excep- 
tional period  possibly,  may  not  happen  again,  even  in  the 
same  district,  for  years. 

To  form  an  approximately  correct  estimate  of  this  evil 
and  crime  in  China,  a  systematically  carried  out  investiga- 
tion, extending  over  a  number  of  years,  all  over  the  land, 
would  be  necessary. 

347 


Things  Chinese 

To  premise,  as  a  general  statement,  it  may  be  said  that 
in  certain  parts  of  the  empire,  and  (or)  at  certain  times,  this 
crime  is  only  too  alarmingly  practised.  One  writer  says, 
'  thousands  of  female  babies  are  destroyed  every  year.' 

That  it  is  prevalent  in  some  regions  it  is  useless  to  deny. 
There  is  a  quasi  sanction  given  to  it  under  certain  circum- 
stances by  the  tale  of  one  who  had  not  sufficient  to  support 
his  aged  parent  and  his  own  family,  and  who  thereupon 
came  to  the  resolve,  with  his  wife,  that  the  infant  should  be 
sacrificed  in  order  to  have  enough  for  its  grandparent. 
Taking  the  child  for  the  purpose  of  burying  it  alive,  the 
misguided  and  wicked  parent — but,  according  to  Chinese 
ideas,  most  dutiful  son — was  rewarded  by  Heaven,  and 
restrained  from  this  murderous  act  of  filial  piety  by  dis- 
covering a  pot  of  gold  in  the  hole  he  had  dug  for  his  own 
offspring.  And  this  is  held  up  as  an  example,  it  being  one 
of  the  twenty-four  moral  (?)  tales  to  encourage  others  to  a 
performance  of  filial  duties.  What  wonder  if  some  follow 
the  example  thus  held  up  to  them.  Were  it  not  also  a 
known  fact  that  infanticides  take  place,  proof  of  it  might 
be  found  in  the  proclamations  which  are  sometimes  issued 
against  it  by  the  officials.  And  even  another  corroboration 
of  its  practice  may  be  found  in  the  Chinese  mothers,  who 
have  acknowledged  putting  their  own  children  out  of  the 
way.  Again  the  author  has  a  small  tract  issued  under 
the  imprimatur  of  the  Goddess  of  Mercy,  which  contains 
illustrations  of  the  methods  of  committing  the  crime,  and 
inveighing  against  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the 
dead  bodies  of  children  that  float  down  the  rivers  are  the 
victims  of  infanticide,  nor  that  those  which  are  found  ex- 
posed at  the  road-side  or  on  the  hills  are  necessarily  thrown 
there  by  heartless  hands,  for  the  Chinese  do  not  go  to  the 
trouble  of  burying  little  children  with  the  same  care  that 
they  do  older  people,  and  the  dead  children  are  often 
thrown  into  the  river,  or  cast  out  in  the  country.  The 
mortality  amongst  infants  in  China  is  awful.  With  death 
statistics  in  Hongkong,  if  reliable,  it  is  possible  to  form 

348 


Infanticide 

some  idea  of  what  it  must  be  in  China  where  no  statistics 
are  available.  Out  of  1,000  Chinese  infants  born  in  this 
Colony,  only  72  survived  for  a  period  of  twelve  months  in 
1900. 

One  of  the  great  causes  of  infanticide  is  poverty ; 
another  is  the  low  estimation  in  which  girls  are  held,  and 
all  the  evils  which  necessarily  ensue  from  such  an  inferior 
position  in  the  social  status,  for  it  is  seldom,  indeed  rarely, 
that  boys  are  killed  ;  and  that  brings  us  to  another  reason, 
for  if  a  boy  is  made  away  with,  it  is  probably  due  to  some 
physical  defect,  this  reason  also  causing  the  death  of  some 
girls. 

'  In  his  pamphlet  on  "The  Diseases  of  China,"  Dr.  Dudgeon  says 
(on  p.  56)  : — "  One  thing  is  certain,  infanticide  does  not  prevail  to  the 
extent  so  generally  believed  among  us  ;  and  in  the  North,  whence 
Europe  derived  her  ideas  chiefly  from  the  Jesuits  of  the  last  century, 
it  does  not  exist  at  all."  These  remarks  do  not  apply  to  Shan-si, 
where  the  practice  is  quite  common.  The  teachers  deny  that  female 
infants  are  thus  killed,  but  the  common  people  readily  admit  that  they 
destroy  many  of  their  girl  babies.  There  are  comparatively  few  old 
women  of  the  poorer  classes  who  have  not  been  guilty  of  this  crime. 
The  writer  himself  is  aware  of  some  instances  of  the  kind.' 

'  It  has  been  calculated  that  of  every  thousand  girls  born  in  China, 
sixteen  are  smothered  at  birth,  to  avoid  the  "  calamity  and  disgrace  " 
of  another  girl  in  the  house.' 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Hankow  there  are  many  cases 
of  it  among  the  poor  and  rural  population.  It  is  also  said 
to  be  prevalent  among  the  Hakkas.  It  is  practised  in 
Canton,  but  is  much  rarer  there  than  in  some  places.  It 
seems  to  prevail  in  certain  parts  of  the  Fuh-kien  province. 
From  enquiries  made  in  some  villages  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  it  was  ascertained  that  an  average  of  40  per  cent, 
of  the  girls  were  thus  murdered,  as  we  call  it,  but  neither 
Chinese  law  nor  opinion  seem  to  consider  it  as  such. 

At  the  prefectural  city  of  Ch'ao  Chau,  near  Swatow,  the 
author  saw,  outside  the  walls  of  the  city,  a  basket  hanging 
against  a  wall,  looking  from  a  distance  something  like  a 
cradle.  A  piece  of  matting  was  fastened  above  it,  forming 
a  sort  of  pent-roof  to  shelter  it  from  the  rain  and  sun.  In 
this  basket,  is  put  any  baby  whom  its  parents  do  not  care 
to  preserve,  and  should  any  charitable  person  be  so  dis- 

349 


Things  Chinese 

posed,  he,  or  she,  may  lift  out  the  forsaken  infant  and  take 
it  home.  Failing  such  rescue,  the  child  ultimately  meets 
the  fate  of  so  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  babydom  in  China. 
The  provision  made  for  infanticide  in  a  large  and  important 
departmental  city  near  Amoy  is  not  so  merciful,  as  it  is 
simply  a  large  hole  in  the  city  wall  into  which  the  infant  is 
cast.  In  the  north  of  China,  baby  towers  are  provided, 
perhaps  amongst  other  reasons,  for  the  same  purpose, 
though  they  are  principally  used  for  receiving  the 
dead  bodies  of  infants.  Occasionally  a  separate  hole  is 
provided  on  different  sides  of  the  tower  to  keep  the  sexes 
distinct,  and  thus  prevent  any  incentives  to  immorality 
amongst  the  ghosts  of  the  little  babies  !  No  wonder  the 
Chinese  consider  themselves  so  far  superior  to  us  in 
this  all-important  virtue  of  morality ! 

INSECTS. — Insect  life  is  rampant  in  China.  To  one 
who  is  accustomed  to  its  abundance  in  the  East,  it  appears 
as  if  man  had  to  look  for  it  in  the  West,  the  opposite  being 
the  case  in  China  ;  here  the  insects  find  out  the  man  ;  for 
hide  as  he  may  from  their  advances,  they  follow  him  every- 
where, and  all  his  subterfuges  to  avoid  them  are  unavailing. 
There  is  no  need  for  the  enthusiastic  entomologist  to  look 
under  stones  for  beetles,  for  beetles  abound  everywhere  ; 
nor  need  he  sally  forth  at  night  to  catch  moths,  the  moths 
come,  attracted  by  his  lamp,  into  the  room  to  him.  And 
when  the  white  ants  are  in  full  flight,  they  fly  in  at  the  open 
window  in  such  quantities  that  the  table  is  soon  littered 
with  the  wings  which  the  pupa-like  insects  drop,  without 
the  least  reluctance,  at  the  slightest  hint :  they  come  off  in 
the  hands,  they  are  shed  on  the  lamp-globes,  anywhere  and 
everywhere,  while  the  wretched  little  creatures  crawl  over 
your  book  or  paper,  and,  if  the  lamp  is  not  too  attractive, 
they  proceed  to  explore  the  genus  homo  with  a  persistency 
worthy  of  a  better  cause.  A  grand  thing  is  to  set  the 
lamps  into  large  basins  of  water,  when  hundreds  of  them 
lose  their  lives  in  the  moats  which  thus  surround  the 
lights. 

350 


Insects 

And  these  same  white  ants,  when  in  another  stage  of 
their  existence,  are  a  worse  nuisance  than  ever,  for  they  arc 
not  simply  an  annoyance  then,  but  a  pest.  Nothing  is 
secure  from  their  depredations.  Have  you  a  trunk  full  of 
valuable  documents?  You  may,  after  keeping  them  for 
years  intact,  suddenly  discover,  on  opening  the  trunk,  that 
the  papers  and  pamphlets  have  been  transformed  into 
trash,  glued  together  into  one  mass  and  riddled  with  the 
tunnelled  roads  of  these  indefatigable  workers  in  the  dark. 
Are  you  fond  of  books  and  is  your  collection  a  valuable 
and  priceless  one  of  old  editions  ?  With  all  your  care,  you 
may  discover  some  day  that  these  respecters  of  nothing 
have  eaten  up  through  one  of  the  legs  of  your  bookcase, 
and  run  riot  here  and  there  throughout  all  the  accumulated 
treasure  of  years.  Is  there  anything  left  untouched  by 
white  ants  ?  One's  house  is  attacked  in  the  flooring  and 
the  beams  of  the  roof,  and  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
collapses  ;  clothing,  carefully  packed  away  for  future  use, 
is  found,  when  wanted,  to  be  eaten  into  holes. 

The  only  fault  to  be  found  with  the  white  ant  is,  that 
he  has  a  superabundance  of  energy  that  is  misapplied,  but 
unfortunately  misapplied  energy  is  not  appreciated  by 
man,  and  thwarts  his  plans  in  a  most  aggravating  manner. 
Were  the  white  ant  amenable  to  instruction,  he  might  be 
yoked  in  the  service  of  man  instead  of  being  his  antagonist ; 
but  he  has  views  of  his  own  on  the  subject,  and  probably 
prefers  to  work  on  his  own  lines,  instead  of  drilling  holes  in 
wood  for  the  carpenter,  or  making  button-holes  for  the 
seamstress. 

From  white  ants  to  ants  is  not  a  far  cry,  though  they 
are  not  relations,  not  even  thirty-second  cousins.  We  want 
a  Sir  John  Lubbock  to  study  Chinese  ants.  We  do  not 
know  how  many  species  there  are,  but  the  most  casual 
observer  cannot  help  noticing  that,  at  the  very  least,  there 
are  several :  black  ants  and  red  ants,  tiny  ants,  small  black 
ants  and  large  black  ants.  In  a  country  where  everyone 
and  everything  is  busy,  the  ants  do  not  prove  an  exception 
to  their  world-wide  reputation  for  diligence.  It  is  most 


Things  Chinese 

interesting  to  notice  how  these  busy  little  scavengers 
perform  their  work  ;  a  dead  cockroach  will  not  lie  long  on 
the  floor  before  it  begins  to  move,  and  an  investigation 
will  show  that  tens  of  ants  are  supporting  it  and  carrying 
it  off;  also  how  carefully  and  systematically  they  bring  up 
the  earth  from  the  neat  little  holes,  which  are  occasionally 
seen  in  one's  path  ;  one  by  one  they  bring  up  a  small  piece, 
and,  climbing  up  on  the  encircling  mound,  select  a  little 
hollow,  or  what  seems  to  be  a  suitable  spot  to  them,  to 
deposit  it — not  dumping  it  down  just  anywhere.  All  sorts 
of  devices  have  to  be  resorted  to,  to  keep  these  industrious 
little  creatures  out  of  the  stores  :  the  sugar  is  black  with 
them,  and  all  sorts  of  edibles  are  attacked.  To  keep  them 
away,  the  feet  of  cupboards  are  set  in  bowls  of  water,  but 
this  water  must  be  often  changed,  else  a  scum  will  coat 
the  top,  and  the  ants  cross  over  as  human  beings  would 
on  ice. 

Cockroaches  are  even  worse  plagues  than  ants  in  many 
places.  They  swarm  everywhere,  hiding  in  the  daytime 
in  any  dark  corner,  whence  they  emerge  and  run  riot  after 
dark,  running  and  flying  all  over  the  room,  much  to  one's 
discomfort.  They  attack  clothing,  especially  that  with 
starch  in  it,  as  well  as  edibles,  and  books.  Woe  betide  the 
new-bought  book,  nicely  bound  in  cloth,  lying  on  your 
table  ;  its  fine  binding  will  be  blotched  all  over  with  stains 
(if  you  have  not  already  given  it  a  dose  or  two  of  anti- 
cockroach  varnish),  and  a  week  of  such  treatment  will 
reduce  the  volume  to  so  disreputable  a  condition,  that  it 
will  look  as  if  a  heavy  shower  of  rain  had  besprinkled  it. 
The  female  cockroach  displays  a  considerable  amount  of 
ingenuity  in  her  endeavours  to  hide  her  eggs.  These 
consist  of  an  oblong  case,  with  one  edge  serrated,  of  about 
half  or  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  length  and  about  three 
or  four  times  as  long  as  broad.  This  is  naturally  of  a  dark, 
brownish  colour ;  but  if  it  is  laid  on  a  white  pith  hat,  the 
mother  collects  some  of  the  whiting  off  the  hat  and 
partially  covers  the  egg-case  with  it  to  conceal  it ;  and  to 
a  lesser  degree  this  is  also  done  where  the  colour  of  the 

352 


Insects 

substance  on  which  the  egg  is  deposited  differs  much  from 
that  of  the  egg-case  itself. 

Insect  life  knows  no  rest  in  the  East.  Speak  not  of  the 
silent  voices  of  the  night  here !  The  voices  of  the  night  are 
as  many  as  the  day,  if  not  more.  This  is  particularly 
noticeable  to  the  newcomer  on  his  voyage  out,  when 
perhaps  he  spends  a  night  on  shore  at  Singapore,  and  first 
realises  that  insect  life  in  the  East  is  more  intense,  more 
persistent,  and  universally  prevalent. 

We  have  seen  a  book  called  '  Songs  in  the  Night,'  but 
the  insect  world  in  Eastern  countries  provides  incessant 
'  songs  without  words,'  both  day  and  night. 

A  walk  along  a  country  road  after  nightfall  is  through 
a  perfect  chorus  of  chirps  and  chips,  scissors  grinding — but 
sufficient  words  have  not  yet  been  invented  in  the  English 
language  to  describe  accurately  all  the  shrill  little  voices, 
pitched  in  different  keys ;  soprano,  alto,  and  tenor  are 
present,  and,  to  make  up  for  the  want  of  a  bass,  the  bull- 
frogs in  the  neighbouring  pond  join  in  a  deep,  full,  well- 
sustained  note,  brought  out  at  regular  intervals. 

All  else  being  quiet,  doubtless  the  insects  have  a  better 
chance  of  being  heard.  But  the  day  is  not  silent  either. 
It  is  sufficient  to  mention  the  cicada,  an  insect  about  an 
inch  and  a  half  to  two  inches  long.  The  outline  of  its  shape 
is  somewhat  like  that  of  the  shot  of  a  breech-loading 
cannon,  for  its  head  is  nearly  straight  across,  and  its 
abdomen  tapers  to  a  point.  In  colour  it  is  black,  touched 
with  brownish-orange,  especially  on  its  under  surface;  it  has 
four  transparent  gauze  wings,  two  long,  and  two  short,  and 
absurdly  small  antennae  for  an  insect  of  its  size  ;  as  to  its 
voice — well,  to  put  it  mildly,  it  is  not  pleasant,  though  we 
read  in  a  recent  book  of  travels  in  Africa  a  charming 
account  of  its  angelic  notes !  Solitude  must  have  had  a 
soothing  effect  on  the  family  of  cicadas  which  settled  in 
that  dark  land,  and  perhaps  the  cruel  treatment  they 
receive  from  the  Chinese  boys  has  produced  an  irritating 
one  on  those  in  the  Celestial  Land  ;  for  young  John 
Chinaman  delights,  with  a  long  bamboo  pole,  some 

353  z 


Things  Chinese 

sticky  substance  having  been  placed  on  the  end,  to  poke 
among  the  upper  branches  of  the  trees  and  capture  the 
insect,  which  then  does  duty  as  a  rattle,  protesting  with  his 
strident '  sz-sz-sz-sz '  when  he  is  fingered  ;  but  it  is  when 
he  is  at  liberty  '  on  the  tree-top '  that  he  is  in  full  voice — 
no  other  insect  approaches  him  in  that  respect — and,  as  if 
apparently  rejoicing  in  a  knowledge  of  what  his  voice  is 
capable  of,  he  starts  off  with  a  preliminary  flourish,  and 
then  settles  down  to  business.  This  ear-deafening  din  is 
kept  up  for  several  minutes  (its  distressing  nature  is 
intensified  if  half  a  dozen  cicadas  are  within  earshot),  then, 
after  a  short  rest,  he  starts  off  again  with  a  wearying  itera- 
tion through  the  hot  hours  of  the  day.  It  is  only  the  male 
which  '  possesses  the  musical  apparatus,  consisting  of  two 
membranes  over  air-tubes  in  its  throat,  with  hollow-sound- 
ing cavities  behind  each,  which  increase  the  volume  of  its 
notes.'  (See  Article  on  Cicada.) 

But  time,  as  well  as  space,  would  fail  us  to  bring  all  the 
insect  creation  found  in  China  before  our  readers :  the 
useful  silkworms  ;  atlas  moths,  nearly  as  large  as  two  palms 
of  the  hands  joined  together;  smaller  moths,  quaint  in 
contrasts  of  colours  unusual  in  the  West  in  such  insects ; 
tiny  mites  of  ones  like  little  pieces  of  marbled  paper  flying 
about ;  lovely  butterflies  like  bits  of  rainbow  floating  in  the 
breeze,  and  fluttering  over  the  flowers  ;  gorgeous  beetles  of 
all  shapes  and  sizes ;  and  the  ubiquitous  mosquito  (of 
which  there  must  be  a  good  many  species  out  of  the  1 50 
species  which  are  known  to  exist  in  the  world),  the  plague 
of  one's  nights — what  aggravated  torture  and  torment  it  is 
capable  of  inflicting  ! — then  the  hosts  of  grasshoppers  of  all 
sizes  and  modification  of  shape  and  habits,  some  tiny 
morsels  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length  which  walk 
sideways.  What  myriads  there  are  of  them  all !  Where 
do  all  these  insects  come  from,  and  where  do  they  all  go  ? 
Is  it  any  wonder  with  their  ingenious  habits,  their  wonder- 
ful adaptation  to  their  surroundings,  their  marvellous  instinct, 
their  wondrous  beauty — is  it  any  wonder,  we  repeat,  with 
all  these,  that  the  Oriental  has  endowed  them  with 

354 


Insects 

immortality,  and  has  given  them  a  place  in  future  stages  of 
existence  ? 

As  to  the  insects  which  it  is  not  considered  polite  to 
mention  in  respectable  society,  they  also  abound,  and  the 
Chinese  appear  to  have  no  scruples  in  speaking  of  them, 
or  in  allowing  them  board  and  lodging  free  of  expense, 
though  they  try  to  keep  down  over-population  by  a 
judicious  thinning-out.  The  means  employed  to  this  end 
are  not  always  pleasant  to  a  squeamish  taste,  as  the 
operation  is  carried  on,  especially  by  coolies  and  beggars, 
in  the  open  street,  the  lowest  classes  using  their  teeth  as 
the  executioners,  for  the  Chinese  do  not  feel  any  shame  at 
their  persons  being  inhabited. 

As  to  the  Westerner  in  China,  personal  contact  with 
these  parasites  is  perhaps,  if  anything,  less  common  even 
than  in  England,  where  a  ride  in  a  London  'bus  may 
introduce  one  to  a  stray  member  of  their  community, 
nolens  volens, 

With  the  advance  of  medical  science  of  late  years  it 
becomes  more  and  more  apparent  that  man  has  more  to 
dread  from  insects,  such  as  the  mosquito,  than  the  mere 
discomfort  of  its  bite  or  its  buzz  ;  for  it  is  now  known  that 
the  mosquito  spreads  malaria.  (See  Article  on  Mosquito.) 

'  Man  .  .  .  may  become  infected  by  drinking  water  contaminated 
by  the  mosquito,  or,  and  much  more  frequently,  by  inhaling  the  dust 
of  the  mud  of  dried-up  mosquito-haunted  pools  ;  or  in  some  similar 
way.'  '  The  later  researches  of  Surgeon  Ross  of  the  British  army 
have  not  only  proven  that  malaria  can  be  acquired  from  a  mosquito 
bite,  but  that  the  malaria  parasite  is  mostly  one  of  insects  and  only 
an  occasional  visitor  to  man.  Particular  species  of  malaria  parasites 
even  demand  particular  species  of  mosquitoes — a  fact  at  least  partly 
explaining  apparent  vagaries  in  the  distribution  of  malaria.  When  all 
is  known,  Europeans  may  be  able  to  live  in  climates  now  made 
deadly  by  this  pest.' 

Flies  and  other  insects  may  likewise  help  to  spread  that 
awful  disease  the  plague. 

'  One  can  understand  .  .  .  how  lice,  fleas,  bugs,  and  perhaps  flies 
may  act  as  carriers  of  the  virus  from  person  to  person,  inserting  it 
with  their  bites.  Yersin  found  that  the  flies  in  his  Hongkong  plague 
laboratory  died  in  great  numbers,  their  bodies  being  crowded  with 
the  specific  bacillus.  Sablonowski  .  .  .  remarked  that  during  the 

355 


Things  Chinese 

Mesopotamia!!  epidemic  (in  1884)  a  certain  species  of  fly  appeared 
and  disappeared  concurrently  with  the  plague  ;  he  considered  that 
this  insect  was  an  active  agent  in  spreading  the  disease.' 

'  Mosquitoes  infect  water  with  the  germs  of  the  disease,  to  prevent 
it  we  have  to  keep  the  mosquitoes  down,  to  prevent  their  preying  on 
already  infected  individuals,  or,  and  this  is  the  simple  plan,  to  keep 
them  from  getting  access  to  our  drinking  water,  or  by  boiling  or 
filtration  to  kill  the  germs  which  our  drinking  water  may  contain.' 

Nor  is  the  deadly  list  complete  of  the  dreaded  diseases 
which  this  apparently  harmless,  though  troublesome,  insect, 
the  mosquito,  may  disseminate,  for  elephantiasis  is  to  be 
considered  as  another. 

And  now,  still  later,  it  has  been  discovered  that  the 
mosquito  carries  the  germs  of  yellow  fever. 

Books  recommended. — '  Natural  History  of  the  Insects  of  China,  containing 
upwards  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  Figures  and  Descriptions,'  liy  E.  Donovan, 
F.L.S.,  etc.  See  Hanson's  'Tropical  Diseases,'  p.  17,  153.  Also  see  pages 
456-460  for  an  account  of  the  way  the  mosquito  is  conjectured  to  infect  man 
with  the  filar ia  sanguinis  hominis. 


ISINGLASS. — A  large  quantity  of  isinglass  is  con- 
sumed in  China,  under  the  name  of  fish-maws.  It  is  used 
to  make  soups,  and  is  an  article  of  considerable  export 
from  Malaya.  Chinese  traders  also  send  large  quantities 
from  the  Straits  to  China. 

Dennys  gives  the  names  of  the  following  fish  as  furnish- 
ing this  isinglass,  Arius  anus,  A.  militarius,  A.  truncatus, 
Johnius  dr acanthus,  Lates  heptadactylus,  Lobotes  erate, 
Otholithus  argenteus,  Otolitus  brauritus,  Otholitus  inaculatus, 
O.  ruber}  Polynemus  indicus. 

JADE. — The  mineral  held  in  the  highest  estimation  in 
China  is  jade.  Under  the  name  yuk  (pronounced  yook) 
the  Chinese  not  only  include  '  the  three  varieties  of  the 
silicate  of  alumina  called  jade,  nephrite,  and  jadeite  by 
mineralogists,'  but  they  also  apply  the  same  term  to  a 
number  of  different  stones.  Sonorousness  and  colour  are 
the  two  qualities  which  enhance  its  value,  the  best  coming 
from  Khoten  and  Yunnan.  It  is  also  supplied  to  China  by 

356 


Jade 

the  Burmese  mines, '  through  Bhamo,  which  is  the  entrepot 
for  the  trade.' 

'  A  greenish-white  colour  is  the  most  highly  prized.' 
Williams  gives  the  following  description  of  jade  : — 

'  Its  colour  is  usually  a  greenish-white,  or  grayish-green  and  dark 
grass-green  ;  internally  it  is  scarcely  glimmering.  Its  fracture  is 
splintery  ;  splinters  white ;  mass  semi-transparent  and  cloudy ;  it 
scratches  glass  strongly,  and  can  itself  generally  be  scratched  by 
flint  or  quartz,  but  while  not  excessively  hard,  it  is  remarkable  for 
toughness.  The  stone  when  freshly  broken  is  less  hard  than  after  a 
short  exposure.  Specific  gravity  from  2*9  to  3-1.' 

The  Chinese  look  upon  jade  as  '  emblematical  of  most 
of  the  virtues ' ;  and  from  the  excessive  admiration  they 
have  for  it,  it  is  natural  that  they  should  have  largely  used 
it  in  their  ceremonious  language ;  for  instance,  in  address- 
ing a  man,  his  daughter  is  styled  '  a  jade  girl,'  his  hand  is 
'  a  jade  hand  ' ;  '  a  jade  foot '  means  his  coming,  or  '  I  hope 
you  will  transfer  your  jade '  means  '  I  hope  you  will 
come,'  etc. 

It  is  the  ambition  of  every  girl  and  woman,  amongst 
the  Cantonese,  to  have  a  pair  of  jade-stone  drops  for  her 
earrings,  and  a  pair  of  jade-stone  bangles  for  her  arms. 
Failing  the  genuine  article,  imitation  ones  are  worn.  Long 
pins,  six  or  eight  inches  in  length,  having  from  one  to 
four  inches  of  jade  forming  the  upper  part,  are  stuck  into 
the  hair  of  women ;  hair-presses,  a  curious  kind  of 
ornament  holding  up  part  of  the  coiffure ;  rings  for 
women  ;  large  thumb-rings,  an  inch  broad,  for  gentlemen  ; 
vases,  sceptres — these  and  many  other  articles  of  jeweller)', 
of  ornament,  and  of  virtu,  are  all  made  of  this  stone. 

The  jade-stone  shops  are  amongst  the  neatest  and 
finest-looking  Chinese  shops.  The  jade  in  its  different 
shades,  from  rich  green  to  white,  as  well  as  other  specimens 
of  precious  stones,  already  made  up  into  the  ornaments  so 
highly  esteemed,  are  tastefully  arranged  on  white  paper  in 
glass-covered  boxes.  Much  labour  and  pains  are  taken  in 
the  production  of  these  different  articles,  time  being  of 
little  consequence  to  the  Chinese  lapidary,  and  expense 
being  lavishly  incurred  by  the  moneyed  man  for  their 

357 


Things  Chinese 

purchase,  for  the  adornment  of  his  many  wives  and 
numerous  daughters,  as  well  as  for  his  own  wear,  and  for 
seals  and  bric-fr-brac  of  various  kinds  to  be  placed  in  the 
halls  of  his  rambling  mansion. 

The  Chinese,  it  is  said,  will  not  purchase  jade  brought 
from  foreign  countries.  Williams  says  that  a  cargo  load, 
brought  from  Australia,  was  rejected  by  the  Cantonese, 
owing  to  its  origin  and  colour.  Giles  says  that  '  whole 
shiploads  of  it  have  been  brought  from  other  countries  to 
China,  but  have  found  no  market,  the  Chinese  declaring 
it  was  not  the  same  article  as  their  own.'  It  was  thought 
at  one  time  that  jade  was  only  to  be  found  in  three  places  : 
which  were,  New  Zealand,  the  northern  slopes  of  the 
Karakorum  mountains,  and  Northern  Burmah,  but  it  has 
since  been  found  in  situ  in  Silesia,  Monte  Video,  British 
Columbia,  and  Alaska.  It  also  probably  exists  or  existed 
somewhere  in  the  Alps,  as  'jade  has  often  been  found  in  the 
remains  of  Swiss  lake  dwellings,'  which  are  supposed  to  be 
at  least  3,000  years  old,  and  it  has  also  been  found  in  Asia 
Minor,  in  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  and  South  America — 
particularly  in  Venezuela  and  Brazil. 

'The  jade  of  Turkestan  is  largely  derived  from  water-rolled 
boulders  fished  up  by  divers  in  the  rivers  of  Khotan,  but  it  is  also  got 
from  mines,  in  the  valley  of  the  Kar^kcish  River  ....  The  jade 
of  Khotan  appears  to  be  first  mentioned  by  Chinese  authors  in  the 
time  of  the  Han  dynasty  under  Wuti  (B.C.  140-86).' 

JEWS. — Considerable  excitement  was  caused,  a  number 
of  years  since,  by  the  discovery  of  a  colony  of  these  ancient 
people  in  the  interior  of  China,  in  the  city  especially  of  Kai- 
fung,  a  departmental  city  in  the  province  of  Honan.  They 
are  said  to  have  established  themselves  in  China  in  the 
Han  dynasty,  though  there  is  great  uncertainty  as  to  the 
time  of  their  arrival. 

Several  visits  have  been  made  to  them  in  Kaifung-fu, 
and  copies  of  Hebrew  manuscript  have  been  obtained  from 
them,  but  'no  variations  of  any  consequence  have  been 
found  between  the  text  of  these  rolls  and  that  found  in  the 
printed  Hebrew  Bibles  of  Europe.'  These  manuscripts 

358 


Jinrickshas 

have  been  deposited  in  different  institutions,  such  as  the 
City  Hall  Library  in  Hongkong,  the  British  Museum,  and 
the  Bodleian. 

The  descendants  of  this  Jewish  colony  at  Kaifung-fu 
have  sunk  into  a  state  of  ignorance  and  poverty  ;  not  one 
of  them  can  read  Hebrew  ;  their  synagogue  is  no  longer  in 
existence  ;  no  services  are  held  ;  their  creed  has  faded  out ; 
and  in  a  few  years  the  last  traces  of  this  Jewish  community, 
of  from  two  to  four  hundred  souls,  will  probably  be  lost  in 
the  mass  of  their  heathen  and  Mohammedan  surroundings. 
This  appears,  since  the  above  was  written,  to  have  become 
almost  true,  if  not  quite  so. 

Besides  this  colony  of  Jews  in  this  distant  land, 
others  existed  in  different  places.  Amongst  other  cities 
in  which  communities  of  them  lived  were  Ningpo  and 
Peking.  Tradition  is  credited  with  the  statement  that 
they  settled  in  China  249  B.C.,  but  it  is  thought  that  the 
more  probable  period  was  between  A.D.  58  and  A.D.  75. 
Their  language  consisted  of  a  jargon  of  Hebrew  and 
Chinese  with  a  trace  of  Persian.  What  seems  a  more 
reliable  supposition  is  that  '  the  first  Jewish  refugees  are 
supposed  to  have  reached  China  in  company  with  the 
last  Sassanian  King  of  Persia,  whose  flight  before  the 
Caliph  Othman  is  placed  by  Gibbon  in  651  A.D.' 

Books  recommended.— In  the  Appendix  to  'Christian  Progress  in  China,' 
by  Arnold  Foster,  B.A.,  the  general  reader  will  find  a  succinct  account 
of  this  interesting  Jewish  colony.  Also  see  Williams's  '  Middle  Kingdom.' 
'The  Jews  in  China,' by  J.  Finn.  '  The  Orphan  Colony  of  Jews  in  China,' 
by  J.  Finn,  M.K.  A.S.  '  Facsimiles  of  the  Hebrew  Manuscripts  obtained  at  the 
Jewish  Synagogue  in  K'ae-Fung  Foo.' 

JINRICKSHAS.— Though  not  used  in  the  purely 
native  parts  of  China,  as  a  rule,  yet  these  convenient 
vehicles  are  largely  employed  in  several  of  the  Treaty 
Ports,  as  well  as  in  Hongkong,  not  only  by  Europeans, 
but  also  by  Chinese.  They  have  been  described  as  a 
cross  between  a  bath-chair  and  a  hansom  cab. 

The  Jinricksha  is  not  a  native  invention.  One  account 
says  an  inventive  American  missionary  in  Japan  produced 

359 


Things  Chinese 

the  first  one,  while  one  of  H.M.  Consular  Chaplains  in 
Yokohama,  Rev.  M.  B.  Bailey  is  credited  with  having 
originated  what  has  now  become  the  national  vehicle  of 
Japan. 

They  appear  to  have  been  introduced  into  the  Shanghai 
foreign  settlements  from  Japan,  and  some  years  later  into 
Hongkong,  where  there  are  500  or  so.  The  streets  of 
native  cities  are  not  of  such  a  character  as  to  .suit  vehicular 
traffic  of  any  kind,  and  special  roads  would  usually  have 
to  be  prepared  if  it  were  intended  for  them  to  run  outside 
the  foreign  settlements.  This  has  been  done  in  Nanking 
where  a  good  carriage  road  has  been  constructed  by  the 
viceroy,  Chang  Chih-tung,  a  great  many  houses  having  to 
be  pulled  down  for  it.  A  score  of  carriages  and  a  thousand 
jinrickshas  are  running  on  it. 

The  Chinese  are  not  such  good  ricksha  coolies  as  the 
Japanese,  who  think  nothing  of  drawing  tandem  a  heavy 
man  fifty  miles  in  one  day  up  and  down  hill ;  but  still  the 
Chinese,  though  not  such  swift  runners  or  possessing  such 
powers  of  endurance,  make  very  fair  ones. 

To  those  who  have  not  seen  it,  the  ricksha  may  be 
described  as  a  small  two-wheeled  vehicle,  capable  of  seating 
one,  or  sometimes  two,  persons,  with  a  pair  of  shafts,  be- 
tween which  the  coolie  runs  and  drags  the  vehicle.  Private 
ones  have  sometimes  two  or  three  coolies,  the  other  one  or 
two  pushing  from  behind.  They  are  fitted  with  hoods  which 
can  be  raised  or  lowered  at  pleasure,  and  waterproofs  to 
cover  the  legs  are  part  of  the  outfit.  The  rates  of  hire  in 
Hongkong  are — quarter-hour,  5  cents. ;  half-hour,  10  cents.  ; 
and  one  hour,  15  cents.  In  Macao  the  fares  are  even  less. 

One  enthusiast  has  proposed  that  they  should  be 
introduced  into  London.  They  are  already  half-way 
there,  as  their  use  has  not  only  extended  to  Singapore, 
Ceylon,  and  India,  but  even  to  South  Africa,  where  at 
'  Cape  Town,  Durban,  and  Pietermaritzburg  they  are  well 
patronized,  and  are  crowding  out  the  cabs  and  public 
buggies.  Kaffirs  furnish  the  motive  power.'  They  are 
even  extending  nearer  Europe  now, 

360 


Kites 

JUNK. — A  name  applied  by  foreigners  to  the  largest 
Chinese  trading  vessels.  Its  derivation  is  from  the 
Portuguese  junco>  which  was  a  corruption  of  the  Malay 
ajong,  abbreviated  Jong,  a  ship  or  large  vessel.  There  is  a 
tendency  which  has  now  become  so  established  as  to  lead 
to  the  application  of  this  name  to  all  Chinese  vessels  above 
the  size  of  boats,  though  this  was  not  the  original  use  of 
the  word. 

KINGFISHER. — There  are  three  varieties  of  this  bird 
in  the  Colony  of  Hongkong  :  one  the  black  cap,  one  white- 
breasted,  and  another  beautifully  coloured  one.  The  writer 
has  seen  one  skimming  along  in  front  of  the  New  Praya  in 
Hongkong  before  it  was  built  on,  and  they  are  frequently 
to  be  seen  in  the  streams  of  the  New  Territory. 

KITES. — China  is  par  excellence  the  land  of  kites. 
They  are  not  relegated  here  to  youthful  hands  alone  and 
considered  as  simply  childish  toys  ;  they  are  looked  upon 
as  fit  for  children  of  an  older  growth — not  scientific 
apparatus  a  Benjamin  Franklin  might  employ  to  bring 
the  lightning  down  from  the  skies,  or  such  as  some  present- 
day  aeronauts  use  for  experiments  in  attempting  to  solve 
the  problem  of  a  flying  machine,  or  for  meteorological 
purposes ;  but  as  simple  objects  to  amuse  themselves 
with. 

With  this  higher  view  taken  of  kite-flying,  it  is  natural 
that  more  pains  should  be  employed  in  the  construction  of 
kites  and  more  ingenuity  in  their  design  than  is  usually 
the  case  with  us. 

The  convenient  bamboo  in  its  natural  growth  of 
different  sizes,  tubular  and  light,  easily  split,  should  the 
whole  stick  be  too  large,  and  almost  as  easily  bent  into 
circles,  strong  yet  flexible — seems  specially  adapted  for  the 
framework,  be  the  kite  a  crude  and  conventional  imitation 
of  a  bird  to  amuse  a  child  (for  the  pastime  of  kite-flying  is 
not  entirely  monopolised  by  those  of  maturer  years  in 
China),  or  be  it  a  wonderful  structure,  the  joy  and  admira- 


Things  Chinese 

tion  of  not  only  its  owner,  but  of  a  gaping  crowd  and  of 
the  whole  neighbourhood.  The  framework  is  covered  with 
paper  and  silk,  but  no  Chinese  would  think  of  using  old 
newspapers  for  such  a  purpose  :  any  written  or  printed 
paper  is  reverently  burned.  Such  importance  do  the 
Chinese  attach  to  this  that  men  perambulate  the  streets 
for  the  express  purpose  of  rescuing  any  scraps  of  such 
paper  from  being  trodden  under  foot,  little  wooden  boxes 
are  also  stuck  up  on  the  walls  to  receive  anything  of  that 
nature  thrust  into  them. 

But  to  return  to  kites — so  lifelike  are  some  of  them 
made,  and  so  well  does  the  trained  hand  manipulate 
them  (or  rather  their  strings)  in  their  tethered  flight  that 
the  simulated  hovering  of  a  bird  of  prey  in  the  air  is  good 
enough  to  deceive,  at  first  sight,  even  a  naturalist.  It  has 
well  been  said  that  '  the  skill  shown  in  flying  them  is  more 
remarkable  than  the  ingenuity  displayed  in  their  construc- 
tion.' Butterflies,  lizards,  gigantic  centipedes,  a  pair  of 
spectacles,  a  huge  cash,  fish,  men,  and  many  other  objects 
may  be  seen  disporting  themselves  in  mid-air,  while  at  the 
other  end  of  the  strings  will  be  found  young  men,  or  even 
middle-aged  ones  perchance,  gravely  enjoying  themselves, 
and  a  group  of  boys  watching  them  and  doubtless  wishing 
they  had  grown  old  enough  to  fly  such  beauties  of  kites. 

The  festival  on  which  kite-flying  is  indulged  in  largely 
is  the  ninth  day  of  the  ninth  moon,  and  this  throughout 
China. 

1  Doolittle  describes  them  [the  kites]  as  sometimes  resembling  a 
great  bird,  or  a  serpent  thirty  feet  long  ;  at  other  times  the  spectator 
sees  a  group  of  hawks  hovering  round  a  centre,  all  being  suspended 
by  one  strong  cord,  and  each  hawk-kite  controlled  and  moved  by  a 
separate  line.  On  this  day  he  estimates  that  as  many  as  thirty 
thousand  people  assemble  on  the  hills  around  Foochow  to  join  in  this 
amusement  if  the  weather  be  propitious.' 

A  delightful  concomitant  to  the  kite  in  Chinese  eyes, 
or  rather  ears,  is  a  small  contrivance  which  is  so  placed 
that  the  wind  rushing  through  it  produces  a  humming 
sound. 

We  wonder  if  there  is  anything  in  China  which  is  not 

362 


Lacquer-Ware 

connected  with  their  religion  in  some  way  or  other,  even 
the  thieves  and  prostitutes  have  their  deities  whom  they 
devoutly  pray  to  for  success  and  protection.  What 
wonder  then  that  the  innocent  kite  is  often  used  as  a 
species  of  scapegoat,  as  with  string  deliberately  cut  for 
that  purpose,  it  floats  on  its  downward  erratic  flight, 
freighted  with  an  imaginary  load  of  disasters,  thus  carried 
away  from  those  who  otherwise  would  bear  the  weight  of 
ills  unknown  and  dreaded.  With  such  a  simple  expedient 
to  get  rid  of  the  dark  to-morrow,  who  need  be  unhappy 
even  in  wretched  China? 

LACQUER-WARE.— M.  Pateologue,  in  his  admirable 
work  on  '  L'Art  Chinois,'  while  giving  full  credit  to  the 
perfection  to  which  the  Japanese,  originally  the  scholars  of 
the  Chinese,  have  carried  this  art  '  une  perfection  que  les 
Chinois  n'ont  jamais  e"galee,'  says  further : — '  Mais,  pour 
relever  d'un  art  moins  e"leve"  et  d'une  technique  moins 
parfaite,  les  laques  Chinois  comptent  quelques  specimens 
qui  sont  remarquables  par  la  qualite  de  la  matiere,  par 
la  douceur  des  tons,  par  la  puissance  de  la  composition,  par 
la  largeur  et  la  se'verite'  du  style.' 

The  lacquer  is  originally  a  resinous  gum  obtained  from 
the  varnish  tree  (Rhus  vernicifera),  cultivated  both  in  China 
and  Japan  for  the  purpose.  Its  foliage  and  bark  resemble 
the  ash  ;  it  grows  to  a  height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet ;  and 
at  the  age  of  seven  years  furnishes  the  sap,  which  is 
collected  in  July  and  August  from  incisions  made  in  the 
trunk  of  the  tree  near  the  foot.  These  incisions  are  made 
at  night,  the  sap  being  collected  in  the  morning.  Twenty 
pounds  from  one  thousand  trees  in  the  course  of  a  night  is 
a  good  yield.  The  lacquer  sap  is  of  a  very  irritating 
nature,  especially  to  some  constitutions,  the  writer  himself, 
when  a  boy,  has  suffered  from  it  by  passing  through  a 
wood  where  varnish  trees  were  growing  ;  and  the  Chinese, 
when  preparing  it  in  cakes  to  enclose  in  tubs  to  send  to 
the  market,  take  the  precaution  to  cover  up  their  faces  and 
hands  to  prevent  contact  with  it.  Lacquer  '  in  any  stage, 

363 


Things  Chinese 

except  when  perfectly  dry,  is  capable  of  producing"  the 
following  symptoms  : — '  Blood  to  the  head,  swelling,  violent 
itching  and  burning,  and  occasionally  small  festering 
boils.' 

The  best  kind  of  sap  is  of  a  tawny  or  dark-brown 
colour  when  in  its  inspissated  state,  and  tarred  paper  is 
used  to  protect  it  from  the  air,  but  all  lacquer  turns  jet- 
black  on  exposure  to  the  light.  Other  ingredients  are 
added,  as  wood-oils  obtained  from  plants  such  as  Augia 
sinensis  and  others.  These,  combined  with  the  Rhus 
vernicifcra,  form  the  different  qualities  of  lacquer-ware. 
Sz-chuen,  Hu-nan,  and  Kwang-si,  produced  the  finest. 

The  preparation,  of  the  best  qualities  especially,  takes 
a  long  time,  and  one  reason  assigned  for  the  deterioration 
in  quality  supplied  to  the  foreign  market  in  China  is  the 
ignorance,  or  ignoring,  of  this  fact  by  Europeans,  who, 
when  giving  orders,  will  not  wait  the  necessary  time  for 
producing  a  first-class  article ;  and  the  Chinese  manu- 
facturer, from  being  forced  to  supply  the  articles  required 
at  short  notice,  has  got  into  the  way  of  producing  inferior 
workmanship,  which  meet  with  as  ready  a  sale  amongst 
the  uneducated  in  the  mysteries  of  lacquer  as  the  better 
specimens  did. 

The  varnish  is  prepared  for  use  by  the  addition  of  oil 
of  the  Vemicia  montana  or  Camellia  oleifera,  sulphate  of 
iron,  and  rice  vinegar ;  these  ingredients  vary  according  to 
the  condition  and  transparency  required.  Different  tints 
are  given  to  the  lacquer,  likewise,  by  the  introduction  of 
different  substances,  such  as  pig's  gall  and  vegetable  oil, 
ivory  black,  animal  charcoal,  and  tea  oil. 

The  wood  to  be  varnished  is  first  planed  and  polished, 
the  joints  are  stuffed  with  a  kind  of  fine  oakum,  narrow 
slips  of  paper  are  pasted  over  them,  and  fine  paper,  or  thin 
silken  material  is  put  over  the  whole  surface.  A  mixture 
of  emery  powder,  red  sandstone,  vermilion,  or  of  gamboge, 
and  of  cow's  gall,  is  then  applied  with  a  hard  brush,  and 
when  dried  in  the  air  it  is  polished  with  sandstone,  pumice- 
stone,  and  powdered  charcoal. 

364 


Lacquer -Ware 

This  double  operation  is  repeated  several  times.  The 
preliminary  work,  which  takes  several  weeks  to  accomplish, 
forms  the  foundation  for  the  lacquer,  which  is  applied  in  a 
room  closed  on  all  sides  from  wind  and  dust.  A  very  fine, 
flat  brush  is  used  to  apply  a  slight  and  very  equal  film  of  it. 
The  drying  room  next  receives  the  article,  or  articles  ;  here 
the  atmosphere  must  be  fresh  and  damp,  for  it  is  under 
such  conditions  that  the  lacquer  dries  most  quickly.  It 
next  receives  a  polishing  with  a  kind  of  soft  schist.  Each 
layer  of  lacquer  is  subjected  to  the  same  slow  and  minute 
operations  :  the  least  number  of  layers  applied  is  three,  the 
most  eighteen. 

The  ornamentation  of  figures,  flowers,  and  gilding,  etc., 
is  done  in  more  than  one  way  : — 

'The  gilding  is  performed  by  another  set  of  workmen  in  a  large 
workshop.  The  figures  of  the  design  are  drawn  on  thick  paper,  which 
is  then  pricked  all  over  to  allow  the  powdered  chalk  to  fall  on  the 
table  and  form  the  outline.  Another  workman  completes  the  picture 
by  cutting  the  lines  with  a  burin  or  needle,  and  filling  them  with 
vermilion  mixed  in  lacquer,  as  thick  as  needed.  This  afterwards  is 
covered,  by  means  of  a  hair-pencil,  with  gold  in  leaf  or  in  powder  laid 
on  with  a  dossil ;  the  gold  is  often  mixed  with  fine  lamp-black.' 

'  Quand,  sur  le  fond  uni  de  laque,  1'ouvrier  veut  peindre  un  decor, 
personnages,  fleurs,  arabesques,  etc.,  il  esquisse  directement  au  blanc 
de  ceruse  le  sujet  qu'il  va  trailer,  ou  bien  encore  il  le  decalque  en 
suivant  avec  une  pointe  de  bois  les  lignes  de  son  dessin,  sur  lesquelles 
il  a  prealablement  passe,  au  verso  de  la  feuille  de  papier,  un  trait 
d'orpiment  liquide.  II  commence  alors  a  peindre  sur  ce  croquis  avec 
les  coleurs  dont  dispose  sa  riche  palette.' 

Much  skill,  dexterity,  lightness  of  finger,  and  long 
practice  are  necessary  to  ensure  that  fineness  and  requisite 
delicacy,  which  at  the  first  touch  will  produce  the  effect 
desired  without  repetition,  for  this  last  is  not  allowed,  the 
gummy  consistency  of  the  lacquer  likewise  forbidding  it  ; 
notwithstanding  all  these  difficulties,  some  of  the  lacquer 
produced  by  the  Chinese  is  characterised  by  distinctness 
of  line  and  a  freedom  of  composition. 

Besides  gold  and  silver  spangles,  incrustations  of  ivory, 
mother-of-pearl,  jade,  coral,  malachite,  and  lapis  lazuli,  are 
employed  in  the  ornamentation  of  lacquer-\vare,  rough 

365 


Things  Chinese 

mosaics  of  flowers,  animals,  etc.,  being  formed  of  them,  and 
then  varnished. 

Foochow  lacquer  equals  the  Japanese  ;  the  latter  people, 
it  is  said,  having  taught  their  original  teachers,  the 
Chinese,  the  production  of  this  superior  quality.  Some 
fine  specimens  also  come  from  Ningpo,  and  command  a 
very  high  price. 

Carved  lacquer  is  either  not  now  (during  the  present 
century)  made,  or  but  little  is  produced,  as  it  requires 
great  labour,  rendering  its  production  too  expensive.  Its 
mode  of  preparation  is  as  follows  : — A  dark  paste  is  made 
of  Urtica  nivea,  of  '  papier  de  broussonetial  and  egg-shells  ; 
these  are  beaten  together,  pounded,  and  camellia  oil  added 
to  thicken  them.  After  being  applied  to  the  wood  and  be- 
coming perfectly  dry,  it  is  carved  by  the  artist,  who  re- 
quires a  firm  hand,  as  no  repetition  is  possible.  Several 
coats  of  red  varnish,  the  composition  of  which  is  unknown, 
are  afterwards  applied.  The  defect,  to  a  European  eye,  in 
this  style  of  lacquer  is  the  overburdening  of  the  decora- 
tion with  entangled  dragons,  phcenixes,  the  lotus,  etc. 

There  are  no  names  of  Chinese  artists  to  mention  as  in 
the  case  of  the  same  art  in  Japan.  In  China  it  is  not  the 
individual  that  is  to  be  noted,  but  the  schools,  differentiated 
by  style,  tradition,  and  tendency.  At  present,  at  all  events, 
but  little  has  been  discovered  of  the  history  of  the  art. 
Carved  lacquer  was  known  during  the  early  part  of  the 
Christian  era,  though  no  very  ancient  specimens  are  extant, 
the  oldest  being  of  the  comparatively  modern  date  of  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century  (Ming  dynasty).  '  Les  laques 
sculpted  de  cette  epoque  sont  fort  rares,  et  les  Chinois  les 
estiment  a  tres  haut  prix  :  le  vernis  en  est  tres  epais,  le 
travail  en  est  ferme,  d'un  style  sobre  et  severe.' 

Great  improvement  was  effected  in  the  reign  of  the 
Emperor  K'ang  Hsi  (A.D.  1662)  of  the  present  dynasty,  both 
in  quality  of  material  and  decoration  ;  and  in  Ch'ien  Lung's 
time  (A.D.  1 736-1796)  some  fine  carved  lacquer  was  produced, 
as  also  some  exquisite  specimens  of  other  lacquer,  the  best 
of  these  being  made  in  the  imperial  manufactures.  We 

366 


Language 

cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  quote  once  more  from  M. 
Pale"ologue's  interesting  work,  '  L'Art  Chinois,'  as  to  the 
last  :— 

'  M.  de  Semalte  possede  une  dizaine  de  pieces  ayant,  sans  aucun 
doute,  cette  origine  ;  ce  sont  des  coupes  formulees  en  calices  lobe's, 
le"geres  a  la  main  et  delicatement  modelees  :  Tune  est  d'un  bleu  paon 
a  reflets  verts,  chatoyant  et  intense  comme  un  e"mail  ;  une  autre  est 
d'un  rose  tres  pale  que  rehausse  un  rose  de  corail,  et  Pensemble  est 
d'une  douceur  de  tons  incomparable  ;  une  autre  encore  est  d'un  noir 
uni  et  profond,  de  ce  beau  noir  si  apprecie  des  Japonais  ;  signalons 
enfin,  dans  la  meme  collection,  un  laque  aventurine,  a  incrustations 
d'or  et  d'argent  figurant  des  lotus,  qui  est  une  merveille  de  gout  et  de 
finesse.  Ces  pieces  comptent  k  nos  yeux  parmi  les  rares  objets  de 
laque  chinoise  peinte  qui  meriteraient  de  figurer  dans  la  collection 
d'un  amateur  au  Japon.' 

Books  recommended. — 'L'Art  Chiuois,'  par  M.  Paleologuc.  Williams's 
'Middle  Kingdom,'  vol.  ii.,  p.  30  et  seq.,  to  both  of  which  books  we  are 
indebted  for  information. 

LANGUAGE. — We  remember,  some  thirty  years  or  so 
ago,  trying  to  elicit  from  a  lecturer  on  languages  and  liter- 
ature his  idea  of  the  position  held  by  the  Chinese  language 
amongst  that  of  others.  After  considerable  humming  and 
hawing,  he  said  that  it  held  one  of  its  own,  outside  of  the 
general  scheme  of  languages  as  elaborated  by  philologists. 
This  position  is  practically  the  same  that  it  holds  to  this 
day  amongst  many  of  those  who  delight  to  classify 
language.  As  the  Chinese  have  been  outside  the  comity 
of  nations,  so  their  language  has  been  relegated  to  a 
position  of  its  own  with  no  certain  relationship  to  the 
other  speeches  of  mankind  ;  and  as  the  exclusiveness  of 
the  nation  is  being  slowly  broken  down,  so  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that,  before  long,  in  response  to  the  toil  of  not  a  few 
scholars,  the  affinity  of  Chinese  with  that  of  other  languages 
in  the  world  will  be  more  clearly  established  and  the  wall 
of  partition  separating  it  from  the  others  be  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Most  divergent  views  have  been  held  on  the  subject 
and  clearly  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  those  who  held 
and  advanced  them,  but  not  to  the  equal  satisfaction  of 
their  readers. 

There  would  appear  to  be  some  connection  between 

367 


Things  Chinese 

Chinese  and  the  so-called  Aryan  languages ;  to  prove  this 
Edkins,  Schlegel,  and  others,  have  laboured.  The  latest 
idea,  that  of  Professor  Terrien  de  Lacouperie,  and  his  co- 
labourers  in  the  same  field,  is  that  of  an  affinity  between 
the  languages  of  China  and  Babylon.  These  views  still 
wait  general  acceptance,  the  feeling  of  many  being  one  of 
suspense :  a  waiting  till  convincing  proofs  are  produced 
before  acquiescing  in  any  of  the  theories  put  forth ; 
there  are  still  immense  fields  for  the  patient  worker  to 
explore. 

The  connection  between  Chinese  and  the  languages  of 
some  of  the  surrounding  nations  is  deserving  of  further 
attention,  in  order  to  fix  with  a  greater  amount  of  cer- 
tainty the  relationships  which  exist  between  certain  of 
them. 

Some  people  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  Chinese  has  no 
grammar.  If  grammar  only  consisted  of  declension  and 
inflection,  such  a  statement  might  be  true  ;  but  the  Chinese 
most  cleverly  use  the  relative  position  of  words  to  express 
what  we,  to  a  great  extent,  and  some  continental  nations  to 
a  greater,  and  the  dead  languages  of  Europe  to  the  greatest 
extent,  show  by  case,  mood,  tense,  number,  and  person : 
position  is  everything  in  the  construction  of  Chinese 
sentences,  and  does  away  with  those  troubles  of  school- 
boys, carried  to  such  an  excess  in  the  classical  languages. 

In  addition  to  position,  the  use  of  auxiliary  characters 
is  employed,  and,  in  the  written  language  especially,  a 
general  symmetry  of  construction,  and  use  of  words  in 
sentences  and  clauses,  which  are  either  in  antithesis  or 
juxtaposition  to  each  other,  assists  materially  in  the 
correct  development  of  ideas. 

Chinese  is  one  of  the  simplest,  while  at  the  same  time 
one  of  the  most  difficult,  languages  in  the  world :  most 
simple  from  the  almost  entire  absence  of  these  in- 
flectional forms  ;  most  difficult  from  the  combination  of 
different  languages  under  the  one  heading  of  Chinese  ; 
such  for  instance  as  the  book  language  in  its  two  or  three 
different  forms,  the  Colloquial  or  spoken  language  in  its 

368 


Language 

different  vernaculars,  and    in   its   tones,  the  bugbear  and 
ruin  of  most  European  readers  and  speakers  of  it. 

The  Chinese  have  spent  much  time  and  labour  in  the 
cultivation  of  their  wonderful  and  interesting  language. 
The  Shu  King  mentions  writing  as  being  practised  in  the 
time  of  Shun  (B.C.  2255-2205).  Some  doubt,  however,  has 
been  cast  on  the  genuineness  of  these  passages  in  the  Shu. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  writing  was  in  use  a  little  later, 
in  connection  with  Government  matters,  and  in  the  Chou 
dynasty  it  was  in  common  use  among  the  official  class. 
Colleges  and  schools  existed,  books  were  made  and 
libraries  formed.  Writing  was  a  laborious  task,  the 
language  at  this  early  period  not  having  attained  the 
rich  collection  of  written  characters  it  now  possesses.  The 
nucleus  or  prototype  of  the  first  Chinese  dictionary,  the 
Urh-ya,  is  referable  to  this  period. 

The  violent  attempt  of  the  execrated  monarch  Ts'in  Shih 
Huang  Ti  to  introduce  one  language  throughout  China,  by 
destroying  all  trace  of  the  past,  was  unsuccessful.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  the  transition  from  the  mainly  pictorial 
or  symbolic  representation  of  the  language  took  place,  and 
more  attention  was  paid  to  sound. 

The  period  of  the  Han  dynasty,  or  from  B.C.  206  to  A.D. 
200,  witnessed  the  commencement  of  the  study  of  the 
language,  its  exciting  cause  being  the  elucidation  and 
determination  of  the  characters  of  the  books  which  had 
escaped  the  wholesale  destruction.  Many  of  the  works 
of  the  renowned  scholars  of  these  ancient  times  have 
disappeared  during  the  lapse  of  ages.  Amongst  two  to 
be  noted  as  still  extant  are  the  Fang-yen,  a  comparative 
vocabulary  of  dialectic  varieties,  and  the  Shuo-wen,  an 
etymological  dictionary  (A.D.  121),  which  dealt  with  the 
writing  of  the  character.  The  language  at  this  period 
'  acquired  a  considerable  degree  of  exactness  and  polish,' 
and  many  additions  were  made  to  the  characters  in  use. 
The  Buddhist  missionaries  about  this  time  also  assisted  in 
bringing  into  general  future  use  the  spelling  now  in  vogue 
to  explain  the  pronunciation  of  words. 

369  2  A 


Things  Chinese 

During  the  troublous  times  even  of  the  Three  States 
some  sensible  men  busied  themselves  with  the  cultivation 
of  their  native  tongue.     An  epoch  is  marked  in  this  culti- 
vation, in  the  period  known  as  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Dynasties,  or  from  A.D.  479  to  557  ;  and  the  study  of  etymo- 
logy began  to  flourish.     The  four  tones  were  first  noticed 
in  published  works,  though  doubtless  previously  known  to 
scholars.     The  Sui  dynasty  (A.D.  589-618)  still  saw  much 
attention   paid    to   tones   and  the   sounds   of    characters. 
The    T'ang    dynasty    (A.D.   618-905)    gave    an    impetus 
to  this  study  so  congenial  to   the   Chinese  nature.     The 
Emperors   encouraged    learning,   and    even    cultivated    it 
themselves.     Renewed  enthusiasm  was  shown  in  the  study 
of  the  classics  :  much  learning  and  ability  were  displayed  ; 
the     tones    and    sounds     of    characters    received     much 
attention  ;   and  acquaintance  with    such  subjects  was  re- 
quired   from    the    competitors    for    literary   employment. 
Books  were   also   written   on  Sanscrit  Grammar   and  its 
alphabet   by    Indian    Buddhist    missionaries,  or    Chinese 
monks  who  had  studied  the  language  in  India,  and  the 
knowledge  thus  acquired  was  of  use  to  native  authors  in 
the  study   of  their   own  language.     '  In   several    respects 
the  period  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  forms  an  era  of  great 
importance  in  the  history  of  the  cultivation  of  the  language. 
It  was  the  time  in  which  China  began  to  have  a  popular 
literature.  .  .  .  Plays  also  now  began  to  be  written  and 
performed,  and  romances  to  be  composed  in  a  style  often  but 
little  removed  from  that  of  every-day  conversation'     This 
fixed   the   style   and    made    fashionable   the   dialect — the 
Mandarin — in  which  they  were  written.     Printing  was  first 
invented   at  this  time  in   China,   though    it   was   not   till 
succeeding  dynasties  that  it  exerted  its  full  power. 

It  is  under  the  Sung  dynasty  that  the  language  '  is 
supposed  to  have  reached  its  acme ;  to  have  become 
complete  in  all  its  formal  and  material  equipment,  having 
everything  needful  to  make  it  an  effective  instrument  for 
expressing  the  national  mind  ' ;  and  works  on  philology  of 
great  and  permanent  value  were  produced. 

370 


Language 

About  the  time  that  the  Mongols  prevailed,  a  book  was 
published  which  has  been  rendered  into  English  under  the 
title  of '  The  Six  Scripts.' 

'The  founder  of  the  Ming  dynasty  (A.D.  1368-1399) 
was  a  patron  of  all  kinds  of  learning,  and  promoted  efforts 
to  recover  and  preserve  the  valuable  treatises  which  had 
been  lost,  or  become  very  rare.'  One  of  the  most  widely 
used  works,  and  the  standard  dictionary,  of  the  present 
time,  is  the  K'ang  Hsi  dictionary,  prepared  by  direction  of 
the  Emperor  of  that  name.  A  revived  interest  has  been 
taken  during  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  in 
the  philological  works  of  antiquity. 

The  Chinese,  as  far  as  at  present  has  been  ascertained, 
have  confined  their  studies  nearly  entirely  to  '  sounds, 
meanings,  composition,  and  history  of  the  written 
characters' ;  and  the  study  is  not  generally  pursued  for  its 
own  sake,  but  for  the  purpose  of  elucidating  the  '  orthodox 
canonical  literature.' 

'  The  Chinese  language  is  very  rich  in  ...  nature 
sounds  and  "  vocal-gestures  " ' ;  while  the  interjectional 
element  appears  to  have  had  its  full  share  in  the  formation 
of  some  portion  of  the  language.  Many  of  the  words  and 
terms  in  use  are  imitative  of  sounds  in  nature,  of  noises  of 
falling  objects,  of  calls  and  cries  of  animals,  birds,  and 
insects  ;  and  of  actions  by  man  himself:  these  have  all  had 
their  share,  and  still  have,  in  forming  the  language. 

On  the  whole,  the  Chinese,  however,  take  comparatively 
little  interest  in  such  researches.  The  Buddhist  mission- 
aries, who  introduced  Buddhism,  did  a  good  work,  first,  in 
interesting  the  Chinese  in  Sanscrit  with  its  alphabet  and 
grammatical  forms,  and,  secondly,  in  inducing  a  study 
among  the  Chinese  of  their  own  language,  leading  them 
to  examine  and  appreciate  it. 

The  Chinese  consider  the  faculty  of  speech  to  be  man's 
natural  endowment :  expressive  sounds  are  uttered  by  the 
promptings  of  nature  ;  but  as  to  the  development  of  speech, 
they  believe  that  the  most  highly  endowed  men  have 
been  its  nursing  fathers. 

371 


Things  Chinese 

It  would  be  highly  instructive  and  interesting  were  a 
history  of  the  rise,  development,  and  progress  of  the  Chinese 
language  down  to  the  present  time  possible.  The 
materials  seem  at  present  to  be  fragmentary.  Doubtless 
with  the  combined  study  of  numerous  scholars,  much  more 
may  be  known  of  it  than  at  present.  The  Chinese  language 
retains,  to  a  great  extent,  the  primitive  simplicity  of  early 
speech  ;  and  this  is  what  makes  it  of  advantage  to  the 
student  to  attempt  to  peer  into  its  past  depths,  and  to 
study  its  present  state. 

The  Manchu,  Mongolian,  and  Turkish  tongues  are 
descended  from  one  source,  and  this  parent  language  may 
likewise  have  been  the  progenitor  of  the  Chinese,  in 
common  with  that  of  these  other  languages  as  well. 

The  speech  of  the  Chinese  was  preceded  in  China  by 
numerous  dialects  and  languages  of  what  are  termed  the 
Aborigines.  It  seems  impossible  not  to  suppose  that  these 
former  speeches  must  have  had  some  effect  on  the  language 
of  the  new-comers,  though,  if  a  policy  of  extermination  was 
adopted  towards  the  former  inhabitants,  that  effect  would 
not  be  much.  Traces  are  now  found  in  some  of  the  so- 
called  Chinese  dialects  of  relics  of  some  of  these  former 
languages.  In  the  Amoy  language,  a  few  words  are 
instanced  as  being  remnants  of  a  previous  race,  the  same  is 
supposed  to  be  the  case  in  the  Swatow  language,  and  in 
Cantonese  also  a  word  or  two  is  spoken  of  as  being  thus 
taken  over  into  the  present  language. 

The  Chinese  language  would  appear,  at  first  sight,  to 
be,  like  the  Chinese  themselves,  separated  from  the  rest  of 
the  world  and  self-contained  ;  though  this  is  true  to  a  great 
extent  of  the  people  as  regards  their  communication  with 
Western  nations,  yet  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there 
has  been  considerable  intercourse  between  China  and  the 
countries  whose  borders  are  conterminous  with  her  own  ; 
and  so,  instead  of  the  language  having  no  admixture  of 
foreign  words  in  it,  some  such  words  are  to  be  found.  These 
words  of  foreign  origin  are  generally  of  a  technical  character  : 
names  of  countries,  official  designations,  names  of  fruits, 

3/2 


Language 

spices,  woods,  reminiscences  of  foreign  intercourse,  conquest, 
and  commerce.  The  use  of  these  words  has  not  been 
confined  to  modern  times,  but  imbedded  in  the  language 
are  found  a  few  fossil  remains — relics  of  ancient  foreign 
relations  or  wars,  now  well-known  matters  of  history. 
These  words  are  met  with  here  and  there  in  books  and  in 
conversation  ;  for  example,  to  take  a  modern  one,  Ho-lan- 
shoii,  or  Holland  water  =  Soda  water,  because  it  was  first 
introduced  by  the  Dutch. 

Buddhism  has  introduced  in  its  train  many  words  into 
Chinese.  They  consist  of  Sanscrit  words  brought  into  the 
language,  translations  into  Chinese  of  such  Sanscrit  words, 
and  new  phrases  in  Chinese  due  to  Buddhism,  but  not 
translations  of  Sanscrit  words  or  terms.  This  religion 
has  also  given  new  meanings  to  words  and  phrases  which 
were  in  use  before. 

The  Han,  the  T'ang,  and  the  present  dynasties,  have 
especially  increased  China's  knowledge  of  the  outside  world, 
while  other  periods  even  bore  their  share,  though  a  smaller 
one,  in  exchange  for  the  arts  of  peace,  and  at  times  for  the 
horrors  of  war,  with  the  neighbouring  states  of  Japan  and 
India ;  even  distant  Persia,  as  well  as  many  other  king- 
doms, too  numerous  to  mention,  all  being  known  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  extent ;  and,  latterly  especially,  the 
countries  of  Europe  have  come  within  the  horizon  of 
Chinese  ken.  It  is  not  surprising  therefore  to  find  a  small 
amount  of  terms  derived  from  the  languages  of  some  of 
these  countries.  '  Certain  terms  even  in  a  comparatively 
early  period  of  the  Chinese  language  .  .  .  seem  to  have 
at  least  a  common  origin  with  their  equivalents  in  Greek 
and  Latin';  Spanish,  English,  Malay,  Persian,  Arabic, 
Turkish,  Manchu,  and  Mongolian,  Tibetan,  as  well  as 
Sanscrit  and  other  Indian  languages,  have  each  assisted 
in  giving  new  words  in  the  past,  while  with  the  advance 
of  science  and  learning  this  must  be  more  especially  the 
case  in  time  to  come.  But  after  all  that  can  be  said, 
these  foreign  words  form  but  a  very  small  proportion 
of  the  whole. 

3/3 


Things  Chinese 

The  language  of  China  may  be  divided  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  ancient  style  in  which  the  classics  are  written : 
sententious,  concise,  vague,  and  often  unintelligible  without 
explanation. 

2.  The  literary  style  :  more  diffuse,  and  consequently 
more  intelligible ;  it  might  be  described  as  poetry  written 
in  prose  on  account  of  a  '  rhythmus]  as  it  has  been  termed, 
in  which  it  is  written,  the  ancient  language  having  less 
of  this — both  forms  having  a  number  of  particles  either 
difficult  or  impossible  of  translation    into  English.     The 
essays  written  by  candidates  at  the  literary  examinations 
are  composed  in  this  style. 

3.  The   business   style   which   is  plain   enough   to   be 
intelligible :  it  is  prose  without,  or  with  but  little  of,  the 
poetry  element,  and  few,  if  any,  of  the  troublesome  par- 
ticles.     It    is    in    general    use   for   commercial   purposes, 
legal    documents,   official    and    business    correspondence, 
and  governmental,  statistical,  and  legal  works  are  written 
in  it. 

4.  The  Colloquial,  or  the  spoken  languages.     They  are 
divided  into  numerous  dialects  (See  Article  on  Dialects), 
but  unfortunately  they  are  despised — there  is  scarcely  even 
one  book  written  in  them  in  the  South  of  China,  and  yet  it 
is  impossible  to  speak  in  any  other  language  ;  and  to  the 
great  majority  of  the  lower  classes,  no  other  is  intelligible 
in    its   entirety.      When   we    learn    to   speak    a   Western 
language,  we  nearly  always  learn  consequently  to  read  it ; 
but  a  knowledge  of  Chinese,  as  spoken,  only  places  one  on 
the   threshold    of  the   Chinese   of    books.     This   has   not 
inaptly   been   compared   to   a   man   who    knows    French 
fluently,  but  who,  if  he  wishes  to  read  Latin,  has,  after  his 
knowledge   of  French,   to   apply   himself  to    Latin  ;   the 
French  in  this  instance  being  the  colloquial,  and  the  Latin 
the   language   of  the   book.     Again,  let   us   suppose    the 
ancient  language,  as  compared  with  the  business  style,  to 
be  that  of  the  English  of  Chaucer  as  compared  with  that 
of  the  modern  writer. 

The  difference  between  the  book  style  and  the  collo- 

374 


Larks  and  other  Songsters 

quial  might  be  likened  perhaps  to  the  difference  between  a 
common  English  book  and  some  highly  scientific  or  tech- 
nical work  so  bristling  with  scientific  terms,  or  technical 
expressions,  or  mathematical  formulae,  that  it  would  be 
entirely,  or  nearly  entirely,  incomprehensible,  except  to 
one  who  had  been  specially  educated  for  years,  making 
such  a  subject  a  speciality.  This  way  of  putting  the 
matter  may  throw  some  light  on  what  seems  such  a 
mysterious  matter  to  English-speaking  people,  and  show 
how  difficult  of  comprehension  the  book  language  is  to 
all  except  those  who  have  received  a  special  and  sufficient 
training. 

Writers  on  the  Chinese  have  differed  as  to  the  richness, 
or  otherwise,  of  the  language.  Putting  aside  all  prejudiced 
statements,  it  may  fairly  be  affirmed  that  in  some  respects 
its  vocabulary  is  very  full,  where  some  of  our  languages 
are  poor,  and  vice  versd.  The  Chinese  have  no  difficulty 
in  expressing  themselves  so  as  to  be  understood  by  their 
own  countrymen  and  others,  though  Europeans  and 
Americans  have  not  sometimes  the  patience  to  make  the 
good  listeners  which  the  want  of  mood,  tense,  and  all 
inflections  occasionally  requires  in  order  to  get  at  the 
meaning. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  statements  are  often  more  con- 
cisely expressed  than  is  the  case  in  the  general  run  of 
European  languages.  What  strikes  a  foreigner  as  strange 
in  the  language,  is  the  ease  with  which  a  word  does  duty 
as  a  noun,  or  verb,  an  adjective,  adverb,  or  preposition. 
Marshman  says :  '  A  Chinese  character  may  in  general 
be  considered  as  conveying  an  idea  without  reference  to 
any  part  of  speech  :  and  its  being  used  as  a  substantive, 
an  adjective,  or  a  verb  depends  on  circumstances.' 

Books  recommended. — 'Essays  on  the  Chinese  Language,' by  T.  "\Vatters, 
'The  Structure  of  Chinese  Characters,'  by  J.  Chalmers,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  and 
chapters  on  language  in  standard  works,  such  as  Willianis's  '  Middle 
Kingdom,'  etc.  (See  also  Article  on  Dialects  in  this  book.) 

LARKS  AND  OTHER  SONGSTERS.— The  lark  is 
one  of  the  most  prized  of  song-birds  among  the  Chinese. 

375 


Things  Chinese 

Their  fondness  for  birds  and  flowers,  as  Williams  has  well 
noted,  being  'one  of  the  pleasant  features  of  Chinese 
character.'  No  Chinese  gentleman,  at  least  in  the  South 
of  China,  takes  a  dog  out  to  walk  with  him  ;  but  on  a  fine 
day  numbers  may  be  seen  each  with  a  lark  in  a  cage  in 
the  outskirts  of  a  town,  or  sauntering  leisurely  along  the 
streets,  or  standing  in  some  square,  or  squatting  on  their 
haunches  on  some  green  spot,  while  their  favourite  bird 
enjoys  himself,  occasionally  even  with  a  little  ramble  on 
the  grass.  His  master  cum  dignitate  gravely  taking  his 
pleasure  in  watching  his  pet,  or  even  unbending  so  far  as 
to  occupy  himself  with  the  pursuit  of  grasshoppers 
amongst  the  turf,  though  more  frequently  such  a  hunt  is 
left  to  the  boys  or  to  the  wretched  grasshopper  hunters, 
who,  armed  with  a  bunch  of  twigs  and  tiny  baskets  to  hold 
their  victims,  from  dewy  morn  till  darkest  twilight,  wander 
up  and  down  the  hills,  beating  every  tuft  of  grass  for  the 
active,  springing,  startled  insects,  which,  when  caught,  they 
sell  for  a  cash  or  two  apiece,  to  the  bird  shops  or  bird- 
fanciers  ;  their  ultimate  fate,  of  course,  to  be  gobbled  up  by 
pet  birds.  Chinese  houses  are  so  often,  in  cities  especially, 
shut  out  from  the  breezes,  that  it  must  be  a  positive 
pleasure  to  these  active  songsters  to  get  such  airings ;  but 
caged  up  as  they  are  in  close  and  narrow  streets  they  may 
often  be  heard  pouring  out  their  melodious  sonnets  from 
the  purlieus  of  some  confined  shop,  trying  in  shrillest  notes 
a  musical  contest  with  some  imprisoned  neighbour — 
such  emulation  is  there  that  they  get  almost  frantic  at 
times. 

The  lark's  cage  is  round,  made  of  neatly  rounded 
splints  of  bamboo,  and  varnished  brown,  with  a  removable 
bottom  sprinkled  with  sand  and  furnished  with  a  perch,  in 
shape  like  a  large  mushroom,  the  Chinese  evidently  know- 
ing that  the  lark  does  not  alight  on  twigs  or  branches. 

Williams  informs  us  that  '  the  species  of  wagtail  and 
lark  known  amount  to  about  a  score  altogether.'  Amongst 
them  may  be  noted  the  field  lark  (Alauda  calivox  and 
arvensis}.  Large  numbers  of  Chihli  larks  are  brought 

376 


Larks  and  other  Songsters 

down  every  year  to  the  South  of  China,  where  they  are 
preferred.  The  Mongolian  lark  commands  a  high  price — 
825  being  a  common  figure  for  a  good  one;  it  is  called 
the  pdk  ling  or  '  hundred  spirits.' 

Next  in  importance,  if  not  in  equal  favour,  as  a  songster 
is  the  thrush.  Amongst  the  most  common  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Canton  is  the  wd  ;////,  a  greyish-yellow  thrush 
(Garrulax  perspicitatus],  a  '  well-trained  bird  is  worth 
several  dollars.'  The  spectacle  thrush  derives  his  name 
from  a  black  circle  round  each  eye  ;  it  is  very  graceful  and 
lively,  though  not  a  very  sweet  singer.  Another  thrush 
(Suthoria  webbiana)  is  kept  for  fighting — death  or  victory 
being  its  song. 

The  canary  is  a  great  favourite,  large  numbers  being 
reared  and  even  exported  as  far  as  England.  Its  colour  is 
not  only  yellow  but  some  seem  to  display  a  tendency  to 
revert  to  the  dusky  hue  of  the  original  bird  in  the  Canary 
Islands.  It  is  commonly  known  as  the  white  swallow,  its 
usual  light  yellow,  or  canary  colour,  being  a  near  enough 
approach  to  white  to  satisfy  the  Chinese  philologist.  The 
canary  is  generally  kept  in  a  round  cage  made  of  bamboo 
and  varnished,  with  a  removable  bottom  and  perches  of 
twigs.  The  cage  is  rather  larger  than  the  English  wire 
canary  cage,  but  smaller  than  the  Chinese  bird-cage  used 
for  larks.  Besides  this  cage  very  neat  canary  cages  of 
the  same  materials  are  made  in  imitation  of  houses  and 
boats,  as  well  as  large  squarish  cages  of  unvarnished 
bamboo,  these  last  being  especially  useful  for  breeding 
purposes. 

The  prices  of  canaries  vary  with  the  season  of  the  year. 
In  Hongkong  about  70  cents,  is  an  ordinary  price  charged 
for  one  to  a  European.  It  is  said  that  large  numbers  of 
canaries  are  sent  to  China  every  year  from  Germany. 

Many  other  birds,  some  of  which  might  fairly  be 
entitled  to  the  name  of  songsters,  as  well  as  others  which 
can  only  boast  of  one  or  two  notes,  are  kept  as  pets  by 
the  Chinese. 

Book  recommended.—  Jour.  N.  C.  Br.  R.A.S.,  May  1859,  p.  289. 
377 


Things  Chinese 

LAWS. — It  has  been  observed  that : — 

'The  laws  of  a  nation  form  the  most  interesting  portion  of  its 
history.'  '  The  laws  of  the  Chinese,  if  taken  in  the  most  comprehen- 
sive sense  of  the  term,  framed,  as  they  have  been,  by  the  wisdom  and 
experience  of  a  long  series  of  ages,  and  suitably  provided  as  they  are 
for  the  government  of  an  empire,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
world  in  extent  and  population,  must,  it  will  readily  be  imagined,  be 
proportionally  numerous  and  complicated.  They  are  also,  which  is 
still  more  embarrassing,  generally  intermingled  in  such  a  degree  with 
details,  concerning  the  ancient  history  and  actual  condition  of  the 
civil,  political,  and  ceremonial  institutions  of  the  empire,  that  in- 
dividual works  on  these  subjects  are  sometimes  extended  to  the 
enormous  length  of  a  hundred  volumes,  and  the  aggregate  is,  of 
course,  enormous  in  proportion.' 

The  Chinese  code  of  penal  laws  has  been  described  as,  '  if  not 
the  most  just  and  equitable,  at  least  the  most  comprehensive,  uniform, 
and  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  people  for  whom  it  is  designed,  perhaps 
of  any  that  ever  existed.' 

'  The  civil  and  military  establishments,  the  public  revenue  and 
expenditure,  the  national  rites  and  ceremonies,  the  public  works,  and 
the  administration  of  justice,  are,  each  of  them,  regulated  by  a 
particular  code  of  laws  and  institutions  ;  but  the  laws  of  the  empire  in 
the  strictest  and  most  appropriate  sense  of  the  term,  and  which  may 
be  denominated  Penal  Laws  by  way  of  contradistinction,  are  the 
peculiar  and  exclusive  province  of  the  last  of  these  departments.' 

The  Chinese,  as  in  nearly  everything  of  importance  that 
concerns  their  commonwealth,  carry  back  the  first  promul- 
gation of  their  system  of  laws  to  a  remote  antiquity,  namely, 
the  time  of  Yao  (B.C.  2356)  and  his  successor  Shun,  though 
according  to  their  account  of  that  sovereign  (Yao),  there 
would  appear  to  have  been  but  little  need  of  any  repressive 
legislation  ;  for  his  rule  was  the  beau  ideal  of  perfect  govern- 
ment in  China — a  state  of  almost  perfect  blessedness  due 
to  the  virtues  of  the  ruler  or  official,  for  such  an  one  by  his 
conduct  and  precepts  changes  the  thief  into  an  honest  man, 
and  produces  such  a  state  of  security,  that  a  bag  of  money, 
dropped  by  the  wayside,  will  be  left  untouched  or  carefully 
put  in  a  place  of  safety  till  the  return  of  the  loser.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  resplendent  virtues  of  these  early 
monarchs,  the  second,  Shun,  is  credited  with  having 
established  the  following  five  punishments  : — Branding  on 
the  forehead,  cutting  off  part  of  the  nose  and  feet,  castra- 
tion, and  death.  So  innocent  and  virtuous,  however,  were 


Laws 

the  people  at  that  period,  that  many  centuries  are  said 
to  have  passed  before  it  was  necessary  to  enforce 
them. 

Each  change  of  dynasty  in  China  may  be  compared  to 
a  new  geological  period,  for,  notwithstanding  the  entire  dis- 
solution of  the  government  and  abrogation  of  the  constitu- 
tion established  by  the  preceding  dynasty,  yet,  as  in  the 
deposit  of  new  strata,  the  same  general  conditions  and 
principles  are  adhered  to  in  the  formation,  or  laying  down 
of  the  new  laws,  a  new  code  being  generally  made  with 
each  successive  change  of  family  on  the  throne.  That  in 
present  use  came  into  force  when  the  Manchu  Tartars 
assumed  the  rule  over  China  ;  but,  to  again  use  the  same 
illustration  as  above,  imbedded  in  this  new  code,  as  in  the 
newer  geological  strata,  are  to  be  found  remains  of  antiquity  ; 
and,  if  a  minute  investigation  be  substituted  for  a  cursory 
survey,  it  will  be  found,  as  in  the  material  forming  the 
later  deposits  on  the  earth's  surface,  that  the  mass  of  the 
laws  are  of  the  same  stuff  and  substance  as  the  more 
ancient  ones,  codified  and  altered  in  conformity  with  the 
changed  conditions  of  time  and  life,  some  of  the  older 
forms  dying  out,  and  more  recent  enactments,  necessitated 
by  the  progress  of  events,  giving  fresh  life  and  vigour 
to  the  whole. 

The  first  regular  code  of  penal  laws  is  attributed  to 
Li-kwai,  two  thousand  years  ago.  It  is  described  as  '  simple 
in  its  arrangement  and  construction,  having  been  confined 
to  six  books  only,  two  of  which  appear  to  have  been 
introductory,  the  third  relative  to  prisons,  the  fourth  to 
the  administration  of  the  police,  the  fifth  to  the  lesser  or 
miscellaneous  offences,  and  the  sixth  to  all  the  great  and 
capital  offences  against  public  justice.'  This  code  is 
supposed  to  have  come  into  operation  under  the  Ts'in 
dynasty  (B.C.  249.)  Though  codified  at  this  period,  the 
principal  characteristics  belong  to  a  remoter  antiquity. 
Alterations  and  enlargements  took  place  with  the  advent 
of  each  successive  dynasty,  both  in  the  plan  and  divisions 
of  the  code,  viz. : — under  the  Han,  Ts'in,  T'ang,  Sung,  Yiian, 

379 


Things  Chinese 

Ming,  and   some  of  the  lesser  dynasties,  and   the   latest, 
under  the  present  one,  the  Ts'ing,  or  Ch'ing. 

As  in  European  codes,  the  building  up  of  new  material 
on  an  old  structure,  and  in  conformity  with  an  antiquated 
plan,  instead  of  pulling  down  and  rebuilding  on  a  new 
scheme  better  adapted  for  the  requirements  of  an  altered 
and  progressive  state  of  society,  gives  rise  to  ambiguity, 
confusion,  complications,  intricacies,  and  inconveniences. 
The  artificial  and  complex  construction  of  the  code  is 
another  cause  of  obscurity.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
all  those  principles,  some  of  which  are  excellent,  contained 
in  our  English  system  of  laws,  the  result  of  many  years  of 
a  progressive  struggle  towards  the  attainment  of  justice, 
and  the  outcome  of  a  different  system  of  life  and  its 
surroundings,  will  be  found  in  a  body  of  laws  produced 
under  such  different  conditions.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  the 
Chinese  Penal  Code  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  require- 
ments of  its  teeming  population  of  law-abiding  subjects, 
taking  into  consideration  the  great  difference  in  the 
fundamental  principles  on  which  the  superstructure  is 
founded. 

The  parental  authority  is  clearly  seen  as  one  of  the 
great  conditioning  causes  in  operation  from  remote  times  to 
the  present.  From  the  small  circle  of  the  family  of  a  few 
individuals  it  spreads  in  ever-widening  circles  to  the  clan, 
composed  of  the  aggregate  of  many  families,  and  reaches 
its  final  limits  in  the  Government  which  is  based  upon  the 
same  principle,  that  of  parental  authority ;  and  to  this 
principle  is  doubtless  due,  in  union  with  some  others,  the 
conservative  and  preserving  force,  which  has,  amidst,  and  in 
spite  of,  many  heterogeneous  elements,  knit  the  Chinese 
people  together  as  one  through  so  many  past  ages  ;  and 
which  still  preserves  its  unifying  power,  and  may  for  count- 
less generations  to  come. 

The  following  extract  from  a  Chinese  newspaper, 
published  in  the  Colony  of  Hongkong,  viz. :  The  Chung 
Ngoi  San  Po,  will  give  some  idea  of  what  process  of  law 
entails  in  China  : — 

380 


Laws 

'  Governor  Luk  Chuen-lam  has  given  instructions  to  the  Magistrates 
of  Nam-hoi  and  Pun-yii  districts  that  they  are  not  to  detain  people 
connected  with  the  cases  brought  before  them,  whether  the  prosecutor 
or  prosecuted,  except  in  cases  of  emergency.  The  order  is  warmly 
appreciated  by  all  the  Chinese,  for  the  detention  of  people  in  the 
yamens,  pending  the  investigation  of  the  cases  concerned,  afforded 
chances  to  the  yamen  people  to  make  their  squeezes,  and  it  is  a  fact 
that  the  Chinese  are  willing  to  stand  any  amount  of  suffering  rather 
than  present  themselves  before  the  mandarins  to  be  maltreated  and 
squeezed  by  the  yamen  people,  who  do  not  receive  any  wages  from 
the  mandarins  and  simply  watch  for  chances  of  squeezing.  People 
ordered  to  be  detained  by  the  Magistrate  in  the  yamen  are  kept  under 
the  custody  of  the  yamen  people,  who  lock  them  up  in  exceedingly 
dirty  rooms,  .  .  .  giving  them  no  food  and  no  bedding  until  their 
friends  and  relatives  come  forward  to  amply  bribe  the  custodians. 
Sometimes  a  person  is  detained  in  the  yamen  for  many  years,  although 
the  case  may  be  only  a  minor  one,  if  there  is  no  influential  Shan-sz  to 
stand  bail,  which  bail  is  represented  by  influence  and  not  by  money. 
It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  Chinese  to  successfully  bribe  the  yamen 
runners  not  to  take  them  before  the  Magistrate  if  a  warrant  is  issued 
for  their  arrest.' 

The  prisoner,  whether  he  may  turn  out  to  be  innocent  or 
guilty,  is  not  treated  with  that  tenderness  incident  to  our 
twentieth-century  civilisation :  every  effort  is  not  made  to 
prove  his  innocence,  if  possible,  and  points  are  not  strained 
in  his  favour,  which  would  be  dropped  if  against  him.  The 
Chinese  law  would  appear  to  be  better  adapted  to  ensure 
the  punishment  of  a  greater  number  of  guilty  persons  than 
the  English  law  ;  but  it  is  probable  that  occasionally  an 
innocent  person  is  caught  in  its  meshes,  and,  unable  to  escape, 
is  punished  ;  but  English  law  is  not  free  from  this  defect, 
even  when  such  a  sacred  thing  as  human  life  is  at  stake. 
There  is  no  doubt  that,  notwithstanding  misfortune  over- 
taking a  few  innocent  ones  in  China,  the  well-being  of  the 
mass,  on  the  whole,  is  better  conserved  than  in  a  system 
where  sentiment  is  apt  to  get  the  upper  hand.  This  for 
the  moment  leaving  out  of  sight  the  universal  bribery  and 
corruption  prevalent  and  the  infliction  of  torture. 

The  English  principles  of  a  man  being  considered 
innocent  till  proved  guilty,  and  of  no  man  criminating 
himself,  are  unknown ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  a  prisoner  is 
required  to  confess  before  he  can  be  punished  ;  for  no 
criminal  case  is  complete  without  this  confession.  Un- 


Things  Chinese 

fortunately,  however,  the  utility  of  this  safeguard  is  some- 
what, if  not  entirely,  nullified  by  the  introduction  of  torture, 
if  necessary,  to  induce  confession.  The  application  of  this 
must  necessarily  depend  a  good  deal  upon  the  character  of 
the  official  within  whose  power  the  criminal  chances  to  be. 
A  cursory  examination  of  the  penal  code  might  lead  one  to 
infer  that  corporal  punishment,  and,  as  a  consequence,  torture 
was  universal ;  but,  before  arriving  at  such  a  hasty  conclusion, 
several  things  which  have  a  tendency  to  modify  such  a 
decision  have  to  be  considered  : — In  the  first  place,  the 
Chinese  should  be  compared  with  other  Asiatic  nations, 
whose  punishments  will  often  be  found  to  be  of  a  most 
ferocious  character.  Viewed  under  such  circumstances,  the 
use  of  torture  to  extract  the  truth  does  not  seem  so  awful 
for  an  Eastern  people ;  it  must  also  be  remembered  that 
it  is  only  a  few  centuries  since  torture  was  in  use  in 
our  enlightened  lands  in  the  West ;  and,  finally,  there 
are  so  many  exceptions  and  grounds  of  mitigation,  that 
universality  of  corporal  punishments,  and  consequently 
of  torture,  will  be  found  to  be  much  affected  thereby. 

The  law  in  China  likewise  interferes  with  many  acts 
which  in  Europe  are  without  its  pale  ;  on  this  point  it  has 
been  remarked  that : — 

'  In  a  country  in  which  the  laws  have  not  in  any  considerable 
degree  the  active  concurrence  either  of  a  sense  of  honour,  or  of  a 
sense  of  religion,  it  may  perhaps  be  absolutely  requisite  that  they 
should  take  so  wide  a  range.  Experience  may  have  dictated  the 
necessity  of  their  interfering  in  this  direct  manner  in  the  enforcement 
of  all  those  national  habits  and  usages,  whose  preservation,  as  far  as 
they  are  of  a  moral  or  prudential  tendency,  must  undoubtedly  be  of 
essential  importance  both  to  the  security  of  the  government  and  to  the 
happiness  of  the  people.' 

We  quote  again  from  Staunton's  '  Penal  Code  of  China  ' 
(Introduction) : — 

'Another  object  which  seems  to  have  been  very  generally  con- 
sulted is  that  of  as  much  as  possible  combining,  in  the  construction 
and  adaptation  of  the  scale  of  crimes  and  punishments  throughout  the 
Code,  the  opposite  advantages  of  severity  in  denunciation  and  lenity 
in  execution.' 

The  laws  are  divided  into  the  lnt,  or  fundamental  laws, 

382 


Laws 

and  lai,  supplementary  laws :  the  former  are  permanent ; 
the  latter,  which  are  liable  to  revision  every  five  years,  are 
the  '  modifications,  extensions,  and  restrictions  of  the  funda- 
mental laws.'  Each  article  of  the  fundamental  laws  has 
been  likewise  further  explained  or  paraphrased  by  the 
Emperor  Yung  Cheng, '  and  the  whole  of  the  text  is  further 
illustrated  by  extracts  from  the  works  of  various  com- 
mentators. These  appear  to  have  been  expressly  written 
for  the  use  and  instruction  of  magistrates,  and  accordingly 
form  a  body  of  legal  reference  directly  sanctioned  for  that 
purpose  by  government' 

The  laws  are  classified  as  follows : — '  General,  Civil, 
Fiscal,  Ritual,  Military,  and  Criminal  Laws,  and  those 
relating  to  Public  Works,'  comprised  in  436  sections  of  the 
original  laws,  and  a  more  numerous  quantity  of  the 
supplemental  laws,  or  '  Novelise,  which  bear  the  same 
relation  to  the  code  as  the  judiciary  law  and  subsequent 
enactments  in  France,  and  the  new  laws  and  authoritative 
interpretations  in  Prussia,  respectively  do  to  the  Code 
Napoleon  and  Code  Frederic.' 

Staunton  characterises  the  Penal  Code  as  remarkable 
for  the  conciseness  and  simplicity  of  its  style  of  language, 
at  the  same  time  he  calls  attention  to  the  difficulty,  with- 
out '  various  references  and  considerable  research,'  of 
ascertaining  the  punishment  which  a  criminal  '  is  actually 
liable  to  suffer.'  He  proceeds  to  say  : — 

'  That  the  sections  of  the  Chinese  Code  may  thus,  perhaps,  not 
unaptly  be  compared  to  a  collection  of  consecutive  mathematical 
problems  with  this  additional  circumstance  of  perplexity  that  a  just 
and  entire  comprehension  of  each  section  individually  requires  a 
general  knowledge  of  those  that  follow,  no  less  than  of  those  which 
precede  it.' 

'By  far  the  most  remarkable  thing  in  this  code  is  its  great 
reasonableness,  clearness,  and  consistency,  the  business-like  brevity 
and  directness  of  the  various  provisions,  and  the  plainness  and 
moderation  in  which  they  are  expressed.  There  is  nothing  here 
of  the  monstrous  verbiage  of  most  other  Asiatic  productions — none 
of  the  superstitious  deliration,  the  miserable  incoherence,  the  tre- 
mendous non-sequiturs  and  eternal  repetitions  of  those  oracular 
performances — nothing  even  of  the  turgid  adulation,  accumulated 
epithets,  and  fatiguing  self-praise  of  other  Eastern  despotisms— but 

383 


Things  Chinese 


a  calm,  concise,  and  distinct  series  of  enactments,  savouring  through- 
out of  practical  judgment  and  European  good  sense,  and,  if  not  always 
conformable  to  our  improved  notions  of  expediency,  in  general 
approaching  to  them  more  nearly  than  the  codes  of  most  other 
nations.  When  we  pass,  indeed,  from  the  ravings  of  the  Zendavesta 
or  the  Puranas  to  the  tone  of  sense  and  business  in  this  Chinese 
collection,  we  seem  to  be  passing  from  darkness  to  light,  from  the 
drivellings  of  dotage  to  the  exercise  of  an  improved  understanding.' 
The  legal  maxim  de  minimis  non  curat  lex  is  not  known  in  China  ; 
much  minute  attention  is  paid  to  trifles.  '  We  scarcely  know  any 
European  code  that  is  at  once  so  copious  and  so  consistent,  or  that  is 
so  nearly  free  from  intricacy,  bigotry,  and  fiction.  In  everything 
relating  to  political  freedom  or  individual  independence  it  is  indeed 
woefully  defective ;  but  for  the  repression  of  disorder  and  the  gentle 
coercion  of  a  vast  population,  it  appears  to  be  equally  mild  and 
efficacious.  The  state  of  society  for  which  it  was  formed  appears 
incidentally  to  be  a  low  and  wretched  one ;  but  how  could  its  framers 
have  devised  a  wiser  means  of  maintaining  it  in  peace  and  tranquillity.' 

'The  people  have  a  high  regard  for  the  code,'  'and  all  they  seem  to 
desire  is  its  just  and  impartial  execution,  independent  of  caprice  and 
uninfluenced  by  corruption.  ...  It  may  be  observed,  as  something 
in  favour  of  the  Chinese  system,  that  there  are  substantial  grounds  for 
believing  that  neither  flagrant  nor  repeated  acts  of  injustice  do,  in 
point  of  fact,  often,  in  any  rank  or  station,  ultimately  escape  with 
impunity.' 

'  Besides  these  laws  and  their  numerous  clauses,  every  high 
provincial  officer  has  the  right  to  issue  edicts  upon  such  public  matters 
as  require  regulation,  some  of  them  even  affecting  life  and  death, 
either  reviving  some  old  law  or  giving  it  an  application  to  the  case 
before  him,  with  such  modifications  as  seem  to  be  necessary.  He 
must  report  these  acts  to  the  proper  board  at  Peking.  No  such  order, 
which  for  the  time  has  the  force  of  law,  is  formally  repealed,  but 
gradually  falls  into  oblivion,  until  circumstances  again  require  its 
reiteration.  This  mode  of  publishing  statutes  gives  rise  to  a  sort  of 
common  and  unwritten  law  in  villages,  to  which  a  council  of  elders 
sometimes  compels  individuals  to  submit ;  long  usage  is  also  another 
ground  for  enforcing  them.' 

'The  Chinese  customary  law  .  .  .  undoubtedly  rests,  as  did  the 
Roman  Law  before  the  publication  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  upon  the 
mores  majorum,  "  that  is,"  as  Lord  Mackenzie  says  of  the  latter,  upon 
"  customs  long  observed  and  sanctioned  by  the  consent  of  the  people." 
We  are  inclined  to  think  it  improbable  that  the  Chinese  have  added  to, 
or  more  than  superficially  changed  any  of  their  fundamental  social 
principles  since  the  compilation  of  the  "Ritual  of  Chau"  by  Chau 
Kung,  and  that  of  the  "  Record  of  Rites  "  by  Confucius,  both  of  which 
collections  .  .  .  most  probably  reduced  to  a  definite  code  the  social 
principles  of  the  Chinese,  whilst  blending  them  with  those  of  the  then 
ruling  dynasty,  and  to  this  day  continue  to  exercise  a  profound  in- 
fluence upon  the  Chinese  mind.  We  mean  by  fundamental  principles, 
those  such  as  the  Patriarchal  Principle  .  .  .  and  the  Fraternal  Prin- 
ciple .  .  .  which,  especially  the  former,  apparently  the  progenitor  of 

384 


Laws 

the  others,  pervade  the  Law  and  Customs  of  the  Chinese  as  completely 
as  the  Patria  Potestas  ever  did  the  Jurisprudence  of  Rome.  The 
Chinese  Customary  Law  furnishes  a  standing  "caution"  (in  the 
language  of  Sir  Henry  Maine)  "to  those  who  with  Hentham  and 
Austin  resolve  every  law  into  a  command  of  the  law-giver,  and 
obligation  imposed  thereby  on  the  citizen,  and  a  sanction  threatened 
in  the  event  of  disobedience.'"  'The  principle  of  hiao,  which,  in  its 
broadest  sense,  we  think  we  may  take  to  include  friendship  (stn),  and 
loyalty  (c/iung),  as  well  as  filial  (hiao),  fraternal  (yu  and  kung),  or 
(/'/'),  and  conjugal  piety  or  duty  (shun),  is  undoubtedly  the  substratum 
of  the  Chinese  social  and  legal  fabric.' 

'The  Chinese  Law,  both  Customary  and  Statute,  furnishes  an 
immense  amount  of  collateral  evidence  in  support  of  Maine's  theory, 
that  the  movement  of  the  progressive  societies  has  hitherto  been  a 
movement  from  Status  to  Contract,  or  from  families  as  units  to 
individuals  as  units.  It  is  pcirticularly  fruitful  in  illustration,  perhaps 
more  so  even  than  the  Hindoo  Customary  Laws.  .  .  .  The  numerous 
illustrations  are  the  more  valuable,  inasmuch  as  China  has  not  yet 
emerged  from  Status  ;  and,  as  regards  the  Patria  Potestas,  the 
Testamentary  Power,  the  position  of  women  and  slaves,  the  fiction  of 
adoption,  and  the  almost  entire  absence  of  any  written  law  of  contract, 
remains  in  the  position  of  the  Roman  Law, — not  of  the  latter  Empire, 
not  even  of  the  Antonine  era  ;  not  even,  again,  of  the  early  Empire,  or 
the  Republic  at  its  prime  ;  but  of  the  Roman  Law  anterior  to  the 
publication  of  the  Twelve  Tables — 2,200  years  ago.  In  fact,  with  the 
Chinese  law,  as  with  the  Chinese  language,  we  are  carried  back  to  a 
position  whence  we  can  survey,  so  to  speak,  a  living  past,  and  converse 
with  fossil  men.' 

'  The  law  secretaries  .  .  .  whether  Provincial  or  Metropolitan,'  are 
'  the  true  and  almost  sole  depositories  in  China  both  of  the  life  of  the 
law  and  the  life  of  official  language.  They  are  the  jurisconsults  of  the 
officials,  as  the  Roman  lawyers  were  those  of  the  people.  True,  most 
Chinese  officials  are  thoroughly  cognizant  of  the  main  principles,  and 
fairly  acquainted  with  the  details  of  their  not  very  voluminous  codified 
law,  but  the  law  secretaries  are  they  who  search  out  and  apply  the  law 
in  each  case,  and  who  draw  up  the  records  for  submission  to  the  Courts 
of  Appeal  at  Peking, — The  Grand  Court  of  Revision  and  the  Board  of 
Punishment,  .  .  .  and  to  the  Supreme  Tribunal,  consisting  of  the 
Emperor,  either  alone,  or  aided  by  such  commissioners  as  he  shall  see 
fit  to  appoint — which  commissioners,  again,  are  assisted  by  their 
secretaries.  A  highly  paid  class,  possessing  immense  indirect  power, 
and  usually  plying  their  vocation  with  the  least  possible  outward  show, 
they  furnish  not  unfrequently  some  of  the  ablest  statesmen  in  the 
Empire.  Tso  Tsung-fang,  the  strategist  who  .  .  .  recovered  Kash- 
garia  to  the  Empire,  may  be  cited  as  an  illustrious  example  ;  and  a 
.  .  .  memorial  presented  by  him  to  the  Throne,  praying  for  posthumous 
honours  to  be  conferred  on  four  of  his  secretaries,  evidences  the  value 
which  is  attached  to  the  services  of  these  men,  and  the  important  part 
they  take  in  the  concerns  of  the  Empire.' 

The  punishments  now  inflicted  for  an  infringement  of 
the  law  are  : — Flogging  with  the  bamboo ;  banishment 

385  2    B 


Things  Chinese 

within  a  limited  distance  for  a  limited  time  or  permanently  ; 
death — of  which  there  are  two  modes — by  strangling  and 
decapitation. 

Manacles  of  wood,  and  iron  fetters  are  used,  and  the 
cangue,  a  species  of  stock  consisting  of  a  heavy  framework 
of  wood  in  which  the  neck  and  hands  are  confined.  Two 
instruments  of  torture  are  legally  allowed  :  one  for  com- 
pressing the  ankle-bones  and  one  for  the  fingers,  but  others 
are  used  as  well,  though  perhaps  not  to  the  extent  that  is 
sometimes  supposed. 

It  is  not  every  crime  that  is  brought  up  before  the 
Courts,  but  some,  such  as  trifling  thefts,  are  summarily 
punished  by  the  people  of  the  neighbourhood,  the  thief 
being  whipped  through  the  streets  of  the  locality  where  his 
larceny  was  committed. 

In  cases  coming  before  the  officials,  the  prosecutor  must 
file  his  charge  at '  the  lowest  tribunal  of  justice  within  the 
district,'  from  which,  if  not  summarily  dealt  with,  it  may 
proceed  on  to  higher  Courts.  There  are  no  lawyers  in  our 
sense  of  the  term,  though  there  is  a  class  of  men  who  assist 
the  parties,  unknown  to  the  judge,  by  preparing  witnesses 
and  drawing  up  petitions,  etc. : — 

For  these  'lawyers  are  a  disreputable  class  in  China,  not  recognised 
by  law,  and  not  allowed  to  appear  in  Court.  They  can  simply  prompt 
their  clients  from  behind  the  scenes,  and  write  out  their  petitions  and 
counter  petitions  for  them.' 

'  Everything  connected  with  law  and  law  matters  is  so  different 
in  China  that  a  European  is  in  constant  danger  of  misunderstanding 
and  misjudging  the  people  in  connection  with  such  matters.  In  the 
first  place,  hearsay  evidence  is  perfectly  permissible,  and  a  man  would 
suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  even  if  such  were  the  only 
evidence  against  him.  No  oath  is  taken  in  a  Chinese  Court.  The 
oaths,  if  a  matter  is  in  dispute,  take  place  in  the  temple  before  the 
gods,  or  out  in  the  open  air  in  the  presence  of  Heaven,  and  consist  of 
worshipping  and  either  the  chopping  off  of  a  live  cock's  head,  or  the 
burning  of  imprecations  written  on  yellow  paper.  In  the  country 
something  earthen ' — a  '  vessel — is  sometimes  broken  by  way  of  an 
oath.  The  appeal  to  Heaven  is  undoubtedly  the  best.' 

Consequently  in  our  Courts  of  Justice  in  Hongkong 
when  a  suitor  fears  his  case  is  going  against  him,  or  sees 
that  his  opponent  as  strongly  sticks  to  his  version  as  he 

386 


Laws 

does  to  his,  he  often  suggests  a  reference  to  what  are  more 
binding  to  him  than  the  simple  declarations  of  our  Courts, 
viz.,  an  oath  on  a  cock's  head,  which  is  chopped  off. 

Again  a  Chinese  suitor  in  a  native  Court  does  not  bring 
his  witnesses  with  him  or  subpoena  them  to  attend.  That 
is  the  magistrate's  or  judge's  duty,  or  function :  he  sends 
his  lictors  for  them  if  it  appears,  either  in  the  course  of 
giving  evidence  or  earlier,  that  their  presence  is  necessary, 
consequently  in  our  Courts  of  Justice,  litigants  are  constantly 
coming  up  without  their  witnesses,  and  they  often,  more 
Sinico,  ask  the  judge  to  send  for  them. 

The  lengths  to  which  the  Chinese  idea  of  the  sanctity 
of  the  life  of  the  parent  carries  them  may  be  seen  from 
a  cutting  from  the  North  China  Daily  News  in  1897: — 

'  A  child,  barely  eleven  years  old,  was  escorted  by  a  number  ufyamen 
runners  into  Soochow  city  on  the  2Oth  August,  having  come  from  the 
district  city  of  Chinkuei,  not  far  from  Soochow,  for  his  final  trial 
before  the  Provincial  Judge  on  the  fearful  charge  of  murdering  his 
mother.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  affair  was  a  simple  accident.  The 
child  was  swinging  a  small  bamboo  stool  about  him  when  he  acci- 
dentally struck  his  mother  on  the  left  side  with  it.  She  died  almost 
immediately,  with  the  result  that  her  son  will  have  to  suffer  for  his 
so-called  "  crime  "  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner,  not  merely  by  simple 
decapitation,  but  also  by  the  "slicing  process  " — the  penalty  for  parri- 
cides and  matricides,  no  matter  how  accomplished,  whether  acci- 
dentally or  premeditated,  for  the  Chinese  laws  do  not  recognise  any 
difference  where  life  has  been  taken.' 

A  Chinese  judge  acts  as  prosecutor  as  well  as  judge, 
more  in  the  French  style  (there  being  no  lawyers  in  our 
sense  of  the  term,  there  is  consequently  no  prosecuting 
counsel,  or  Solicitor-General,  or  Attorney-General),  and  he 
sometimes  allows  the  parties  to  set  to  and  bandy  words 
and  recriminate  each  other  while  he  quietly  sits  by  and 
listens  to  see  if  he  can  pick  up  any  more  facts  about  the 
case. 

Amidst  all  the  anomalies  of  the  Chinese  administration 
of  justice  there  is  one  good  point,  and  that  is,  that  the 
magistrate  or  judge  endeavours,  if  not  influenced  by 
bribery,  etc.,  to  give  a  reasonable  common-sense  verdict. 
Though  there  are  both  law  and  custom  to  guide  him,  he  is 
not  bound  by  the  iron  bands  of  precedents,  and  law  and 

387 


Things  Chinese 

custom,  within  certain  limits,  may  go  to  the  wall  should 
he  be  sufficiently  clear-sighted  to  see  a  better  and  more 
reasonable  course  to  pursue. 

The  following  extracts  will  illustrate  one  or  two  more 
traits  of  Chinese  character  with  regard  to  legal  matters:— 

'  Though  there  is  an  elaborate  Penal  Code  and  there  are  distinctions 
between  different  kinds  of  murder  and  homicide,  yet  it  is  all  one  to  the 
common  people,  and  a  life  for  a  life  is  their  cry.  However,  a  money 
compensation  often  pacifies  wounded  feelings  in  a  case  of  accident. 
Though  if  the  relations  insist  on  revenge,  the  matter  must  come  before 
the  mandarins.' 

'  When  a  Chinese  witness  comes  into  the  box  he  'expects  the 
magistrate  to  ask  him  the  name  of  his  native  district,  his  own  name, 
his  age,  the  age  of  his  father  and  mother  (if  alive),  the  maiden  name 
of  his  wife,  her  age,  the  number  and  ages  of  his  children,  and  many 
more  questions  of  similar  relevancy  and  importance,  before  a  single 
effort  is  made  towards  eliciting  any  one  fact  bearing  upon  the  subject 
under  investigation.  With  a  stereotyped  people  like  the  Chinese,  it 
does  not  do  to  ignore  these  trifles  of  form  and  custom  :  on  the 
contrary  the  witness  should  rather  be  allowed  to  wander  at  will 
through  such  useless  details  until  he  has  collected  his  scattered 
thoughts,  and  may  be  safely  coaxed  to  divulge  something  which  par- 
takes more  of  the  nature  of  evidence.' 

'  No  provision  is  made  for  fresh  legislation  as  such.  The  Penal 
Code,  which  is  the  only  body  of  statutory  law  in  existence,  is  supposed 
to  contain  enactments  to  meet  every  possible  case,  but  if  by  chance 
some  difficulty  occurs  for  which  there  is  no  precedent,  it  is  referred  to 
the  Board  concerned,  which  in  turn  reports  to  the  Throne.  A  decree 
or  rescript  is  thereupon  issued,  which  settles  the  case.  Periodically 
the  Code  is  revised,  and  these  various  decrees  are  consolidated  or 
incorporated,  and  become  part  of  the  Statute  Law.' 

Books  recommended.—1  Ta  Tsing  Leu  Lee  ;  Being  the  Fundamental  Laws 
and  a  Selection  from  the  Supplementary  Statutes  of  the  Penal  Code  of  China,' 
translated  by  Sir  G.  T.  Staunton,  Bart,  F.R.S.,  "Williams's  '  Middle  Kingdom,' 
vol.  i.  p.  384  et  seq.,  Giles's  'Historic  China  and  other  Sketches,'  p.  125  et 
seq.,  and  Parker's  'Comparative  Chinese  Family  Law,'  to  all  of  which  we 
are  indebted  in  the  above  article.  '  Xotes  and  Commentaries  on  Chinese 
Criminal  Law  and  Cognate  Topics,  witli  Special  Relation  to  Ruling  Cases, 
together  with  a  brief  Excursus  on  the  Law  of  Property,  chiefly  founded  on 
the  writings  of  the  late  Sir  Chaloner  Alabaster,  K.C.  M.G.,  etc.,  sometime 
H.B.M.  Consul-General  in  China,'  by  Ernest  Alabaster.  (Also  see  Article  on 
Tenure  of  Land  in  this  present  work. ) 

LEPROSY. — One  of  the  most  loathsome  diseases  to 
be  met  with  in  China  is  Leprosy  ;  and  one  that  the  civilised 
world  has  had  prominently  brought  before  its  notice  of 
recent  years.  '  As  to  the  cause  of  its  prevalence,  the 

388 


Leprosy 

poverty  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  people,  poor  food,  over- 
crowding, generally  dirtiness,  absence  of  segregation  [in 
some  districts],  and  the  hot,  moist  climate,  provide  a  chain 
of  conditions  very  suitable  for  the  propagation  of  leprosy.' 
China  is  not  a  land  where  statistics  arc  available  ;  the 
Chinese  mind  needs  a  considerable  tonic  of  Western  science 
and  ideas  before  it  will  be  braced  up  to  that  definite  and 
precise  form  of  statement  which  will  prepare  the  way  for 
this  useful  branch  of  knowledge.  At  present  the  Chinese 
delights  in  a  vague  statement  of  even  facts  well  known  to 
himself.  He  calls  certain  of  his  relations  brothers,  which 
term  includes  real  brothers,  cousins  of  more  than  one  degree, 
and  clansmen.  He  tells  you  a  thing  took  place  between 
2  and  3  o'clock,  when  he  might  as  well  say  2.15  P.M.  ;  he 
says  there  were  between  ten  and  twenty  present,  when  he 
might  as  well  say  fifteen  or  sixteen.  Statistics  from  such 
an  individual,  it  can  be  readily  understood,  are  well-nigh 
impossible,  else  China  would  present  a  splendid  field  for  an 
array  of  facts  on  leprosy  ;  for  not  only  is  it  existent  all 
over  China,  but  it  prevails  extensively  in  the  South, 
especially  in  the  Canton  province,  where  cases  are  very 
numerous  in  the  silk  districts.  The  Government  has  Leper 
Asylums  at  different  centres  of  population  in  the  South  for 
the  purpose  of  segregation,  doles  from  the  Emperor's 
bounty  being  granted  to  the  lepers.  These  asylums  are 
badly  managed,  as  unfortunately  most  native  charitable 
institutions  are.  The  village  for  lepers  at  Canton  is 
situated  about  two  or  three  miles  north  of  the  city  ;  there 
is  accommodation  there  for  400  or  500,  but  it  is  not 
sufficient ;  they  are  allowed  in  boats  on  the  river  as  well, 
and  outside  the  east  gate  of  the  city. 

The  lepers  in  the  leper  village  occupy  themselves  in 
making  rope  of  cocoa-nut  fibre,  and  brooms,  etc.,  which, 
though  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  are  in  mortal  dread  of 
the  afflicted  inmates,  yet  find  a  ready  sale  ;  females,  who 
have  lost  the  outward  symptoms  of  the  disease,  sell  them 
in  the  market.  Lepers  also  waylay  funerals  and  demand 
alms,  which  are  given,  for  fear  that  leper  ghosts  may 

339 


Things  Chinese 

torment  the  departed.  The  sums  demanded  are  on  a 
varying  scale,  and  fixed  by  the  lepers  according  to  their 
idea  of  the  rank  and  wealth  of  the  deceased.  Such 
exorbitant  sums  are  asked  that  they  are  sometimes  refused, 
and  then  the  lepers  leap  into  the  grave  and  prevent  the 
interment.  They  accept  promises  of  payment,  but,  if  these 
are  not  kept,  they  exhume  the  corpse  and  retain  possession 
of  it  until  their  demands  are  met.  These  payments  to  the 
lepers  form  an  item  in  the  funeral  expenses. 

In  the  leper  boats,  a  single  leper  often  resides  who 
paddles  about  seeking  charity ;  in  such  cases  the  boats  are 
tiny  little  canoes  with  a  mat-covering  over  the  centre. 
They  sometimes  strip  the  dead  bodies  that  float  down  the 
river,  and,  if  they  find  one  respectably  dressed,  occasionally 
advertise  it  for  the  reward  that  they  hope  to  obtain.  In  the 
silk  districts  there  would  appear  to  be  no  asylums  on  land, 
but  the  lepers  are  restricted  to  the  boats,  from  which  they 
solicit  cash  by  means  of  a  long  bamboo  pole  with  a  bag 
at  the  end.  In  some  of  the  districts  they  occupy  certain 
shrines  on  the  river  bank,  and  beg  alms  with  rod  and  bag. 

The  Chinese  at  Canton  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 
lepers  ;  and  if  the  family  of  a  rich  man  who  has  taken  the 
disease  tries  to  hide  it,  the  neighbours,  as  a  general  rule, 
soon  compel  his  segregation.  They  are  unable  to  cure  it ; 
and  ascribe  it  to  different  causes ;  one  reason  given  is  the 
rain-water  dropping  from  a  certain  kind  of  tree  on  anyone; 
another  is,  that  the  droppings  from  spiders  cause  it.  They 
suppose  it  to  work  itself  out  in  three  or  four  generations, 
and  it  would  appear  to  be  a  well-established  fact  that  in 
some  of  the  large  leper  villages  the  proportion  of  lepers  is 
but  small,  the  disease  having  died  out  in  the  course  of  a 
century  or  so.  Lepers  in  Canton  marry  amongst  them- 
selves, but  not  with  others.  When  the  disease  is  well 
developed,  the  sight  is  sickening  ;  the  parts  affected,  such 
as  the  face,  ears,  hands,  and  feet  are  enlarged,  and  red, 
smooth,  and  glossy.  At  certain  stages  of  the  disease, 
spontaneous  amputation  of  the  fingers  and  toes  takes  place, 
for  they  rot  and  drop  off.  An  improvement  in  diet,  and 

390 


Leprosy 

tonics,  better  the  condition  of  the  patient,  but  there  is  still 
much  to  be  learned  as  to  the  cause  and  treatment  of  this 
dreadful  scourge.  In  two  and  a  half  years  125  lepers 
presented  themselves  at  the  Alice  Memorial  Hospital  in 
Hongkong. 

'Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  province  of  Shangtung  leprosy 
is  seldom  seen,  and  where  it  does  exist  it  is  mainly  anesthetic  leprosy. 
But  in  the  prefectures  of  Yi-chou  Vu  and  Yen-chou  Fu  leprosy  is  quite 
common.  The  majority  of  cases  met  with  in  missionary  hospitals 
through  the  province  come  from  these  two  prefectures,  the  one 
including  the  home  of  Confucius  and  the  other,  Yi-chow,  lying  to  the 
south  of  it.  The  cases  exhibit  all  the  characteristics  of  true  leprosy, 
and  often  in  an  extreme  stage.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  villages  in  Yi- 
chou  prefecture  to  have  several  lepers.  Dr.  Hunter,  of  Chining-chou, 
who  has  kindly  furnished  facts,  regards  the  causes  of  the  prevalence 
of  leprosy  in  one  section  of  a  province,  most  parts  of  which  are  free 
from  it,  to  be  mainly  climacteric.' 

In  Soochow  the  lepers  live  in  their  own  homes  and 
mingle  with  other  people  without  any  restriction.  In  the 
North  of  China  there  are  no  leper  villages,  and,  it  would 
appear,  no  attempts  at  segregation  whatever.  It  is  stated  to 
be  '  comparatively  rare  in  the  northern  provinces  of  China, 
excessively  common  in  the  southern.' 

On  the  basis  of  the  number  seen  at  the  Soochow 
Hospital,  a  calculation  has  been  made  that  there  are  prob- 
ably 150,000  lepers  in  China  ;  but  this  must  be  very  much 
a  guess.  China  is  supposed  to  be  the  country  in  which 
there  is  the  largest  number.  '  In  India  there  are  said  to  be 
500,000.'  Again  it  is  stated  that  '  according  to  the  census 
of  1891,  after  making  allowance  for  error,  it  is  estimated 
that  in  British  India  there  were  105,000.'  'Judging  from 
what  is  seen  in  the  coast  towns  and  treaty  ports  [in  China], 
the  number  of  lepers  there  is  even  greater  than  in  India.' 
It  is  questionable  whether  a  place  such  as  Soochow,  where 
'  less  than  one  in  two  thousand  of  the  sick  are  afflicted 
with  this  disease,'  affords  a  reliable  basis  to  form  an 
estimate  of  the  prevalence  of  the  disease  throughout  China. 
(Another  estimate  puts  down  the  number  in  China,  India, 
and  Siberia  as  1,000,000.  In  Russian  Turkestan  there  are 
said  to  be  2,000.)  Another  of  these  attempts  at  guessing 

391 


Things  Chinese 

puts  the  lepers  in  China  as  300,000.  As  an  example  of 
districts  where  leprosy  is  more  common,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  during  a  week  at  Chao  Chow-fu  from  two 
to  three  or  four  a  day,  so  diseased,  appeared  amongst  about 
forty  or  more  patients,  and  this  was  not  an  exceptional 
week.  In  the  tract  of  country  round  Swatow  with  a 
population  not  much  less  than  that  of  Scotland,  it  is 
estimated  that  there  are  25,000  lepers ;  and,  to  one 
accustomed  to  the  horror  the  Cantonese  have  of  the  disease, 
it  was  extraordinary  to  see  the  utter  carelessness  the 
natives  evinced  in  their  contact  with  the  subjects  of  this 
loathsome  malady.  Just  outside  the  city  of  Chao  Chow-fu 
the  author  saw  a  leper  lad  sitting  at  the  roadside  and  eat- 
ing out  of  a  bowl  which  had  evidently  been  obtained  from 
a  hawker's  stall,  such  a  thing  being  utterly  out  of  the 
question  at  Canton.  In  a  shop  in  one  of  the  principal 
streets  of  the  same  important  city,  a  leper  was  pointed  out 
to  the  writer.  He  was  busy  at  work  in  a  tailor's  shop. 
The  utter  nonchalance  with  which  the  people  in  this  part 
of  the  country  regard  the  lepers,  and  the  utter  absence  of 
all  precautions  in  their  intercourse  with  them  is  most 
extraordinary.  There  are  leper  villages,  so  we  were 
informed,  in  some  of  which  the  disease  has  died  or  is 
dying  out ;  some  poor  miserable  huts  and  temples  are  also 
tenanted  by  lepers  on  the  roadside. 

Leprosy  does  not  appear  to  be  on  the  increase  in  China, 
though  in  some  parts  every  opportunity  is  given  for  its 
spread.  Doubtless  were  every  precaution  taken  against 
the  possibility  of  contagion  from  it,  and  a  rigid  system  of 
segregation  enforced  throughout  the  empire  it  might  be 
stamped  out,  as  it  is  said  it  was  in  England  some  centuries 
since. 

From  historical  references  to  it,  it  seems  to  have  been 
known  in  China  some  two  or  three  hundred  years  before 
the  time  of  Confucius  ;  the  sage  himself  had  a  disciple 
who  died  of  this  dreadful  disease.  It  is  very  curious  to 
find  some  districts  of  country  quite  free  from  this  horrible 
infliction  while  other  parts  in  the  neighbourhood  are 

392 


Leprosy 

affected  with  it.  It  is  a  great  comfort  to  the  European 
residents  in  China  to  find  that  its  power  of  contagion  is, 
comparatively  speaking,  so  slight.  It  is,  however,  con- 
tagious and  perhaps  communicable  in  some  way  or  other 
as  well,  so  that  it  behoves  those  that  are  brought  into 
contact  with  cases  of  it  to  take  every  precaution  instead  of 
being  so  foolhardy  as  to  ignore  its  communicability.  The 
author  knows  of  one  notable  case  where  the  disease  was 
taken  by  an  American  missionary,  who  died  after  some 
years  in  all  the  horrors  incident  to  it :  the  cause  evidently, 
in  this  case,  being  a  Chinese  who  had  the  disease  having 
his  quarters  in  the  same  dwelling  as  the  missionary.  After 
his  removal  from  the  house  a  Chinese  woman,  who 
occupied  the  same  room  that  the  leper  had  previously  had, 
also  took  it.  It  is  said  that  some  European  women  in 
Australia  have  taken  it  from  their  leprous  Chinese 
husbands.  There  are  19  Chinese  lepers  in  Little  Bay, 
N.S.W.  lazar-house  amongst  a  total  of  36.  The  bacillus  of 
leprosy  is  i-ioo,oooth  of  an  inch  in  diameter*  '  In  length 
it  is  from  half  to  two-thirds,  and  in  breadth  about  one- 
sixteenth,  the  diameter  of  a  blood-corpuscle.'  There  are 
2,000  lepers  in  Crete ;  the  disease  is  said  to  be  spreading  in 
Russia,  over  600  new  cases  a  year,  in  the  Eastern  Province 
of  Prussia,  in  North  Prussia,  as  well  as  in  the  Austrian 
Province  of  Bosnia,  and  even  some  cases  have  occurred  in 
England. 

It  is  with  delight  we  hail  the  change  of  front  that  has 
taken  place  with  regard  to  the  communicability  of  leprosy 
during  the  last  few  years,  amongst  the  medical  profession, 
as  the  result  of  the  conference  on  leprosy  held  in  Berlin  in 
1897,  for  we  have  always  felt  it  was  a  most  dangerous 
disease. 

'The  conference  declared  [and  rightly  so]  that  leprosy  is  a  contagious 
disease,  and  that  every  leper  is  a  danger  to  his  surroundings.  The 
conclusion  come  to  is,  in  short,  that,  as  leprosy  is  dangerous  and 
incurable,  lepers  should  be  isolated.'  '  The  communicability  of  leprosy, 
by  direct  or  indirect  means,  from  lepers  to  the  healthy  must  now  be 
accepted  as  an  established  fact,  the  evidence  in  support  of  this  belief 
being  conclusive  ;  .  .  .  there  is  no  evidence  of  the  disease  arising  or 
spreading  in  any  other  way.' 

393 


Things  Chinese 

'  Hospitals  were  originally  intended  for  the  reception  of 
lepers.'  The  number  of  lazar-houses  in  Great  Britain 
testifies  to  the  prevalence  of  the  disease  there  at  one  time. 

There  are  30,000  lepers  in  the  Philippine  Archipelago, 
where  it  was  introduced  in  1663  by  a  shipload  of  150 
lepers  sent  to  the  Romish  priests  there  to  be  cured  by  the 
Emperor  of  Japan.  The  Spaniards,  it  is  said,  took  no 
measures  to  cure  or  cope  with  the  disease.  Another  esti- 
mate says  there  are  10,000  in  these  islands. 

The  want  of  cleanliness  and  contact  appear  to  be  the 
causes  of  the  disease.  '  In  Norway  there  were  1,600  lepers 
in  1880,  out  of  a  population  of  1,850,000.'  In  the  Sandwich 
Islands  1800,  in  Greece  100  lepers,  and  60  leper  deaths  a 
year  in  Mauritius.  There  are  supposed  to  be  714  cases  in 
Ceylon. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  leprosy  is  incurable,  but  we 
note  that  in  1900  inoculation  for  leprosy  in  Hanoi  was 
being  carried  out  with  satisfactory  results ;  and  Sister 
Gertrude  states  positively  that  she  has  known  several  cases 
of  leprosy  cured.  A  curious  cure  for  it  in  China  is  noted 
by  one  writer.  A  buffalo  \vas  killed  and  the  leper  was 
placed  inside  its  body  and  remained  in  it  for  some  time. 
To  all  appearance  he  was  cured  ;  but  most  people  will 
doubtless  require  stronger  evidence  before  accepting  this 
or  other  statements  of  the  cure  of  this  loathsome  and 
apparently  incurable  disease.  Isolation  has  been  tried  with 
marked  success  in  Norway. 

We  close  this  article  with  a  short  extract  from  Dr. 
Manson's  recent  work,  '  Tropical  Diseases  ' : — 

'  Seeing  that  leprosy  is  caused  by  a  specific  germ,  there  must  have 
been  a  time  in  the  history  of  every  leper  when  the  infecting  germ 
entered  the  body.  In  the  case  of  many  specific  diseases  .  .  .  the 
time  of  infection  can  usually  be  ascertained.  So  far  as  present  know- 
ledge goes,  this  much  cannot  be  affirmed  of  leprosy.  .  .  .  We  are 
equally  ignorant  as  to  the  condition  of  the  infecting  germ,  whether 
it  enters  the  organ  or  organs  through  which  it  gains  access  as  spore 
or  as  bacillus  ;  and,  also,  as  to  the  medium  in  or  by  which  it  is 
conveyed.  We  cannot  say  whether  it  enters  in  food,  in  water,  in 
air  ;  whether  it  passes  in  through  the  broken  epithelium,  or  whether 
it  is  inoculated  on  some  broken  breach  of  surface,  or,  perhaps, 
introduced  by  some  insect  bite.  But,  though  we  are  in  absolute 

394 


Lighthouses 

ignorance  as  to  the  process  of  infection,  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  in 
leprosy  there  is  an  act  of  infection,  and  that  the  infective  material 
comes  from  another  leper.  Leprosy  has  never  been  shown  to  arise  de 
novo.' 

Books  recommended. — 'Leprosy,'  by  G.  Thin,  M.D.,  pp.  52-61,  sjwaks 
about  leprosy  in  China.  The  Reports  of  difl'erent  Medical  Missionary 
Hospitals  in  South-Eastern  China  have  occasionally  contained  notes  on 
leprosy  and  accounts  of  treatments  with  more  or  less  beneficial  results. 
'  Leprosy  in  Hongkong,' by  J.  Cantlie,  M.A.,  M.B.,  F.K.C.S.,  also  contains 
notes  of  cases  and  treatment  at  the  Alice  Memorial  Hospital  in  Hongkong, 
attached  to  a  monograph  on  the  subject.  Gray's  'China,'  vol.  ii.  p.  51. 
Some  interesting  papers  on  this  disease  have  appeared  in  The  China  Medical 
Missionary  Journal;  see  especially  vol.  ii.  p.  59.  'The  Chinese,  tbeir 
Present  and  Future;  Medical,  Political,  and  Social,'  by  R.  Coltman  Jr., 
M.D. ,  chap,  ix.,  Leprosy.  'Tropical  Diseases:  A  Manual  of  the  Diseases  of 
Warm  Climates,'  by  P.  Manson,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  etc.,  chap.  xxvi.  pp.  383- 
422. 


LIGHTHOUSES. — The  lighthouse  system  in  Chinese 
waters  is  under  a  department  of  the  Imperial  Maritime 
Customs,  and  is  only  one  of  the  many  advantages  which  have 
resulted  from  a  foreign  staff  being  in  the  employ  of  the 
Chinese  Government.  '  The  lighthouses  on  the  China  Coast 
have  a  luminous  intensity  equal  to  that  of  the  best  non- 
electric lighthouses  in  the  world.  The  lighting  and  main- 
tenance are  attended  to  with  the  greatest  punctuality,  and 
there  has  never  been  a  complaint  as  to  the  regularity  of 
working  and  amount  of  safety  afforded.'  Some  of  the  most 
important  positions  have  been  selected  for  their  display;  and 
these  indispensable  aids  to  the  navigator  extend  from  New- 
chwang  in  the  North  to  the  island  of  Hainan  in  the  South, 
and  along  the  Yang-tsz  and  Canton  Rivers.  They  are  mostly 
on  land,  though  a  few  are  lightships  ;  and  they  are  either 
fixed,  fixed  and  flashing,  or  group-flashing,  revolving,  or 
occulting ;  the  illuminating  apparatus  is  either  catoptric  or 
dioptric.  Besides  these,  there  are  a  number  of  buoys  (86), 
and  beacons  (82),  light-vessels  (4),  and  light-boats  ( 1 9).  The 
lights,  etc.,  are  being  added  to,  and  the  department  increased 
as  time  goes  on.  Since  the  first  lights  were  started  in  the 
years  1855,  1859,  and  1863,  up  to  1895  or  1896,  there  have 
been  but  nine  years  in  which  a  new  light  has  not  been  ex- 
hibited, while  in  a  few  years  the  total  of  new  ones  for  the 
year  rose  as  high  as  nine  or  ten.  At  the  end  of  1897  there 

395 


Things  Chinese 

were  105  lights,  4  light-vessels,  82  buoys,  and  65  beacons, 
making  a  total  of  256  under  the  control  of  this  department 
of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  Service.  In 
1901  there  were  a  total  of  288. 

Leaving  out  those  on  the  Canton  River  as  well  as  those 
at  Chinkiang,  Kiukiang,  and  Hankow,  there  are  approxi- 
mately about  one  light  to  every  hundred  and  two  miles  of 
coast  line.  A  few  years  ago  there  was  a  lighthouse  to  every 
fourteen  miles  of  English  coast,  one  to  every  thirty-four 
of  Irish  coast,  and  one  to  every  thirty-nine  of  Scotch  shore 
line.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  Chinese  lights  are  at  those  ports  mentioned 
above.  The  staff  required  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
lights  is  composed  of  both  foreigners  and  natives ;  the 
former  numbering  fifty-eight  and  the  latter  two  hundred 
and  twenty-two. 

Lord  Charles  Beresford  in  a  speech  at  Shanghai  in  1899, 
thus  speaks : — 

'Sir  Robert  Hart,  if  he  had  done  nothing  else  beyond  lighting  the 
coast  of  China — which  I  say  as  a  seaman  is  as  well  lighted  as  any  in 
Europe — deserves  the  lasting  gratitude  of  all  nations.' 

Besides  these  there  are  three  lighthouses  in  the  British 
Colony  of  Hongkong,  and  one  in  the  Portuguese  Colony  of 
Macao. 

LIKIN  AND  SOME  OTHER  TAXES.— The  in- 
cident of  taxation  in  China  seems  strange  and  mysterious 
to  the  stranger,  who  finds  it  difficult  to  understand  the 
various  taxes. 

Likin,  which  maybe  termed  'Inland  Transportation  Tax,'  'is  a 
tax  originally  of  one  cash  per  tael  on  all  sales,  voluntarily  imposed  on 
themselves  by  the  people,  among  whom  it  was  very  popular,  with  a 
view  of  making  up  the  deficiency  of  the  land  tax  in  China,  caused  by 
the  T'df  P'ing  and  Nien  Fei  troubles.  It  was  to  be  set  apart  for 
military  purposes  only — hence  its  common  name,  "war  tax";  and  was 
said  by  the  Tsung  Li  Yamen  to  be  adopted  merely  as  a  temporary 
measure.'  It  has  been  'collected  at  rates  differing  in  different 
provinces  and  at  different  times.  The  Chefoo  Agreement  makes  the 
area  of  the  foreign  concessions  at  the  various  Treaty  Ports  exempt 
from  the  levy  of  Lekin.  This  tax  has  been  a  bone  of  contention 
between  Chinese  officials  and  European  merchants,  and  no  small 

396 


Likin  and  some  other  Taxes 

amount  of  irritation,  on  both  sides,  has  been  excited  thereby.  The 
Transit  Pass  System,  stipulated  by  Treaty,  arranged  that  all  foreign 
goods,  which  entered  the  interior  of  China,  under  this  regulation, 
should  be  freed  from  further  taxation.' 

'  It  has  been  continued  in  defiance  of  promises  that  when  the 
finances  of  the  country  had  recovered  their  normal  condition  the 
likin  should  be  abolished.' 

'  As  a  guarantee  for  a  portion  of  China's  indebtedness,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  likin  collection  at  the  Yangtsz  ports  and  at  Ningpo 
should  be  placed  under  the  control  of  the  foreign  customs.' 

Likin,  as  well  as  the  Salt  Revenue,  is  now  being 
transferred  to  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  for 
Collection. 

The  Lotishui,  or  laying-down  tax,  is  levied  on  goods 
when  they  arrive  at  their  destinations  inland,  having  run 
the  gauntlet  of  the  different  likin  stations  en  route  and 
been  mulct  the  duties  charged  at  these  stations,  but  it  is 
commonly  levied  'to  save  time,'  at  port  of  departure. 

This  Lotishui  '  was  not  especially  provided  for  in  the 
earlier  treaties,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  transit  lekin  as 
such.  And  it  is  these  unforeseen  taxes  which  have  figured 
so  largely  in  public  discussions,  though  they  have  all  been 
lumped  under  the  general  heading  "  likin."  ' 

There  is  also  the  Cheng-fei,  or  Ching-fei,  or  military 
defence  tax. 

All  the  numerous  stations  for  paying  taxes  offer  much 
friction  and  hindrance  to  goods  in  transitu.  Some  of  the 
barriers  only  collect  likin,  or  lekin,  as  it  is  often  written, 
sufficient  to  pay  for  the  staff  employed  to  collect.  This, 
however,  cannot  be  a  very  common  practice. 

It  is  feared  by  some  that  the  abolition  of  lekin  and 
the  substitution  of  J\  per  cent,  on  all  sea-borne  commerce 
will  prejudicially  affect  foreign  mercantile  interests  in 
China. 

Likin  was  in  its  incipience  a  temporary  measure,  but 
it  has  developed  into  a  permanent  burden,  very  onerous 
on  account  of  its  lack  of  definition. 

'  It  has  been  estimated  that  of  every  Sioo  collected  under  the  old 
likin  organisation  Sio  reached  the  State  coffers,  and  890  stuck  on  the 
way,  whereas,  when  judiciously  managed,  the  result  ought  to  be 
precisely  the  converse.  The  levy  of  likin  was  most  unfortunately 

397 


Things  Chinese 

and  mistakenly  recognised  by  the  British  Government  long  ago,  and, 
having  been  so  long  tolerated,  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  get  rid  of  it,  except  on  a  basis  of  compromise.  .  .  .  The  Kowloon 
Customs  collect  the  Chingfei,  or  military  defence  tax,  for  the  Viceroy 
of  Canton,  on  the  trade  with  which  they  have  to  deal  ;  the  amount  of 
that  tax  may  be  varied  from  time  to  time,  and  all  the  Customs  have 
to  do  is  to  collect  it  and  account  for  the  proceeds.' 

The  following  explains  exactly  the  incidence  of  taxa- 
tion as  it  affects  the  Collectors — the  Provincial  Authorities, 
and  the  ultimate  receivers — the  Imperial  Authorities,  or 
the  Court  at  Peking. 

'  The  great  principle  underlying  the  financial  administration  of  the 
Chinese  Empire  up  to  the  present  is  that  the  Imperial  Government 
makes  demands  on  the  provinces  in  lump  sums,  leaving  the  Pro- 
vincial Governments  to  apportion  the  details.  Experience  in  a  rough 
way  has  pointed  out  the  proportionate  sum  each  province  is  capable 
of  transmitting,  and  beyond  this  there  is  at  present  no  machinery 
whereby  the  provincial  levies  can  be  controlled  either  in  amount  or 
in  incident.  To  add  to  this  difficulty,  there  exists  on  the  part  of  the 
Provincial  Governments  and  Peking  a  profound  want  of  confidence. 
Each  deeply  mistrusts  the  other,  and  tries  to  deceive  as  to  its  income 
and  expenditure.' 

The  Imperial  Government  has  drawn  the  revenues  to 
be  derived  from  the  sea-borne  commerce — it  has  always 
'been  looked  upon  as  an  appanage  of  Imperial  power,  and 
the  provinces  have  never  openly  ventured  to  interfere 
in  the  Imperial  arrangements  ;  but  when  the  cargo 
was  once  landed  for  local  consumption,  the  position 
was  at  once  altered,  and  the  Imperial  Government  had 
no  more  right  to  interfere  than  had  the  provincial  in 
the  first  instance.  Such  has  been  the  theory.'  Interfer- 
ence has,  however,  taken  place  from  time  to  time  on 
both  sides,  when  either  found  itself  more  powerful  than 
the  other,  but  with  normal  conditions  the  interference 
ceased. 

'  When  one  considers  the  delays,  the  squeezes,  and  above  all  the 
uncertainties  to  which  goods  are  subjected  in  China,  one  is  inclined 
to  marvel,  not  that  the  trade  of  China  is  so  small  in  proportion  to  its 
population  as  compared  with  other  countries,  but  that  any  trade 
exists  at  all.  One  of  the  greatest  curses  of  China  is  the  detestable 
system  of  likin  barriers  which  everywhere  obstruct  the  trade.' 

It  was  proposed  'that  in  return  for  the  raising  of  the  import  tariff, 
from  5  per  cent,  ad  i>olo rem  to  15  per  cent.,'  the  Chinese  Government 

398 


Literature 

should  'abolish  entirely  all  internal  taxation,  whether  Imperial,  pro- 
vincial, local,  or  municipal,  on  all  merchandise,  foreign  or  native, 
whether  for  import,  export,  or  internal  consumption  (salt  and  native 
opium  alone  exccpted),  and'  '  remove  all  likin  and  other  barriers,  .  .  . 
the  British  Government  to  reserve  to  itself  the  right  to  cancel  this 
arrangement  and  revert  to  the  now  existing  conditions,  should  the 
Chinese  Government  fail  to  carry  out  the  stipulation  of  the  agree- 
ment.' 

Hazell's  Annual  for  1903  thus  puts  the  position  of 
affairs  at  the  present  moment,  with  regard  to  the  Scheme 
proposed  by  Sir  J.  L.  Mackay,  and  approved  by  several 
high  Chinese  Officials,  as  well  as  Imperially  sanctioned  : — 

'  The  Scheme  was  embodied  in  a  Commercial  Treaty  with  Great 
Britain  ...  by  which  it  was  provided  that  all  likin  dues,  stations,  and 
barriers,  and  every  form  of  internal  taxation  on  British  goods  should  be 
abolished  in  return  for  a  surtax  equivalent  to  a  duty  of  one  and  a  half 
times  the  duty  leviable  '  under  the  1901  Protocol.  This  to  '  become 
effective  in  January  1904,'  should  the  other  Powers  likewise  agree. 

LITERATURE.— 'Untold  treasures  lie  hidden  in  the 
rich  lodes  of  Chinese  literature.'  This  may  be  considered 
a  sufficient  answer  to  those  who  question  if  there  is  any- 
thing worth  seeking  for  in  what  has  been  termed  by 
another  equally  learned  sinologue  the  barren  wilderness  of 
Chinese  literature. 

Numbers  of  books  of  great  antiquity  have  left  no 
remembrance  behind  them  but  that  of  their  names,  or,  at 
the  best,  but  little  else.  Some  fragments  are  reputed  to 
have  survived  from  before  the  time  of  Confucius  (B.C.  550). 
The  sage  said  of  himself  that  he  was  a  transmitter,  not  an 
originator,  and,  as  such,  he  utilised  material,  that  was  in 
existence  to  a  great  extent  previously,  in  the  production  of 
the  works  which  are  attributed  to  his  hand.  From  the 
time  of  Confucius  onward,  for  some  centuries,  the 
numerous  writings  produced  by  the  different  philosophers 
give  evidence  of  mental  vigour  and  activity.  The  power 
of  the  literary  class,  backed  up  by  their  arsenals  of  learning, 
and  their  muniments  of  classical  lore,  were  forces  that 
threatened  to  thwart,  by  their  conservative  and  other 
tendencies,  the  iron  will  of  the  monarch,  who  rendered 
himself  infamous  in  Chinese  history  by  his  despotic  and 

399 


Things  Chinese 

cruel  attempt  to  sweep  the  obstructive  literati  and  their 
books  out  of  his  path  of  progress.  Works  on  medicines, 
divination,  and  husbandry,  were  the  only  ones  that  were 
exempt  from  the  storm  of  destruction  that  swept  over  the 
land,  with  the  exception  of  those,  not  a  few  in  number,  that 
surreptitiously  weathered  the  tempest  buried  in  mountain 
holes  and  hidden  behind  walls,  or  stored  up  in  the  memory 
of  some  who  prized  them  better  than  life  itself.  After  the 
night  of  desolation  rose  the  brighter  dawn  of  the  Han 
dynasty,  when  every  effort  was  made  to  recover  the  lost 
treasures,  and  with  such  success  that  considerably  over  ten 
thousand  volumes,  or  sections  of  books,  the  work  of  some 
hundreds  of  authors,  were  gathered  together.  But  unfortun- 
ately this  library,  collected  with  such  care,  was  destroyed 
by  fire  at  the  close  of  the  dynasty,  and  other  destructions 
of  valuable  imperial  collections  have  taken  place  more  than 
once  since.  It  has,  however,  been  the  pride  of  succeeding 
dynasties  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Han,  and  every 
encouragement  has  been  given  to  literature. 

The  T'ang  dynasty  especially  deserves  notice  for  its 
patronage  of  letters.  The  classification  now  extant  was 
then  adopted,  viz. : — The  four  divisions  of  Classics,  His- 
tory, Philosophy,  and  Belles  Lettres ;  but  these  are  so 
numerously  subdivided,  that  a  mere  list  of  them  would 
occupy  a  page  and  a  half.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  except 
in  a  work  especially  devoted  to  that  purpose,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  give  even  a  rtsumt  of  the  vast  field  thus 
covered.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  the  indication  of 
a  few  of  the  more  salient  points. 

The  Classical  writings  occupy  the  foremost  position  not 
only  as  regards  antiquity,  but  they  are  also  regarded  as 
the  foundation  of  all  learning  by  the  Chinese;  and  they 
have  been  the  cause  of  the  production  of  not  a  small  pro- 
portion of  Chinese  books. 

The  '  Four  Books '  and  the  '  Five  Classics '  are  the  chief 
amongst  the  classical  works  of  the  Chinese.  The  '  Four 
Books'  consist  of 'The  Confucian  Analects/ '  The  Great 
Learning, '  The  Doctrine  of  the  Mean,'  and  '  The  Works  of 

400 


Literature 

Mencius.'  The  '  Five  Classics '  consist  of  '  The  Book  of 
Changes,' '  The  Book  of  History,' '  The  Book  of  Odes,' '  The 
Book  of  Rites,'  and  '  The  Spring  and  Autumn  Annals.' 
The  last  is  the  only  one  of  which  Confucius  is  actually  the 
author,  though  he  compiled  'The  Book  of  History'  and 
'  The  Odes.'  '  The  Book  of  Changes '  is  regarded  with 
almost  universal  reverence,  both  on  account  of  its  antiquity, 
and  also  for  the  unfathomable  wisdom  which  is  supposed 
to  be  concealed  under  its  mysterious  symbols. 

'  The  Four  Books,'  which  rank  next  after  '  The  Five 
Classics,'  are  composed,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  words,  con- 
versations, and  opinions  of  Confucius  and  Mencius,  as  re- 
corded by  their  disciples.  Around  these,  and  a  few  other 
works,  has  gathered  an  immense  collection  of  commentaries 
and  works  elucidative  of  the  Classics ;  among  these  the 
Chinese  class  dictionaries,  over  the  production  of  which 
much  labour  has  been  spent  by  eminent  Chinese  scholars, 
in  order  to  conserve  the  purity  of  the  language. 

Historical  works,  or  dynastic  histories,  are  sub-divided 
into  a  number  of  divisions.  These  have  been  compiled 
dynasty  after  dynasty  on  a  general  plan,  dealing  first  with 
the  Imperial  Records,  then  the  Arts  and  Sciences,  followed 
by  a  Biographical  Section.  The  latest  compilation  of  them 
is  called  'The  Twenty-four  Histories,'  comprised  in  3,264 
books  by  over  twenty  different  authors,  commencing  with 
Sz-ma  Tsin,  the  Herodotus  of  China. 

HISTORICAL  ANNALS. — This  class  of  histories  contains 
a  concise  narrative  of  events  on  the  plan  of '  The  Spring 
and  Autumn  Annals.'  Among  the  most  celebrated  of 
these  is  the  Tsz  Chi  Tung  Kin,  of  the  famous  historian  Sz- 
ma  Kwang,  in  294  books,  which  occupied  the  author 
nineteen  years  in  writing. 

Another  division  of  historical  works  is  that  of  '  The 
Complete  Records '  in  which  a  general  view  of  a  particular 
subject  is  taken,  '  The  Historical  Classic '  being  taken  as 
the  example. 

Besides  these,  there  are  several  other  divisions  of 
Historical  Works,  such  as  'Separate  Histories,'  '  Miscel- 

401  2  C 


Things  Chinese 

laneous  Histories,'  '  Official  Documents,'  and  '  Biographies,' 
which  last  are  very  numerous  and  some  ancient,  one  being 
more  than  two  thousand  years  old.  Added  to  these,  are 
1  Historical  Excerpta,'  'Contemporary  Records,'  which  deal 
with  other  co-existent  states,  and  '  Chronography/  this  last 
heading  comprising  a  small  category.  '  The  Complete 
Antiquarian  Researches  of  Md  Twan-lin,' A.D  1275,  is  'a 
most  extensive  and  profound  work.' 

Another  division  is  that  of  Geographical  and  Topo- 
graphical Works.  Among  these  is  the  famous  '  Hill  and 
River  Classic,'  containing  wonderful  accounts  of  countries 
inhabited  by  pigmies  and  giants ;  of  men  with  a  hole 
through  the  middle  of  their  bodies,  who  when  going  out  for 
an  airing  have  a  pole  thrust  through  it  and  are  thus  hoisted 
on  the  shoulders  of  two  men  and  carried  along  ;  of  one- 
sided people,  who  have  only  one  arm  and  one  leg,  and  who 
have  to  walk  in  couples,  as  they  cannot  stand  alone ;  of 
tiny  pigmies  who,  like  Alpine  travellers,  rope  themselves 
together  to  prevent  large  birds  carrying  them  off;  of 
numerous  wonderful  and  strange  objects  in  the  animal 
creation,  as  well  as  fish  and  snakes  with  many  heads,  and 
fish  with  many  bodies  to  one  head.  It  is  very  amusing 
to  look  through  an  illustrated  edition  of  this  book,  and 
though  it  contains  many  strange  vagaries,  it  was  probably 
originally  a  bona  fide  attempt  at  an  account  of  what  were 
actually  considered  to  exist ;  it  is  a  work  of  great  antiquity. 
In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  Pliny  speaks 
of  the  Blemmyans,  an  African  tribe  that  were  headless,  the 
eyes  and  mouth  being  in  the  breast — '  Blemmys  traduntur 
capita  abesse,  ore  et  oculis  pectori  affixis.'  '  Historia 
Naturalis/  Bk.  V.  ch.  3.  See  also  the  'Tempest,'  Act.  III. 
Sc.3. 

'  When  we  were  boys, 

Who  would  believe  that  there  were 

such  men 

Whose  heads  stood  in  their  breasts  ? ' 

Every  small  division  of  the  empire  has  its  topographical 
work  dealing  with  its  own  history,  antiquities,  towns,  curi- 
osities, and  anything  of  interest  connected  with  it ;  one  on 

402 


Literature 

Kvvang-tung,  being  a  historical  and  statistical  account  of 
that  province,  is  in  182  volumes.  The  late  Dr.  Wylie  well 
said  of  this  department  of  Chinese  literature  :  '  The  series 
of  topographical  writings  in  China  are  probably  unrivalled 
in  any  nation,  for  extent  and  systematic  comprehensive- 
ness.' Works  on  the  water-courses  also  find  a  place  in  this 
section. 

There  are  categories  under  which  come  bibliographical 
and  other  works.  '  One  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
Bibliography  possessed  by  this  or  perhaps  any  other 
nation  ...  is  a  descriptive  catalogue  (in  40x5  books)  of 
the  Imperial  Library  of  the  present  dynasty.'  The  Index 
Expurgatorius  is  also  contained  in  this  division,  and  several 
tens  of  thousands  of  volumes  are  prohibited  in  whole  or  in 
part.  The  Historical  division  ends  with  the  section  of 
'  Historical  Critiques.' 

The  third  great  division,  that  of  philosophers,  includes, 
not  only  that  class,  but  writers  on  Religion,  the  Arts  and 
the  Sciences,  etc.  Original  thinkers  are  found  amongst 
the  Chinese  authors,  .who  have  not  subscribed  to  the 
Confucian  teaching,  and  some  of  our  modern  Western  ideas 
have  already  seen  the  light  of  day  in  the  Far  East,  long 
before  they  were  ever  dreamt  of  by  our  Western  moral 
philosophers. 

The  immense  mass  of  matter  to  be  found  under  this 
grand  heading  may  be  judged  from  its  subdivisions, 
viz. : — 


1.  Literati. 

2.  Writers  on  Military  Affairs 

3.  Writers  on  Legislation. 

4.  Writers  on  Agriculture. 

5.  Medical  Writers. 

6.  Astronomyand  Mathematics. 


8.  Arts. 

9.  Repertories. 

10.  Miscellaneous  Writers. 

1 1.  Cyclopaedias. 

12.  Essayists. 

13.  Taoism. 


7.  Divination.  14.  Buddhism. 

Under  this  heading  come  '  The  Sacred  Edicts  ' :  moral 
maxims  written  by  the  second  Emperor  of  the  present 
dynasty  for  the  instruction  of  the  people.  Taking  these 
maxims  for  texts,  a  series  of  homiletic  sermons  were 
composed  on  them  by  his  successor,  and  they  are  read 

403 


Things  Chinese 

aloud  to  the  public  on  the  ist  and  5th  of  every  month 
throughout  the  empire. 

Medical  works  claim  attention  from  the  numerous 
writers  on  this  branch.  The  oldest  work  was  written 
several  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  It  has  been 
supposed  from  their  minute  account  of  the  human  body, 
that  the  Chinese,  at  one  time,  practised  dissection.  If  so, 
however,  the  remembrance  of  it  has  long  been  forgotten, 
and  their  medical  works  are  characterised  by  groundless 
theories,  which,  considering  the  low  state  of  science  until 
recent  years  even  in  the  West,  is  not  much  to  be  wondered 
at.  (See  Article  on  Doctors.) 

ASTRONOMY  AND  MATHEMATICS. — The  Chinese  in 
ancient  times  represented  the  starry  firmament  by  three 
different  methods.  First,  as  a  concave  sphere ;  secondly, 
a  globe  is  taken  to  represent  the  universe,  and  stars  are 
placed  on  the  outer  surface ;  the  third  method  is  not  known 
at  present,  but  it  is  supposed  to  bear  a  close  analogy  to  that 
of  the  West.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  assisted  the  Chinese 
materially  in  righting  their  calendar,  and  in  other  matters 
connected  with  astronomy,  contributing  their  quota  also  to 
the  books  on  astronomy  and  other  mathematical  matters. 
One  of  the  native  books  on  Mathematics  has  quite  an 
interesting  history.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  in  use  in 
the  Chou  dynasty,  was  destroyed  in  the  general  burning 
of  books  by  Ts'in  Shih  Hwang-ti,  after  which  imperfect 
fragments  of  it  were  gathered  together  during  the  Han 
dynasty,  when  additions  were  made  to  them  ;  a  commentary 
was  written  on  it,  and  an  exposition  ;  it  was  well  known  in 
the  T'ang  dynasty,  preserved  as  a  rarity  in  the  Sung,  and 
entirely  lost  in  the  Ming ;  but  fortunately  it  was  possible 
to  gather  up  the  fragments  that  were  found  in  one  of  those 
gigantic  cyclopaedias,  which  the  Chinese  have  been  so  fond 
of  forming,  containing  copious  quotations  from  thousands 
of  books,  and  taking  years  of  toil  to  compile.  The  copy 
now  in  existence  has  thus  been  gathered  together  piecemeal 
in  this  way,  and  has  been  found  to  agree  with  quotations 
and  with  the  description  given  of  the  book.  '  It  is  divided 

404 


Literature 

into  nine  sections,  viz. : — Plain  Mensuration,  Proportion, 
Fellowship,  Evolution,  Mensuration  of  Solids,  Alligation, 
Surplus  and  Deficit,  Equations,  and  Trigonometry.'  It 
contains  246  problems.  The  illustrations  have  unfortunately 
been  lost. 

Under  the  heading  of  Divination  are  not  a  few  works  ; 
books  on  dreams  coming  under  the  same  section,  the 
counterparts  of  '  The  Napoleon  Dream-Book '  and  '  The 
Egyptian  Dream-Book  '  in  English. 

As  to  books  on  Arts,  Wylie  remarks : — 

'  However  the  Chinese  may  differ  from  Western  nations  in  matters 
of  mere  convention,  the  fact  that  they  have  methodical  treatises,  of 
more  than  a  thousand  years'  standing,  on  Painting,  Writing,  Music, 
Engraving,  Archery,  Drawing,  and  kindred  subjects,  ought  surely  to 
secure  a  candid  examination  of  the  state  of  such  matters  among  them, 
before  subjecting  them  to  an  indiscriminate  condemnation.' 

Under  Repertories  of  Science  are  Cyclopaedias.  The 
most  remarkable  under  this  heading  is  that  prepared  by 
direction  of  the  second  Emperor  of  the  Ming  dynasty  ;  two 
thousand  two  hundred  scholars  were  employed  on  the  work, 
which  was  to  include  the  'substance  of  all  the  classical, 
historical,  philosophical,  and  literary  works  hitherto 
published,  embracing  astronomy,  geography,  the  occult 
sciences,  medicine,  Buddhism,  Taoism,  and  the  arts.'  It 
was  published  in  22,877  books,  and  the  table  of  contents 
filled  60  books.  Wholesale  selections  were  made  of  some 
books  ;  in  this  way  '  385  ancient  and  rare  works  have  been 
preserved,  which  would  otherwise  have  been  irrecoverably 
lost.' 

A  fine  specimen  of  the  voluminous  encyclopaedias  the 
Chinese  so  delight  in  is  to  be  found  in  the  British  Museum. 
It  consists  of  6,109  volumes.  The  Museum  authorities  have 
had  it  rebound  in  1,000  volumes,  which  require  ten  table- 
cases  to  accommodate  it. 

ESSAYISTS. — Works  of  fiction  are  despised,  as  a  rule,  by 
the  Chinese  literati,  but  they  form  a  most  interesting  and 
valuable  portion  of  the  vast  body  of  literature  which  has, 
for  more  than  twenty  centuries  past,  been  in  ever-increasing 
volume  seeing  the  light  of  day.  The  most  popular  is  the 

405 


Things  Chinese 

historical  romance.  '  The  San  Kwok  Chi,'  dealing  with  the 
period  from  A.D.  168  to  265.  The  plot  'is  wrought  out 
with  a  most  elaborate  complication  of  details/  it  abounds 
with  the  marvellous  and  supernatural,  and  is  laid  amidst 
the  stirring  scenes  after  the  fall  of  the  Han  dynasty.  '  The 
Dream  of  the  Red  Chamber'  is  another  popular  novel 
dealing  with  domestic  life,  but  not  moral  in  its  tone. 
Another  holding  the  highest  estimation,  in  the  opinion  of 
all  classes,  from  the  purity  of  its  style,  is  '  The  Pastimes  of 
the  Study,'  full  of  tales  of  wonder  and  mystery.  This  has 
been  translated  into  English  by  Prof.  Giles,  under  the  title 
'  Strange  Tales  from  a  Chinese  Studio,'  in  two  volumes. 
Chinese  novels  contain  much  that  would  be  considered 
tedious  by  an  English  reader.  Minute  details  are  entered 
into  about  the  characters  and  the  localities ;  trifling 
particulars  and  lengthy  conversations  are  given ;  long 
digressions,  prolix  descriptions,  and  sermonising  are  all 
indulged  in ;  but  the  '  authors  render  their  characters 
interesting  and  natural.'  The  characters  are  well  sustained 
at  times  ;  there  is,  of  course,  a  plot,  and  much  of  what  goes 
to  make  up  the  main  portion  of  a  tale  in  Western  lands  is 
also  introduced,  such  as  the  troubles  of  the  hero  and 
heroine,  complicated  by  the  evil  machinations  of  the 
villain,  and  all  the  accessories  of  plot  and  counterplot,  and 
at  last  the  grand  finale  arrives  in  a  happy  marriage.  All 
showing  that  human  nature  is  alike  the  wide  world  over, 
the  surroundings,  of  course,  having  an  Eastern  cast  in  the 
one  case.  There  is,  however,  a  large  class  of  this  literature 
which  cannot  be  commended. 

BUDDHIST  LITERATURE. — Buddhist  books  include 
many  translations  of  Buddhistic  works  from  the  Sanscrit,  as 
well  as  original  compositions. 

TAOIST  LITERATURE. — The  Tao  Teh  King  is  the  only 
work  known  to  be  produced  by  Lo-tsz.  The  aspect  of 
Taoism  has  changed  since  its  early  days  ;  its  votaries,  who 
believed  in  alchemy,  and  the  subduing  of  animal  propensities, 
have  been  succeeded  by  a  set  of  most  base  charlatans  (See 
Article  on  Taoism).  Books  dealing  with  the  gods  and 

406 


Literature 

genii  are  found  under  this  heading.  One  of  the  most 
popular  of  all  Taoist  works  is  '  The  Book  of  Recompenses 
and  Rewards '  (of  a  future  state),  which  has  gone  through 
innumerable  editions,  and  is  sometimes  issued  embellished 
with  anecdotes  and  illustrated  with  woodcuts.  It  is 
thought  a  great  act  of  merit  to  distribute  it. 

BELLES  LETTRES,  in  which  are  included  Polite  Litera- 
ture, Poetry,  and  Analytical  Works.  There  are  numbers 
of  divisions.  The  class  of '  Individual  Collections  '  deserves 
attention,  as  it  is  '  one  of  the  most  prolific  branches  of 
Chinese  literature,'  but  short-lived.  In  this  class  may  be 
noted  the  collections  of  the  two  celebrated  poets  of  the 
T'ang  and  Sung  dynasties,  Li  Tai-peh  and  Su  Tung-po, 
comprised  in  30  and  1 1 5  books,  and  that  of  the  celebrated 
historian  and  statesman  Sz-ma-Kwang  in  80  books.  Most 
of  the  emperors  of  the  present  dynasty  have  contributed 
their  share  to  this  branch  of  Chinese  literature. 

Under  the  heading  of  '  General  Collections  '  are  classed 
selections  of  choice  specimens  of  acknowledged  merit  from 
the  pens  of  various  authors.  One  of  '  the  greatest  enter- 
prises in  the  history  of  book-making'  may  be  noted  in  this 
connection  ;  it  saw  the  light  of  day  in  the  time  of  the  Sung 
dynasty,  and  consisted  of  1,000  volumes,  being  an  'ex- 
tensive collection  of  all  specimens  of  polite  literature  sub- 
sequent to  the  Liang  dynasty.  .  .  .  Nine-tenths  of  the 
whole  were  made  up  of  the  writings  of  the  T'ang  scholars.' 

RHYMES  AND  SONGS. — (See  Article  on  Poetry.) 

DRAMA. — The  Drama  is  not  included  in  native  book 
catalogues,  though  considerable  works  are  found  of  that 
nature.  It  was  developed  at  a  comparatively  late  date — 
the  latter  end  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  saw  its  origin.  It  con- 
tinued to  improve  until  the  time  of  the  Yuan  dynasty,  when 
the  best  collection  of  plays  was  published  as  '  The  Hundred 
Plays  of  the  Yuan  Dynasty.'  (See  Article  on  Theatre.) 

Professor  Douglas  thus  writes  of  Chinese  literature  as  a 
whole : — 

'  In  the  countless  volumes  which  have  appeared  and  are  appearing 
from  the  many  publishing  centres,  we  see  mirrored  the  temperament 

407 


Things  Chinese 

of  the  people,  their  excellences,  their  deficiencies,  and  their  peculi- 
arities. Abundant  evidence  is  to  be  found  of  their  activity  in  research 
and  diligence  in  compilation,  nor  are  signs  wanting  which  point  to  the 
absence  of  the  faculty  of  imagination,  and  to  an  inability  to  rise 
beyond  a  certain  degree  of  excellence  or  knowledge,  while  at  the 
same  time  we  have  seen  displayed  the  characteristics  both  of  matter 
and  manner,  which  most  highly  commend  themselves  to  the  national 
taste. 

'  As  a  consequence  of  the  very  unplastic  nature  of  the  language, 
there  is  wanting  in  the  literature  that  grace  of  diction  and  varying 
force  of  expression  which  are  found  in  languages  capable  of  inflection 
and  of  syntactical  motion.  The  stiff  angularity  of  the  written  language, 
composed  as  it  is  of  isolated,  unassimilating  characters,  robs  eloquence 
of  its  charm,  poetry  of  its  musical  rhythm,  and  works  of  fancy  of  half 
their  power ;  but  in  no  way  interferes  with  the  relation  of  facts,  nor 
the  statement  of  a  philosophical  argument. 

'And  hence  to  all  but  the  Chinese  mind,  which  knows  no  other 
model  of  excellence,  the  poetical  and  fanciful  works  of  Chinese  authors 
offer  fewer  attractions  than  their  writings  on  history,  science,  and 
philosophy.  Unlike  the  literatures  of  other  countries,  one  criticism 
applies  to  the  whole  career  of  Chinese  letters.  It  is  difficult  to 
imagine  a  nation  of  busy  writers  pursuing  a  course  of  literature  for 
more  than  3,000  years,  and  yet  failing  to  display  greater  progress  in 
thought  and  style  than  Chinese  authors  have  done.  That  their  works 
vary  in  quality,  no  one  who  has  read  two  Chinese  books  can  doubt  ; 
but  the  variations  are  within  limits,  and  .  .  .  the  width  of  thought  and 
power  of  expression  have  in  no  wise  increased,  at  least,  since  the 
revival  of  letters  under  the  Han  dynasty,  B.C.  2O6-A.D.  25.' 

It  is  unfortunate  that  many  of  the  finest  passages  of 
Chinese  literature  lose,  when  translated,  their  epigrammatic 
force,  the  play  of  words  loses  its  sparkle,  the  glittering 
poetry  is  transformed  into  prosy  periods,  and  what  is  full 
of  life  and  spirit  falls  flat  and  tame  on  the  foreign  ear. 
The  freshness  of  the  flowers  of  speech  is  gone  when  the 
ideas  of  the  original  are  plucked  and  transferred  into  the 
Englishman's  receptacle  of  thought.  In  other  words,  just 
as  the  Chinese  himself  looks  best  in  his  native  costume,  the 
thoughts  of  his  mind  appear  in  their  best  when  clothed  in 
his  native  language — the  foreign  dress  often  fits  them 
badly  ;  and,  in  short,  many  of  the  productions  of  a  Chinese 
pen  have  to  be  read  in  the  original,  if  the  reader  would 
appreciate  to  the  full  the  brilliancy  of  some  of  these  jewels 
of  the  first  water ;  for  not  a  few  stray  passages,  ripe  with 
the  love  of  the  beautiful,  are  to  be  found  scattered  through 
the  pages  of  Chinese  literature,  instinct  with  true  poetic 

408 


Literature 

genius — glowing  with  the  deep  feeling  caught  from  a  com- 
munion with  the  hills  and  mountains,  rivers,  streams 
and  babbling  brooks,  woods  and  forests,  sunshine  and 
storm,  in  solitudes  away  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men. 
These  ecstatic  raptures  of  the  true  child  of  nature  strike  a 
responsive  chord  in  the  breast  of  the  Western  barbarian. 
So  charming  are  they  in  their  simplicity,  so  in  unison 
with  every  touch  of  nature,  that  one  feels  that  the  ardent 
lovers  of  the  beauties  of  God's  beautiful  world  speak  but 
one  language,  equally  understood  by  all  who  have  revelled 
in  such  simple  delights,  and  that  there  is  no  place  round 
this  wide,  wide  world  '  where  their  voice  is  not  heard,' 
whether  it  be  in  the  confines  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  or  in 
what  was  the  Ultima  Thide  of  barbarism  when  man}-  of 
these  fine  passages  were  penned. 

It  is,  however,  in  comparison  either  with  the  literature 
of  other  Eastern  countries,  or  with  our  own  some  centuries 
since,  remembering  at  the  same  time  their  isolation  and 
the  want,  to  a  comparatively  great  extent,  of  the  vivifying 
influences  of  the  competition  of  other  countries  pursuing 
the  same  researches  and  branches  of  knowledge,  that  the 
most  just  view  can  be  taken  of  what  Chinese  literature  is 
as  a  whole.  With  the  patient  toil,  love  of  research,  and 
passionate  ardour  for  literary  pursuits,  it  is  an  interesting 
speculation  to  give  rein  to  one's  fancies — to  wonder,  in 
short,  what  would  have  been  the  result  had  the  Chinese 
possessed  all  the  advantages  we  have  been  blessed  with  in 
the  West,  instead  of  presenting  the  unique  spectacle  of  a 
nation  self-contained  and  self-sufficient  in  all  its  require- 
ments. The  few  chances  they  have  had  of  assistance  from 
the  West,  when  once  appreciated  (for  the  Chinese,  unlike 
the  Japanese,  are  slow  in  accepting  what  is  offered  to  them 
until  fully  proved  and  approved  of),  have  been  accepted  and 
made  good  use  of,  as  in  the  case  of  a  knowledge  of  Sanscrit 
introduced  by  the  Buddhist  priests,  and  more  lately  in  the 
introduction  of  Western  knowledge  and  science,  which  no 
doubt  is  destined  eventually  to  exercise  a  wonderful  effect. 
One  of  the  greatest  boons  that  can  be  conferred  on  this 

409 


Things  Chinese 

ancient  and  conservative  empire,  will  be  the  knowledge 
that  true  wisdom  consists  in  the  publication  of  books  in  the 
language  of  the  people,  and  not  in  the  book  style — a  style 
as  remote  from  that  of  the  former  almost  as  Latin  is  from 
that  of  English.  Then  knowledge  and  learning  will  be  the 
property  of  everyone  instead  of  being  confined  to  the 
lettered  masses. 

Books  recommended. — Prof.  H.  A.  Giles's  'Gems  of  Chinese  Literature,'  con- 
tains a  selection  from  all  times  and  classes.  '  Notes  on  Chinese  Literature,'  by 
the  late  Rev.  A.  Wylie,  LL.D.,  is  a  list  of  hundreds  of  Chinese  books,  classified 
according  to  their  subject  matter,  with  notes  of  great  interest  on  them,  and  a 
preface  giving  an  account  of  Chinese  literature.  We  cannot  give  a  list  here 
of  the  native  works  which  have  been  translated  into  English  and  the  other 
European  languages  :  they  are  legion. 

MALT  SWEETS  AND  OTHERS.— Malt  sweets 
are  made  by  soaking  grains  of  wheat  in  water  for  three  or 
four  days  (a  day  longer  is  required  in  winter  and  a  day 
shorter  in  summer)  until  they  send  out  sprouts  a  couple  of 
inches  long  or  so.  They  are  then  washed  in  water,  when 
the  husks  float  to  the  surface  and  are  thrown  away,  not  being 
wanted.  They  are  next  boiled  with  glutinous  rice  and  form 
a  sweetmeat  which  is  sold  in  little  black  pots.  The  Chinese 
are  very  fond  of  sweets,  and  candied  melon  rind,  cocoa-nut 
strips,  ginger,  and  many  other  kinds  of  sweetmeats  too 
numerous  to  mention. 

MANCHUS.  —  The  family  that  now  occupies  the 
throne  in  China  is  not  a  native  one,  but  one  of  Manchoo 
Tartars,  being  a  small  branch  of  the  Tungusic  nomads. 
Their  original  habitat  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Long  White  Mountain.  Transplanted  from  thence  by  the 
ambition  of  a  capable  leader,  they  have  flourished  in  the 
wider  area  of  China,  which  has  given  greater  scope  to  their 
abilities  than  the  narrow  confines  of  Manchuria. 

The  history  of  the  whole  of  the  region  is  a  long  one, 
and  is  blended  with  that  of  China  through  many  genera- 
tions and  dynasties. 

Repeated  waves  of  incursions  have  swept  into  the  North 
of  China,  or  beaten  against  its  borders  to  be  driven  back, 

410 


Manchus 

and,  losing  their  power  for  a  period,  have  finally  gathered 
strength  and  united  their  forces  for  another  effort  ;  this, 
perhaps,  proving  more  successful  than  the  last,  has  resulted 
in  a  partial  or  complete  sway  over  the  Middle  Kingdom, 
which  with  its  riches,  has  ever  proved  a  tempting  prey  for 
its  nomadic  neighbours. 

The  Manchoos  have  been  known  by  various  names  ;  in 
their  quiescent  periods  by  that  of  Sishun,  Sooshun,  or 
Niijin,  as  well  as  by  their  numerous  dynastic  titles  assumed 
when,  under  the  vigorous  guidance  of  a  skilful  chieftain, 
their  power  was  consolidated  and  a  simple  tribal  rule  was 
developed  into  that  of  an  incipient  state,  having  within  its 
comparatively  small  bounds  the  potentialities  of  mighty 
empires  and  kingdoms.  History  has  only  repeated  itself 
in  their  case,  as  in  that  of  many  others  ;  for  the  incursions 
of  the  Huns  are  only  the  movements  in  Europe  of  the 
same  species  of  tribes  who  originated  from  the  same 
neighbourhood,  and  who,  on  account  of  their  selection  of 
modern  Europe  as  their  stage  in  the  one  case,  brought 
themselves  more  prominently  before  the  eyes  of  the 
Western  historian  than  the  Manchu  Tartars  did  when  they 
overthrew  the  native  Chinese  dynasty  in  the  other  case. 
That  overrun  of  Europe  is  more  akin  to  the  partial 
conquest  of  China — that  part  of  it  lying  to  the  North  of 
the  Yellow  River — by  the  Niijin  or  Sooshun,  the  ancestors 
of  the  present  Manchus,  where  they  ruled  as  the  Kin 
dynasty  for  more  than  a  century,  A.D.  mS  to  1235, 
contemporaneously  with  a  native  dynasty  in  the  South  of 
China,  until  both  were  deposed  by  another  foreign  dynast}-, 
that  of  the  Mongols  under  Genghis  Khan. 

In  common  with  the  other  nomadic  neighbours  of  China 
on  her  Northern  frontier,  the  ancestors  of  the  Manchu 
Tartars  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  history  of  ancient 
China.  Wars,  intrigues,  subterfuges,  plots  and  counterplots, 
treachery,  cruelty,  and  lies,  fill  up  the  pages  of  this  history 
as  much  as  they  do  those  of  the  West,  and,  except  to  those 
specially  interested  in  such  incidents,  prove  but  dry  reading. 
The  Manchu  power  enlarged  its  realms,  swallowing  up 

411 


Things  Chinese 

neighbouring  states,  until  it  extended  between  the  Gulf  of 
Liau-tung  and  the  Amoor ;  and  Manchuria  was  more 
populous  than  at  any  subsequent  period,  though  the 
emigration  into  it  now  bids  fair  to  raise  it  to  an  equally 
populous  condition.  Nor  at  this  time  could  it  have  been 
in  a  low  state  of  civilisation,  as  we  are  told  that  '  learning 
flourished  and  literature  abounded.'  This  strong  and 
extensive  kingdom  was  battered  to  pieces  by  the  Khitans  ; 
and  broke  up  into  a  number  of  small  independent  clans 
under  separate  chieftains,  which,  it  would  appear,  relapsed 
again  into  a  nomadic,  rude,  and  primitive  style  of  life. 
Consolidating  again  under  the  name  of  Nujin,  they 
commenced  activity  once  more  and  became  a  force  and 
factor  in  the  ceaseless  wars  with,  and  against,  the  divided 
states  of  China,  as  well  as  the  neighbouring  kingdoms.  In 
passing,  we  may  notice  that  such  seems  to  be  the  history  of 
all  the  Mongolic  tribes,  viz. :  first,  a  nomadic,  primitive  state, 
followed  by  increase  of  numbers  and  power,  and  a  settled 
and  highly  civilised  condition,  to  be  followed,  on  final  defeat 
and  overthrow,  by  an  abandonment  of  literature,  cities,  and 
agriculture,  and  a  return  to  the  primitive  nomadic  condition. 

But  to  return  to  the  Nujin,  who  were  rapidly  developing 
into  the  second  condition  when  their  chief  took  the  word 
Gold,  Kin,  for  the  title  of  his  dynasty  in  contradistinction 
to  that  of  the  Liao,  or  Iron  dynasty,  that  of  the  Khitans  or 
Mongols,  then  ruling  in  Northern  China,  and  whom  he  had 
defeated  in  battle,  '  for  iron,  if  strong,  rusted  ;  while  gold 
always  remained  bright.' 

By  the  combination  of  the  Sung  and  the  Kin,  the  Liao 
dynasty  was  driven  from  the  throne  out  of  Northern  China, 
and  the  Kin  substituted  for  it.  The  Yellow  River  had 
been  the  boundary  between  the  Liao  and  Sung,  whereas  the 
Yang-tsz  was  the  boundary  between  the  Kin  and  the 
Southern  Sung,  which  succeeded  the  broken-down  Sung. 
The  Amoor  was  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Kin.  They 
'established  themselves  at  Peking  in  A.D.  1118,  whence 
they  were  driven,  in  A.D.  1235,  by  Genghis  Khan,  and 
fled  back  to  the  ancestral  haunts,  on  the  Songari  and  Liau 

412 


Manchu  Language 

Rivers.'  Their  modern  descendants,  after  some  centuries, 
again  established  themselves  at  Peking,  and  have  reigned 
longer  than  their  ancestors — from  A.I).  1644  to  the 
present  day — and  over  a  larger  extent  of  country,  for  the 
whole  of  the  China  of  the  present  day  is  subject  to  them. 
We  refer  our  readers  to  our  article  on  History,  where, 
under  the  T'sing,  or  Ch'ing  dynasty,  the  name  they  have 
elected  to  rule  under,  some  short  account  will  be  found 
of  their  doings. 

Amongst  the  modern  Manchus,  Buddhism  is  in  vogue, 
and  spiritualism  is  believed  in — in  the  shape  of  the  fox,  the 
stoat,  or  the  tiger.  They  seem  more  religiously  disposed 
than  the  Chinese,  and  Christian  missions  have  also  met 
with  success  amongst  them.  They  are  not  so  opposed  to 
Western  innovations  as  the  Chinese. 

Their  peaceful  life  and  dependence  upon  charity  has 
eaten  much  of  the  hardihood  and  bravery  out  of  the  men 
as  a  nation ;  but  the  rulers  are  still  able  men.  They  do 
not  bind  the  feet  of  the  women. 

Books  recommended. — A  series  of  articles  appeared  in  The  PJm'ni.r,  for 
1871,  entitled  'The  Origin  of  the  Manchus,'  by  H.  H.  Howarth.  'History 
of  Oorea,'  by  Rev.  J.  Ross,  contains  a  good  deal  about  the  early  history  of  the 
Manchus  ;  and  the  'Manchus  or  the  Reigning  Dynasty  of  China,'  by  the  same, 
author,  gives  a  full  account  of  their  modern  history.  The  same  author  has 
written  a  short  essay  on  them  entitled  'The  Manchus,'  published  in  the 
'Records  of  the  Missionary  Conference  held  at  Shanghai,  1890,'  'The 
Manchns  in  China,'  in  China  Review,  vol.  XT.  p.  263,  by  E.  H.  Parker. 

MANCHU  LANGUAGE.— The  Manchu  language 
belongs  to  the  Turanian  stock  of  languages,  is  entirely 
unlike  Chinese,  and  is  polysyllabic.  It  has  been  inferred 
that  all  the  languages  of  Mongolia,  Manchuria,  and  Corea, 
were  originally  one  language — at  all  events  they  were 
polysyllabic  2,000  years  ago.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
this  language  then  boasts  of  a  considerable  antiquity  ;  but 
knots  in  strings,  notches  in  sticks,  and  such  like  devices  of 
unlettered  people  were  the  only  means  of  record.  When  a 
pressing  need  of  a  more  intelligible  mode  of  perpetuating 
their  speech  by  visible  signs  was  felt,  the  Manchus,  in  the 
time  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  turned  to  the  Chinese  and 

413 


Things  Chinese 

studied  Chinese  letters  and  literature ;  a  desire  to  have  a 
writing  of  their  own  arose  amongst  them,  the  Khitanes 
being  the  first  to  adopt  some  of  the  Chinese  characters  to 
stand  for  the  syllables  of  their  own  language.  This  was  in 
A.D.  920.  Two  kinds  of  characters  were  employed,  but, 
though  it  is  not  a  thousand  years  ago,  not  a  trace  of  them, 
as  far  as  is  known,  has  been  left  behind. 

It  would  appear,  however,  that  the  Khitans  only 
perfected  former  attempts  made  by  others.  The  ancestors 
of  the  present  Manchus  used  both  this  Khitan  and  Chinese 
writing,  but,  after  conquering  half  of  the  Khitan  empire,  the 
Emperor  ordered  a  new  style  of  writing  to  be  devised,  and, 
pretty  much  in  the  same  way  as  before,  parts  of  Chinese 
characters  were  used  to  express  the  sounds.  In  A.D.  1119 
and  1135,  two  different  styles  were  invented,  and,  as  with 
the  Khitans'  former  essay,  were  extensively  used.  This 
second  written  language  was  again  forgotten  and  disused  ; 
and  the  modern  Manchus  only  learned  from  Chinese  history 
that  their  ancestors  possessed  a  written  language  of  their 
own.  Unfortunately  it  also  appears  to  be  irretrievably  lost. 
These  two  written  languages  were  written  horizontally. 
The  Mongols,  successors  of  these  ancient  Manchus 
(Churchens  or  Niichen),  used  Uigur  writing  for  governmental 
matters,  which  is  very  like  the  ancient  Syriac,  or  Sabaean 
(whether  it  was  introduced  to  this  part  of  the  world  by  the 
Nestorian  missionaries  [See  Article  on  Missions],  or  earlier, 
is  not  known) ;  and  the  Churchens  or  Manchus,  who  were 
subject  to  the  Mongols,  used  this  Uigur  writing.  They 
also  used  the  Mongol  language  until  the  foundations  of  the 
Manchu  empire  were  laid,  when  they  discarded  it,  still  using 
the  Mongol  alphabet  to  write  the  Manchu  language  ;  but 
when  many  Chinese  works  had  been  translated  into  Manchu, 
it  was  found  that  it,  the  Mongol  alphabet,  was  not  a  suitable 
medium  to  employ  in  writing  Manchu.  Improvements 
were  then  introduced,  by  which  the  '  Manchu  writing 
acquired  an  alphabet  distinct  from  Mongol  ;  and,  although 
for  two  hundred  years  no  further  radical  changes  have  been 
introduced,  it  has  during  that  time,  in  the  course  of  long 

414 


Manchu  Language 

and  extensive  use,  developed  a  roundness,  elegance,  and 
grace  which  still  further  distinguish  it  from  its  rude  parent.' 
The  alphabet  is  syllabic.  There  are  six  or  eight  vowels, 
eighteen  consonants,  and  ten  marks  used  in  rendering 
Chinese  syllables  into  Manchu.  Modern  Manchu  is  like 
Chinese,  written  in  vertical  columns. 

Every  effort  was  made  by  the  Manchu  Government  to 
foster  the  acquisition  of  their  own  language  by  Manchus  : 
books  were  translated  from  the  Chinese,  for  they  had 
no  literature  of  their  own,  and  every  means  taken  to  make 
the  Manchus  a  literary  race,  but  all  to  no  purpose,  for  the 
conquered  race,  the  Chinese,  have  vanquished  their 
conquerors.  Though  numbering  five  millions  in  1848, 
they  live  scattered  in  garrisons  amongst  the  Chinese,  and 
having  to  learn  Chinese,  and  possessing  no  indigenous 
native  literature,  they  have  turned  to  Chinese  books. 
'  There  exist  in  all  about  250  works  in  Manchu,  nearly  all 
of  which  are  translations  from  the  Classics,  some  historical 
and  metaphysical  works,  literary  essays,  collections  of 
famous  writers,  novels,  poetry,  laws  and  regulations, 
Imperial  edicts,  dictionaries,  phrase-books,  etc.  Most  of 
these  translations  are  excellent,  but  they  are  all  literal.' 
Not  only  with  the  common  people,  but  with  the  Manchu 
Government  itself,  Chinese  was  of  more  importance,  for 
what  are  five  millions  of  people  compared  with  three  or 
four  hundred  millions  ;  so  the  consequence  has  been  that 
Manchu  is  being  rapidly  forgotten,  and  is  becoming  an 
extinct  language  in  China,  though  probably  spoken  in  the 
wilds  of  Manchuria. 

Books  recommended. — 'History  of  the  Manchu  Language,  from  the 
Preface  to  Professor  I.  Zacharoff's  Manchu-Russian  Dictionary,  1875, 
translated  from  the  Russian  by  M.  F.  A.  Fraser,'  being  two  articles  in  the 
March  and  April,  1891,  numbers  of  The  Chinese  Recorder,  'Essay  on 
Manchu  Literature,'  in  'Journal  of  China  Br.  of  R.A.S.'  vol.  xxiv.  (18f»0) 
pp.  1-45.  'Translation  of  the  T'sing  Wen  K'eung:  a  Chinese  Grammar  of 
the  Manchu  Tartar  Language,  with  Introductory  Notes  on  Manchu  Literature,' 
by  the  late  A.  Wylie,  Esq.,  LL.D.  'A  Manchu  Grammar  with  Analysed 
Texts,'  by  P.  G.  von  Mollendortf.  In  an  Appendix  at  the  end  of  the  "last 
work,  is  a  list  of  the  principal  European  works  for  the  study  of  Manchu.  A 
Romanized  Manchu  Translation  of  the  '  Tao  Teh  King '  appears  in  some  of  the 
last  numbers  of  the  China  Review. 

415 


Things  Chinese 

MANDARIN. — The  nomenclature  applied  to  certain 
things  Chinese  has  cast  a  glamour  round  them  which  a 
simpler  naming  would  have  avoided.  A  case  in  point  is 
the  term  mandarin  :  with  the  rhythmic  flow  of  this  word 
and  with  its  foreign  flavour,  a  certain  soup^on  of  the  poetic 
and  the  mysterious  is  imported  into  it,  so  that  the  distant 
Westerner  is  apt,  when  reading  about  mandarins,  to  picture 
in  his  mind's  eye  some  highly  exalted  and  privileged 
class,  the  members  of  which  are  born  to  the  purple,  and 
dwell  amidst  halls  of  pleasure  surrounded  by  affluence  and 
luxury  and  ministered  to  by  the  poor  down-trodden  popu- 
lace. A  better  appreciation  of  what  mandarin  means 
would  doubtless  have  resulted  had  the  terms  used  been 
officers  of  governments,  or  civil  and  military  officials. 

The  method  by  which  the  ranks  of  the  civil  and 
military  services  are  recruited,  and  some  details  about 
them,  will  be  found  in  our  articles  on  Army,  Examinations, 
Government,  and  Navy. 

The  word  mandarin  is  derived  from  the  Portuguese 
mandar,  to  command.  The  term  mandarin  is  only  applied 
to  such  officials  as  are  called  kwun  (kwoon)  by  the  Chinese, 
and  not  to  the  subordinate  class  of  officials.  In  other 
words,  it  is  restricted  in  its  application  to  those  officials 
who  are  entitled  to  wear  a  button.  There  are  nine  ranks 
of  such  officials,  the  buttons  which  distinguish  them  are  as 
follows  : — for  the  first  and  second  ranks,  a  transparent  and 
opaque  (ruby  and  coral)  red  button  respectively ;  for  the 
third  and  fourth,  a  transparent  and  opaque  blue  (sapphire 
and  lapis  lazuli)  button  respectively ;  for  the  fifth  and 
sixth,  a  transparent  and  opaque  white  (crystal  and  stone) 
button  respectively  ;  for  the  seventh,  a  plain  gold  one  ;  and 
for  the  eighth  and  ninth,  a  worked  gold  one. 

These  buttons,  as  they  have  been  called  in  English,  are 
commonly  of  a  round  shape,  about  an  inch  in  diameter, 
and  form  a  knob  on  the  apex  of  the  conical-shaped  official, 
or  dress,  hat. 

The  different  grades  of  civil  and  military  officials  also 
wear,  as  insignia  of  their  rank,  certain  birds  (in  the  case  of 

416 


Mangrove 

those  in  the  Civil  Service)  and  certain  animals  (in  the  case 
of  those  in  the  Army  and  Navy),  embroidered  in  a  large 
square,  of  about  a  foot  in  size  in  its  two  dimensions,  on 
the  breast  and  back  of  their  robes,  as  well  as  girdle  clasps 
of  different  materials — both  branches  of  the  service  using 
the  same.  The  following  is  a  list  of  these  insignia  : — 

CIVIL.  ARMY  &  NAVY.  GIRDLE  CLASPS. 

ist  rank  Manchurian  crane.        Unicorn.  Jade  set  in  rubies. 

2nd    „    Golden  pheasant.  Lion  of  India.     Gold  set  in  rubies. 

3rd     „    Peacock.  Leopard.  Worked  gold. 

4th     „    Wild  Goose.  Tiger.  Worked     gold     with 

silver  button. 

5th    „    Silver  pheasant.  Bear.  Worked     gold     with 

plain  silver  button. 

6th    „    Egret.  Tiger-cat.  Mother-of-pearl. 

7th    „    Mandarin  duck.  Mottled  bear.      Silver. 

8th    „    Quail.  Seal.  Clear  horn. 

9th    „    Long-tailed  jay.  Rhinoceros.         Buffalo's  horn. 

Mandarin,  when  applied  to  language,  refers  to  the 
lingua  Franca  in  use  throughout  China  in  official  inter- 
course and  in  Courts  of  Justice  ;  it  is  very  poorly  spoken 
by  many,  being  mixed  up  with  localisms  ;  it  is  also  the 
speech,  in  its  various  dialects,  in  considerable  parts  of 
China.  (See  Article  on  Dialects.) 

The  word  mandarin  has  also  been  used,  by  foreigners 
in  China,  to  distinguish  a  lovely  species  of  duck  of  beauti- 
ful plumage — the  mandarin  duck  (anas  galericulald),  which 
is  an  emblem  of  conjugal  fidelity  with  the  natives.  For  the 
same  reason  probably,  that  of  superiority  over  others,  it 
has  also  been  used  to  designate  a  species  of  orange,  the 
mandarin  orange.  (See  Article  on  Fruit.) 

MANGROVE. — The  mangrove  is  found  growing 
largely  near  Swatow,  and  it  grows  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Island  of  Hongkong,  near  Aberdeen.  The  following 
account  of  mangroves  in  Sierra  Leone  will  show  the  work 
Nature  has  designed  this  shrub  for  : — 

'  Mr.  Scott  Elliot  states  that  the  effect  of  the  mangroves  in  creating 
alluvial  soil  could  be  very  clearly  seen  at  Mahela  and  in  the 
Samu  country  generally.  Mangrove  trees  seem,  in  fact,  he  says,  to 
have  been  designed  by  Nature  to  change  any  bay  or  indentation  of  the 

417  2   D 


Things  Chinese 

coast-line  into  fertile  soil.  As  the  level  of  the  ground  gradually  rises 
above  high  tide,  the  mangroves,  which  require  a  constant  supply  of 
brackish  water,  die  off,  and  the  whole  grove  advances  seaward, 
leaving  behind  it  a  mass  of  rich,  vegetable,  alluvial  mud,  better  suited 
for  rice  than  probably  any  other  soil  in  existence.' 

The  above  rapid  growth  of  soil  by  their  means  is  what 
follows  apparently  under  the  most  favourable  conditions. 

Mangrove  bark  is  used  for  dyeing  the  fishermen's  nets  in 
the  South  of  China  a  ruddy  brown  to  preserve  them. 

MAPS. — The  purely  native  maps  of  China  are  most 
curious  productions.      The   eighteen    provinces  are  com- 
pressed into  an  oblong  shape  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
the   map.      Double   lines    mark    the    boundaries    of    the 
provinces    where   not    otherwise    divided   by   the    rivers. 
These  latter  are  represented  by  broad,  wavy  meandering 
masses,  joining   and    separating   in    a    most   wonderfully 
mysterious   manner,   one   of  the  junctions  being  due,  no 
doubt,   to   a   desire  to   represent  the  Grand  Canal.     The 
Great  Wall  runs  across  the  top  of  the  map,  being  represented 
by  an  immense  battlemented  structure  an  inch  in  height. 
The  other  three  sides  of  the  map  are  nearly  surrounded  by 
water    represented    by   tumultuous  waves.     On    the   east 
is  the  source  of  the  Yellow  River,  from  which  the  Yangtsz 
seems   to  rise   in    the   Sea   of  Stars   and    Constellations. 
Cartouche-like   frames  of  different    patterns   contain    the 
names  of  principal   places.     For  foreign   countries   these 
names  are  found  placed  in  the  seas  surrounding  China.     In 
a  series  extending  down  the  east  coast  and  close  to  the 
land  are  thus  arranged  the  names  of  Corea,  the  strange 
Fu-song,  Japan,  the  Great  Loo-Choo,  the  Little  Loo-Choo, 
and  other  names.     To  the  south  are  Portugal,  Annam,  and 
other  countries.     There  is  a  want  of  exactitude  even  in  the 
position    of    places    in    China    itself ;    for   instance,    the 
celebrated  L6  Fau  Mountains  are  put  up  at  the  north  of 
the  Canton  Province.     With  the  exception  of  these  noted 
mountains  in  this  province,  the  whole  country  might  be  a 
level  plain  instead  of  diversified  with  numerous  ranges  of 
towering  hills   and  rugged    mountainous   ramparts.     The 

418 


Marriage 

same  is  true  of  other  provinces  for  one  height  a  piece, 
occasionally  varied,  is  the  quantum  sufficit  of  the  carto- 
grapher, and  he  is  quite  content  with  two  or  three  in  some 
of  the  provinces.  To  make  up  for  this,  a  mountain  range 
is  depicted  at  the  very  top  of  the  map,  and  another  shares 
with  the  seas  a  place  at  the  bottom.  This  geographer  has 
been  content  with  filling  up  the  provinces  with  the  names 
of  Prefectures  and  Districts. 

The  Jesuits,  some  three  centuries  ago,  were  employed 
by  the  Chinese  Emperor  in  trigonometrical  surveys  and 
the  construction  of  maps  of  the  different  provinces  of  the 
empire. 

Of  recent  years  numbers  of  maps  have  been  made  by 
foreigners  of  the  whole  Empire  of  China,  and  numerous 
ones  of  districts  where  they  have  settled,  or  travelled,  or 
of  rivers  which  they  have  ascended,  or  descended. 

MARRIAGE. — Marriage  is  the  one  end  and  aim  set 
forth  for  a  girl  :  this  is  the  goal  to  which  she  is  taught  to 
look  forward,  or  to  which  her  parents  look  forward  for  her, 
for  it  matters  little  about  the  girl  herself.  She  is  almost  a 
nonentity  in  the  matter :  her  wishes  are  not  consulted  ;  she 
has  often  never  seen  her  future  husband  ;  she  is  even  some- 
times hypothetically  betrothed  to  a  contingent  husband, 
that  is  to  say,  two  married  couples  agree  that  if  one  should 
have  a  son  and  the  other  a  daughter,  they  shall  be  married 
when  they  grow  up.  From  the  last,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  man  is  not  much  better  off  than  the  woman  in  these 
matters.  Sometimes  in  the  Swatow  district,  two  families 
change  girls  in  order  that  when  grown-up  they  may  be 
daughters-in-law  in  the  respective  families  which  have 
adopted  them  in  this  way.  A  great  advantage  in  this 
method  is  its  economy.  It  is  not  the  parties  themselves 
that  are  considered  so  much — for  the  individual  is  nothing 
in  China — it  is  the  respective  families  that  are  taken  into 
account.  A  man  in  China  does  not  marry  so  much  for  his 
own  benefit  as  for  that  of  the  family  :  to  continue  the 
family  name ;  to  provide  descendants  to  keep  up  the 

419 


Things  Chinese 

ancestral  worship  ;  and  to  give  a  daughter-in-law  to  his 
mother  to  wait  on  her  and  be,  in  general,  a  daughter  to  her. 
So  far  are  these  ideas  carried  that  if  her  future  husband  die 
before  marriage,  his  intended  wife,  if  a  model  girl,  will  leave 
her  own  family  and  go  and  live  with  that  of  her  deceased 
betrothed,  and  perform  all  the  services  which  her  position 
then  requires  of  her. 

Nearly  all  the  fun  of  life,  and  very  little  she  has  at  the 
best,  is  gone  as  soon  as  a  girl  is  engaged.  She  retires  into 
a  stricter  seclusion  than  ever,  and  has  to  be  very  circumspect 
in  her  intercourse  even  with  her  own  brothers.  It  would 
not  be  human  nature  if  she  did  not  manage  sometimes  to 
get  a  glance  at  her  future  husband,  that  is  to  say,  it  is  not 
always  impossible  for  her  to  see  him  ;  but  as  to  love-making, 
the  prudery  of  Confucianism,  and  social  customs  and  usages 
utterly  forbid  such  a  thing  :  it  is  highly  immoral. 

The  marriage  customs  vary  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  but  the  essential  ceremonials  preliminary  to,  and 
connected  with,  marriage  are  six  ;  and  even  the  details  of 
these  vary  greatly.  (See  Article  on  Betrothal.) 

All  having  been  satisfactorily  arranged,  and  the  money 
agreed  upon  in  the  contract  having  been  paid  to  the  girl's 
father,  the  final  ceremonial  which  hands  her  over  to  her 
husband  is  performed.  She  is  dressed  in  her  best,  and, 
when  the  procession  comes  for  her,  is  placed  in  the  grand, 
red,  marriage  sedan-chair,  in  which  she  never  rides  again. 
This  chair  is  a  heavy  cumbrous  article  of  wood,  highly 
ornamented  with  carving  and  kingfishers'  feathers  ;  the 
bride  inside  is  completely  secluded  from  profane  gaze,  and 
on  a  hot  summer's  day  the  position  cannot  be  an  enviable 
one,  though  a  Chinese  girl  probably  stands  it  better  than  an 
English  girl  (so  accustomed  to  fresh  air  and  freedom  of 
motion)  would  ;  but  even  for  Chinese  girls  the  ordeal  is 
sometimes  greater  than  they  can  bear,  and  when  the 
bridegroom  opens  the  door,  it  is  sometimes  found  that  the 
poor  little  bride  has  escaped  from  all  the  future  troubles  of 
married  life.  At  times  the  wedding  chair  has  to  cross  a 
river  on  its  route,  and  woe  betide  the  girl  if  the  heavy  chair 

420 


Marriage 

causes  the  cranky  boat  to  capsize.  Should  the  bride-elect 
die  before  her  marriage,  the  future  husband  marries  his 
dead  bride ;  but  as  the  Chinese  customs  with  regard  to 
men  are  different  from  those  with  regard  to  women,  he 
is  free  to  marry  again.  The  young  lady  does  not 
name  the  day,  as  with  us,  but  the  father  of  the  bride- 
groom does  that, 

Her  trousseau  is  sent  to  her  future  home  before  her 
marriage,  and  is  made  the  occasion  for  a  procession,  the 
bearers  of  the  various  objects  being  clad  in  red  jackets,  and 
parading  through  the  streets.  For  some  days  preceding 
the  wedding,  the  girl,  with  her  sisters  and  friends, '  bewails 
and  laments  her  intended  removal  from  the  home  of  her 
fathers.'  The  bridal  chair,  which  we  have  already  men- 
tioned, is  carried  last  in  the  wedding  procession  ;  many 
carved  wooden  pavilions  (carved,  open,  wooden  stands 
with,  or  without,  covers  over  them,  as  the  case  may  be) 
with  sweetmeats,  and  the  inevitable  music,  lanterns,  and 
other  objects  which  go  to  make  up  a  Chinese  procession 
are  not  absent.  It  wends  its  way  to  the  bride's  home, 
where  the  friend  of  the  bridegroom  presents  a  letter  to  her, 
written  on  red  paper  tinged  with  gold,  urging  the  bride  to 
come.  This  letter  is  carefully  kept  by  the  bride,  and  is 
somewhat  the  equivalent  of  '  marriage  lines '  in  England. 
After  certain  ceremonials  are  gone  through,  the  bride 
makes  her  appearance,  but  her  features  are  concealed 
effectually,  not  by  a  white  veil  (white  is  mourning),  but  by 
a  piece  of  red  silk.  After  saluting  the  friend  of  the 
bridegroom,  she  enters  the  chair  and  is  borne  with  the 
clashing  of  gongs  and  the  playing  of  the  Chinese  Wedding 
March  to  the  bridegroom's  house.  Preceding  her  are  the 
only  equivalents  of  bridesmaids,  female  attendants  ;  and 
her  younger  brother  follows  in  an  ordinary  chair.  Arrived 
at  her  future  home,  the  chair  is  set  down.  The  bride- 
groom is  at  the  door  with  his  fan,  with  which  he 
knocks  at  the  door  of  the  chair,  which  the  bridesmaids 
open,  and  the  red-veiled  bride,  still  with  face  unseen, 
steps  out. 

421 


Things  Chinese 

'  She  is  placed  on  the  back  of  a  female  servant,  and  carried  over  a 
slow  charcoal  fire.  .  .  .  Above  her  head,  as  she  is  conveyed  over 
the  charcoal  fire,  another  female  servant  raises  a  tray  containing 
several  pairs  of  chop-sticks,  some  rice,  and  betel-nuts.  By  this  time 
the  bridegroom  has  taken  his  place  on  a  high  stool,  on  which  he 
stands  to  receive  his  bride,  who  prostrates  herself  at  the  foot,  and  does 
obeisance  to  her  lord.  This  high  stool  is  intended  to  indicate  the 
great  superiority  of  the  husband  over  the  wife.  .  .  .  Descending  from 
his  elevated  position,  the  bridegroom  removes  the  veil  of  red  silk. 
Now  for  the  first  time  he  catches  a  glimpse  of  his  wife's  face.  It  is 
still,  however,  more  or  less  hidden  by  the  strings  of  pearls  which  hang 
from  her  bridal  coronet.  The  bridal  pair  are  conducted  to  the 
ancestral  hall,  where  they  prostrate  themselves  before  the  altar  on 
which  the  ancestral  tablets  are  arranged.  Heaven  and  Earth,  and 
the  gods  of  the  principal  doors  of  the  house,  and  the  parents  of  the 
bride  are  the  next  objects  of  their  worship.  A  further  act  of  homage, 
which  consists  in  pouring  out  drink-offerings  to  the  ancestors  of  the 
family,  having  been  duly  performed  by  the  bridegroom  only,  the 
happy  couple  are  escorted  to  the  bridal  chamber,  where  they  find 
the  orange-tree  with  its  strings  of  cash,  emblems  of  fruitfulness  and 
wealth,  and  the  burning  tapers,  which  formed  a  part  of  the  procession, 
placed  on  the  nuptial  couch.  From  the  top  of  the  bed  are  suspended 
three  long  strips  of  red  paper,'  containing  good  wishes  :  one  being, 
'  May  you  have  a  hundred  sons  and  a  thousand  grandsons.'  '  The 
bridegroom  having  now  saluted  the  bride,  they  sit  down  and  partake 
of  tea  and  cake.'  The  bride  tries  hard  at  this  time  to  get  a  piece  of 
her  husband's  dress  under  her  when  she  sits  down,  for,  if  she  does,  it 
will  ensure  her  having  the  upper  hand  of  him,  while  he  tries  to  prevent 
her  and  to  do  the  same  himself  with  her  dress.  The  strings  of  pearls 
on  her  coronet  are  now  '  drawn  aside  by  the  maids  in  attendance, 
in  order  that  the  bridegroom  may  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
features  of  his  bride,  who,  that  he  may  receive  a  correct  impression  of 
them,  has  carefully  omitted  the  use  of  rouge  in  her  toilet  operations. 
.  .  .  While  the  bridal  pair  are  thus  engaged,  many  of  the 
relatives  and  friends  assembled  to  celebrate  the  wedding,  enter 
the  chamber,  and  freely  remark  on  the  personal  appearance  of  the 
bride.'  This  must  be  a  trying  ordeal  to  a  modest  retiring  girl,  as  the 
observations  are  loud  enough  for  all  to  hear.  Her  new  relatives  and 
friends  wish  her  many  children  ;  and  the  bridegroom  soon  leaves  her 
to  mix  with  his  guests.  'At  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  a  banquet 
in  honour  of  her  parents-in-law  is  prepared  by  the  bride.  When  all 
things  are  ready,  the  parents  enter  the  banqueting-hall,  where  the 
bride,  after  bringing  the  principal  dish,  or  caput  ca'num,  from  the 
kitchen  and  placing  it  on  the  table  with  her  own  hands,  assumes  the 
position  of  a  waiting-maid.  Filling  the  cup  of  her  father-in-law  with 
wine,  she  presents  it  to  him  with  both  hands,  and  whilst  he  is 
drinking  the  contents,  she  kneels  at  his  feet  and  twice  knocks  her 
head  upon  the  ground.  To  her  mother-in-law,  whose  cup  she  now 
fills,  she  is  equally  reverential.  The  banquet  over,  and  the  parents- 
in-law  having  washed  their  hands,  the  bride  is  called  upon  to  partake 
of  a  repast.  On  a  table  which  her  father-in-law  orders  the  servant  to 
place  at  the  top  of  the  steps  by  which  the  dining-hall  is  approached, 
various  viands  are  set,  and  she  is  invited  to  occupy  a  chair  on  the 

422 


Marriage 

east  side  of  the  table.  Her  mother-in-law  fills  a  cup  of  wine  and 
presents  it  to  her.  Before  receiving  it,  however,  she  rises  from  her 
chair,  and  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  her  mother-in-law,  does  obeisance  by 
twice  knocking  her  head  upon  the  ground.  ...  In  some  of  the 
districts  round  Canton  it  is  not  unusual  for  the  bride  to  be  kept  up 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  night,'  answering  riddles  put  to  her 
generally  by  the  bridegroom's  relatives  and  friends.  The  gentlemen 
sometimes  get  drunk,  and  disturbances  arise. 

It  only  remains  to  be  said  that  on  the  third  day  the 
ancestors  are  worshipped  again,  and  a  visit  is  paid  by  the 
young  lady  to  her  own  father  and  mother,  the  bridegroom 
also  paying  a  visit  on  the  same  day.  On  the  evening  of 
the  fourth  day,  there  is  a  dinner  party  for  the  friends  of  the 
newly-married  couple,  women  and  men  eating  separately 
— the  bride  and  bridegroom  waiting  on  their  guests.  This 
is  a  brief  account  of  some  of  the  ceremonials  attendant  on 
weddings  in  Canton.  The  boat  people  have  different 
customs,  and  each  district  of  country  differs  more  or  less 
in  these  matters. 

In  Swatow  the  bride  does  not  ride  in  a  red  wedding- 
chair  like  the  Cantonese  bride.  The  chair  is  not  made  of 
wood,  as  it  is  in  Canton,  nor  is  the  bride  fastened  up  in  it ; 
red  cloth  hangings  are  put  over  the  chair  and  it  is  a  larger 
one  than  the  one  in  common  use,  being  like  an  official 
chair.  A  catty  or  two  of  raw  pork  is  hung  by  a  string 
outside  the  door  of  the  sedan  chair.  When  she  arrives  at 
the  bridegroom's  house  she  steps  over  a  flare-up  fire  on  the 
ground,  made  by  burning  a  few  whisps  of  dry  grass.  The 
idea  is  said  to  be  to  purify  the  bride  from  the  contamination 
of  any  devils  or  other  dangers  that  she  may  have  come 
across  on  the  road.  The  bride  does  not  return  to  visit  her 
parents  on  the  third  day  after  marriage,  but  four  months 
after.  On  the  third  day  after  marriage,  the  Swatow  bride 
receives  a  visit  from  her  younger  brother  or  from  some 
boy  in  the  neighbourhood  of  her  parents'  house  in  case 
she  has  no  younger  brother.  This  younger  brother  or  boy 
brings  a  little  pea-nut  oil  for  lights  (lamps).  The  Swatow 
bride  goes  to  worship  at  the  Ancestral  Hall,  on  the  I5th  of 
the  ist  moon,  for  the  first  three  years  after  her  marriage 
(a  woman  is  a  bride  for  three  years) ;  men  as  well  as 


Things  Chinese 

women,  strangers  as  well  as  those  who  know  her,  are  all 
free  to  go  and  have  a  look  at  her.  Most  of  those  who  go, 
go  in  the  first  year.  At  such  a  time  she  gives  loose- 
skinned  oranges  to  the  children  to  eat,  and  to  the 
grown-up  people  she  offers  tea ;  while  the  married 
people  give  presents  of  cash  or  silver  in  red  paper  parcels' 
to  her. 

A  curious  marriage  custom  prevails  in  the  province 
of  Yunnan.  Chinese  call  it  the  woman  marrying  the 
man.  It  has  been  described  by  a  traveller  as  follows : — 

'  The  ceremonies  attending  this  kind  of  marriage  are  on  a  smaller 
scale  than  those  observed  in  the  case  of  ordinary  marriages,  and 
consist  principally,  in  the  man  coming  to  the  woman's  house,  where 
she  has  her  family  and  friends  gathered  for  the  occasion.  The  door 
is  shut  and  the  man  must  knock.  His  intended  then  asks  who  is 
there,  in  reply  to  which  he  gives  his  name  and  particulars.  She 
then  asks  him  if  he  wishes  to  come  to  her  house  and  stop  with  her,  to 
which  he  replies  that  he  will  come  and  live  with  her  in  good  partner- 
ship. The  door  is  then  opened,  the  man  is  admitted,  and  the  festivities 
commence.  The  wife,  by  marrying  a  man  in  this  way,  agrees  to  keep 
her  husband  in  everything,  but  contracts  no  other  obligation  towards 
him.  It  is  her  house,  and  she  may  do  in  it  as  she  likes.  On  the  other 
hand,  as  long  as  the  husband  stops  at  home  and  behaves  like  a  good 
boy,  he  performs  his  part  of  the  agreement,  for  no  work  is  expected  of 
him.  Such  marriages  take  place  where  parents,  having  only  daughters, 
are  sufficiently  rich  to  keep  their  husbands  and  wish  for  grandchildren, 
for  the  children  take  the  wife's  family  name  and  belong  to  her  and 
her  family.' 

When  a  man  is  absent  from  home  and  unavoidable 
circumstances  prevent  his  return  to  be  married,  a  strange 
marriage  by  proxy  takes  place  sometimes  in  some  districts 
of  the  Canton  Province ;  we  are  not  aware  whether  it 
prevails  in  other  parts  of  the  empire  or  not.  But  the 
curious  thing  about  it  is  that,  instead  of  a  man  acting  as 
the  proxy,  a  cock  does  duty  for  the  bridegroom.  This 
fowl  is  sent  by  the  latter  to  the  marriage  ceremonies, 
though  it  is  not  even  necessary  that  he  should  be  sent  by 
the  bridegroom,  the  presence  of  the  fowl  at  the  wedding 
being  sufficient. 

A  girl  is  but  once  legally  married  in  China ;  she  rides 
in  the  bridal  chair  but  once,  and  only  if  she  is  a  legal, 
principal  wife.  Not  so  the  man,  he  can  be  married  over 

424 


Marriage 

and  over  again.  Only  one  woman  in  a  man's  household 
holds  the  position  of  a  proper  wife  ;  all  the  others — and  he 
may  take  as  many  as  he  likes — are  not  principal  wives,  or 
legal  ones,  but  secondary  wives,  or  concubines,  though  their 
children  are  on  an  equality  with  those  of  the  first  wife. 
The  women  who  are  taken  as  concubines  are  sometimes 
told  by  their  husbands,  in  order  to  humour  them,  that  they 
are  to  be  considered  as  equal  wives  with  the  first. 

As  to  whether  Chinese  married  life  is  happy  or  not, 
there  is  this  to  be  said,  that  neither  Chinese  men  nor 
women  know  any  other  kind  of  married  life.  One  fruitful 
source  of  trouble  is  the  polygamy  allowed  by  custom ; 
for  quarrels  and  fights,  jealousies  and  envy,  bickerings 
and  disputes,  are  more  or  less  the  inheritance  of  the 
many-wived  household  ;  and  lawsuits  for  property  left  by 
the  much-married  Chinaman  are  rendered  more  com- 
plicated by  the  different  interests  of  the  four,  five,  or  six 
women  who  all  own  the  deceased  as  their  late  husband. 

It  is  sometimes  a  question  with  Europeans  what 
really  constitutes  the  binding  part  in  a  Chinese  marriage. 
With  us  the  kernel  of  the  whole  matter  is  contained  in 
the  proper  preliminaries  having  been  carried  out  as  laid 
down  by  the  law  of  the  land  and  the  few  sentences  in 
which  the  married  couple  promise  to  take  each  other  as 
husband  and  wife  respectively,  and  perhaps  the  charge 
delivered  to  them.  If  all  the  requirements  of  the  civil 
law  have  been  complied  with,  as  exemplified  in  a  civil 
marriage  before  a  Registrar,  the  marriage  is  a  valid 
one,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  ceremony  which  in  a 
religious  marriage  is  added,  often  ad  nauseam,  is  super- 
fluous. But  with  the  Chinese  there  are  no  notices  to  be 
given  to  a  Registrar  of  Marriage  ;  there  is  no  marriage 
before  a  priest,  clergyman,  minister,  or  Registrar  ;  there 
are  no  such  officials  appointed  to  celebrate  marriages. 
What  then  constitutes  a  valid  marriage  from  the  Chinese- 
standpoint  ? 

Before  the  actual  marriage  ceremony  takes  place,  the 
most  important  thing  is  '  the  Three  Documents  and  Six 

425 


Things  Chinese 

Ceremonials.'  Of  these  again,  the  most  important  is  '  The 
Three  Generations' ;  this  must  be  present ;  all  the  rest  may 
be  wanting.  It  must  again  be  pointed  out  and  remembered 
that  the  standpoint  of  viewing  the  marriage  is  totally 
different  from  that  taken  in  the  West.  With  us,  as  we 
have  said,  the  actual  ceremony  of  the  service,  and,  in  it,  the 
sentences,  which  the  bridegroom  and  bride  repeat,  are  the 
essential  portion  of  the  ceremony ;  but  with  the  Chinese  it 
is  the  preliminaries,  as  above,  which  are  the  essentials. 
Without  these  even  the  different  incidents,  such  as  red  sedan- 
chair,  the  worshipping  of  the  ancestors,  etc.,  which  go  to 
make  up  the  complex  mass  of  ceremonies  are  invalid  to 
make  it  a  kft  fat  (keet  f ah  f)  marriage. 

As  has  already  been  said,  the  ceremony  itself  is  made 
up  of  a  mass  of  minor  details,  out  of  which  rise  into 
importance  several  ceremonials,  one  of  which  is  the  bride 
riding  in  the  red  sedan-chair,  and  the  worshipping  of 
ancestors.  To  emphasize  again  the  comparative  import- 
ance of  the  preliminaries,  it  may  be  noted  that  should 
rebellion,  or  robbers  running  riot  in  a  district  of 
country,  make  the  quiet  (or  shall  we  say,  noisy  ?)  carry- 
ing out  of  the  marriage  ceremonials  impossible,  it  would 
be  quite  a  keet  faht  (or  proper  marriage  of  a  first  wife) 
marriage,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  if  the 
preliminaries  having  been  already  properly  carried  out, 
the  man  should  take  the  woman  without  any  other 
ceremony  as  his  wife  and  live  with  her,  nor  would  it  be 
necessary  at  a  future  time  to  go  through  the  ceremony. 
But  it  is  needless  to  say  that,  with  the  love  of  the 
Chinese  for  a  procession,  this  mode  of  taking  a  wife 
would  be  very  exceptional. 

A  go-between  is  one  of  the  most  important  matters  :  a 
marriage  is  not  a  proper  marriage  without  one.  How  very 
important  this  is  may  be  seen  from  the  following  passage 
from  the  Li  Ki,  one  of  the  '  Five  Classics  ' : 

'  The  master  said,  "  The  ceremonial  usages  serve  as  dykes  to  the 
people  against  bad  excesses  (to  which  they  are  prone).  They  display 
the  separation  which  should  be  maintained  (between  the  sexes),  that 

426 


Marriage 

there  may  be  no  occasion  for  suspicion,  and  the  relations  of  the 
people  be  well  defined.  It  is  said  in  the  Hook  of  Poetry  (I.  viii.  Ode 
VI.  3,  4)- 

"  How  do  we  proceed  in  hewing  an  axe-handle  ? 
Without  another  axe  it  cannot  be  done. 
How  do  we  proceed  in  taking  a  wife  ? 
Without  a  go-between  it  cannot  be  done. 
How  do  we  proceed  in  planting  hemp? 
The  acres  must  be  dressed  length-wise  and  cross-wise. 
How  do  we  proceed  in  taking  a  wife  ? 
Announcement  must  first  be  made  to  our  parents." 

'  In  this  way  it  was  intended  to  guard  the  people  (against  doing 
wrong),  and  still  there  are  some  (women)  among  them,  who  offer 
themselves  (to  the  male),'  p.  297. 

The  first  important  ceremony  is  the  bride  going  in 
the  red  sedan-chair  to  the  bridegroom's  house.  When 
a  bride  has  to  be  taken  at  once  on  account  of  her 
parents'  death,  or  sometimes,  in  the  case  of  poor 
people,  the  real  red  chair  is  dispensed  with,  and  a 
common  chair  is  taken  and  some  strips  of  red  cloth 
thrown  over  it,  or  with  poorer  people  strips  of  red  paper 
pasted  on  it. 

Another  important  thing  is  for  the  bridegroom  to 
receive  his  bride,  he  coming  to  the  chair  to  do  so. 

Another  thing  which  is  always  done  when  the  proper 
preliminaries  have  been  carried  out,  is  the  worship  of 
ancestors.  If  the  tablets  are  not  present,  then  it  suffices  to 
write  on  a  piece  of  red  paper  the  words,  '  The  ancestors 

of for  generations  back,'  which  represent  the  ancestors 

in  all  their  generations  of  that  surname.  The  bride  and 
bridegroom,  and,  if  father  and  mother  of  bridegroom  are 
present,  they  as  well,  worship  together  this  paper  or  the 
spirit  tablets. 

It  is  important  to  pay  obeisance  to  the  father  and 
mother  of  the  bridegroom  only. 

It  is  Chinese  etiquette  for  the  guests  invited  to  a 
marriage  to  call  to  congratulate  the  father  of  the  bride- 
groom on  the  morning  of  the  marriage. 

With  all  the  Chinese  feelings  on  marriage,  it  is  strange 

O  O        '  t3 

to  find  that  in  one  district  of  country  at  least,  the  girls 

427 


Things  Chinese 

stand     out     against     the     fulfilment     of     the     marriage 
contract : — 

'The  high-spirited  disposition  of  the'  women  of  Lung  Kong  is 
shown  '  in  the  organisaton  of  an  anti-matrimonial  league,  in  which  the 
fair  damsels  of  this  fortunate  district  bind  themselves  under  solemn 
pledges  never  to  marry.  Such  a  course  is  so  contrary  to  the  whole 
history  and  spirit  of  Chinese  institutions  and  so  daring  a  challenge  to 
the  practices  of  ages,  that  one  cannot  but  admire  the  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence and  courage  from  which  it  springs.  The  existence  of  this 
Amazonian  league  has  long  been  known,  but  as  to  its  rules  and  the 
number  of  its  members  no  definite  information  has  come  to  hand.  It 
is  composed  of  young  widows  and  marriageable  girls.  Dark  hints  are 
given  as  to  the  methods  used  to  escape  matrimony.  The  sudden 
demise  of  betrothed  husbands,  or  the  abrupt  ending  of  the  newly- 
married  husband's  career  suggest  unlawful  means  for  dissolving  the 
bonds.  When  they  submit  to  marriage  they  still  maintain  their  powers 
of  will.'  '  One  of  their  demands  being  that  the  husband  must  go  to  the 
wife's  home  to  live,  or  else  live  without  her  company.' 

'There  is  a  peculiar  custom  in  the  village  of  Tai  Leong  and 
[other  villages  in]  Shun  Tak  [Kwong  -  tung],  which  may  be  well 
characterised  as  misanthropical,  and  is  highly  deprecated  even  among 
the  natives.  Nearly  all  the  girls  there  have  a  habit  of  swearing 
sisterhood  to  each  other  and  taking  vows  of  celibacy,  looking  upon 
their  future  husbands  as  enemies.  On  the  third  morning  of  the 
wedding,  which  is  generally  contracted  by  their  parents,  they  go  home, 
and  refuse  to  return  to  their  husbands  again.  Some  of  them  will 
rather  pay  money  to  their  husbands  to  buy  concubines,  and  others, 
who  are  poor  and  cannot  afford  to  do  so,  prepare  to  die  together  by 
poison,  by  throwing  themselves  into  the  river,  by  cutting  their  throats, 
or  by  hanging  themselves,  so  as  to  be  free  from  the  thraldom  of  their 
lords.' 

This  is  an  old-established  custom.  There  is  a  small 
brochure,  written  long  ago,  containing  a  ballad  about  six 
maidens  of  this  district  throwing  themselves  into  a  pond  to 
escape  matrimony.  The  girls  who  belong  to  this  league, 
if  it  may  be  so  called,  swear  sisterhood  with  several  others 
of  like  mind,  going  before  the  gods  to  do  it ;  but  it 
is  not  known  what  the  oath  is.  The  first  object  in 
refusing  to  marry  is  stated  to  be  a  dread  of  the  troubles 
of  motherhood ;  secondly,  to  escape  the  thraldom  of 
serving  a  father-in-law  and  mother-in-law ;  and  lastly,  in 
all  probability,  the  nuns  have  superadded  their  notions 
about  celibacy  being  a  purer  state  of  existence  than  the 
married  one. 

Those  belonging  to  such  an  association  are  taught  by 

428 


Marriage 

the  nuns,  so  it  is  said,  to  kill  their  husbands  by  saying 
certain  charms  or  incantations,  by  taking  hairs  out  of  their 
husbands'  queues  for  some  certain  hidden  purpose,  by  pro- 
curing the  bones  of  dead  infants  or  children,  getting  them 
from  what  are  styled  the  Liin  tsong  te"f,  and  these  latter 
are  buried  under  the  bed,  fireplace,  and  family  rice-jar. 
The  societies  to  which  such  women  belong  are  called  Mai 
Fii  Kau.  They  will  not  enter  their  husbands'  houses  for 
the  purposes  of  permanent  residence  (called  lok  ka) ;  but 
on  their  occasional  visits  to  their  husbands'  residences  their 
food  is  even  sent  them  from  their  own  homes,  and  not  as 
much  as  a  cup  of  tea  will  they  take  from  their  husbands' 
houses.  These  girls  went  about  formerly  with  four  ounces 
of  arsenic,  supplied  by  the  nuns,  who,  it  is  said,  not  only 
used  to  charge  them  ten  taels  for  it,  but  often  cheated  them  ; 
one  instance  is  known  when  some  red  ashes  from  the  fur- 
nace was  supplied  under  the  pretence  that  it  was  arsenic. 
At  the  present  day  opium  is  carried  on  their  persons, 
and  they  threaten  to  take  their  lives  if  forced  to  marry. 
More  than  half  of  them,  after  residing  the  most  of 
the  time  with  their  parents,  are  persuaded  to  become 
good  wives,  and  the  number  appears  to  be  increasing 
of  late  years.  When  the  rest  of  the  whole  band  of 
sworn  sisters,  in  number  from  six  to  twenty,  as  the 
case  may  be,  are  married,  the  one  who  is  left  sometimes 
ceases  holding  out  any  longer  and  takes  up  her  proper 
position  as  wife. 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  read  of  girls  in  various 
parts  of  China  committing  suicide  rather  than  be  forced  into 
marriage.  Doubtless  many  a  girl  must  feel  it  a  dreadful 
ordeal  to  face  an  unknown  husband  and  come  under  the 
power  of  a  Chinese  mother-in-law. 

Books  recommended. — Archdeacon  dray's  'China,'  vol.  i.  chap.  7, 
contains  most  minute  particulars  about  the  ceremonials  connected  with 
marriages  in  Canton,  from  which  we  have  largely  quoted.  Doolittle's  '  Social 
Life  of  the  Chinese,'  details  the  customs  prevalent  in  Foochow.  An  article 
in  the  China  Mail,  of  10th  July  1890,  would  appear  to  be  written  from  a 
Northern  standpoint.  The  marriage  customs  of  the  Hakkas  are  noted  in 
one  of  a  series  of  articles  on  those  people,  in  the  Hongkong  Daily  I'rrss  for 
1861. 

429 


Things  Chinese 

MENDICANTS. — If  numbers  form  any  criterion, 
"China  should  be  the  happy  hunting  ground  for  beggars. 
Mendicancy  is  reduced  to  a  fine  art — a  science ;  backed  up 
by  the  charitable  tenets  of  Buddhism,  the  Chinese  beggar, 
•armed  with  an  amount  of  assurance  and  audacity,  proceeds 
to  lay  siege  to  a  Chinese  city,  not  in  a  haphazard  way,  but 
with  a  systematised  organisation  which  gives  him  a  hold 
•on  the  shopkeeper,  and  a  vantage  ground  to  attack  him 
with  effect  and  perseverance.  In  some,  if  not  in  many, 
cities  the  beggars  are  united  together  under  a  head,  '  The 
King  of  the  Beggars/  who  has  complete  authority  over  his 
subjects.  The  payment  of  a  fixed  sum  to  the  King  by 
any  shop  will  secure  immunity  from  all  visits  of  his 
subjects ;  otherwise  the  collection  of  their  tax  of  one  or 
two  cash  will  be  undertaken  with  that  pertinacity  and 
disregard  of  time  and  convenience  so  characteristic  of  the 
Chinese  beggar.  In  Nanking  there  is  a  royal  order  of 
beggars  established  by  Hung  Wu,  the  first  Emperor  of  the 
Ming  dynasty.  In  this  city  the  beggars  are  allowed  to 
live  in  certain  arches  in  the  city  wall,  and  'their  chief  is 
appointed  by  the  police  authorities  of  the  district.' 

Beggars  in  China  may  be  divided  into  several  classes, 
viz. : — Those  who  go  in  strings  of  three  or  four ;  solitary 
beggars,  divided  into  stationary  and  peripatetic  ones ; 
those  who  inflict  wounds  upon  themselves  ;  those  who  are 
suffering  from  sores ;  and,  last  but  not  least,  blind  beggars. 
The  demarcations  between  these  different  classes  are  not 
always  strongly  accentuated,  as  the  one  class  may  merge 
into  the  other. 

A  business  like  this  requires  preparation ;  it  is 
commenced  by  some  in  early  life,  the  youngsters  generally 
being  found  leading  the  strings  of  three  or  four  blind 
beggars,  otherwise  it  is  a  case  of  the  blind  leading  the 
blind,  and,  all  things  considered,  they  appear  to  get  on  very 
well.  It  is  not  an  unknown  thing,  by  any  means,  for 
mothers  to  deprive  their  children  of  eyesight  in  order  that 
they  may  earn  their  living  as  blind  singing  girls  ;  and  some 
of  the  beggars  may  owe  their  blindness  to  the  same  cause. 

430 


Mendicants 

No  doubt  many  others  have  lost  their  eyesight  from 
disease ;  for  different  affections  of  the  eyes  are  very 
common  in  China,  where  there  is  no  proper  knowledge  of 
preventives,  nor  of  curatives  ;  the  hot  sun,  bad  air,  poor 
living,  and  the  reprehensible  practice  of  the  barbers  of 
scraping  and  cleaning  the  socket  of  the  eye  must  induce 
blindness  in  others.  Next  to  blindness,  open  and  festering 
sores  and  wounds,  and  deformities  of  limbs,  of  any  and 
every  kind,  either  form  a  good  capital  to  start  on,  or,  shut- 
ting out  all  other  means  of  gaining  a  livelihood,  reduce  the 
sufferer  to  beggary  of  position  and  beggary  as  a  calling. 
Failing  genuine  wounds,  and  armed  with  a  knife,  a  sturdy, 
impudent  vagabond,  with  strength  of  limb  and  body  and 
good  eyesight,  may  cut  himself  in  a  shop,  with  noisy  and 
wild  yells,  and  thus  gather  a  wide-mouthed  crowd,  which, 
flocking  in  and  obstructing  trade,  draws  a  cash  or  two  from 
the  accountant,  the  Chinese  horror  of  blood  being  also  a 
sufficient  ready-drawer  of  alms.  The  next  shop,  or  one  a 
few  doors  further  on,  forms  another  stage  for  the  repetition 
of  the  performance.  These  nuisances,  for  whom  one  feels 
no  sympathy,  but  disgust,  are  fortunately  not  so  common 
as  some  of  the  other  varieties  of  the  genius  beggar. 

One  of  the  most  common  is  the  string-beggar.  Almost 
always  blind,  this  class  goes  about  in  small  bands  of  three 
or  four,  sometimes  five,  mostly  females,  but  one  or  two 
males  are  not  uncommonly  found  in  the  string,  each  with  a 
slender  long  bamboo,  the  equivalent  of  the  foreign  beggar's 
stick.  They  make  their  way,  tapping  with  short  quick 
taps,  now  uncertainly  feeling  with  their  bamboos,  which 
serve  as  antennae,  lifting  their  sightless  orbs  in  vain  appeals 
for  light,  raising  their  faces  with  that  pathetic  helplessness, 
though  possibly  in  the  exercise  of  that  facial  perception 
with  which  those  born  blind  are  accredited — a  new  sense 
vouchsafed  to  those  deprived  of  sight  which  enables  them 
'  by  some  singular  insight '  to  tell  when  they  are  opposite 
some  object,  as  to  its  dimensions  and  characteristics,  such 
as  height,  breadth,  etc. 

Happy  are  these  Bartimaeuses  with  their  sisters,  wives,. 

431 


Things  Chinese 

and  cousins,  if  some  bright-eyed  youngster,  not  smitten 
with  the  darkness  of  night  in  broad  midday,  is  found  to 
lead  their  devious  course  through  the  crowded  streets. 
Such  a  one  is  also  better  able  to  see  the  white  fan  kwai, 
whose  pockets  are  filled  with  gold,  or,  who,  at  least,  has  not 
hoarded  up  a  store  of  bad  cash  to  pass  off  on  the  beggar 
tribe  as  their  countrymen  have.  As  soon  as  he  appears  in 
sight,  their  monotonous  whine  is  exchanged  for  more 
vigorous  appeals,  and  higher  titles  of  respect  follow  each 
other  in  rapid  succession  in  the  hope  of  loosing  the  purse- 
strings  of  the  young  clerk,  who  has  instant  brevet  rank  of 
Taipan,  Cap-i-tan  (Captain),  Worship,  Honour,  Lordship, 
and  everything  else  worth  having. 

Let  us  watch  their  modus  operandi.  It  is  a  combination 
of  street  and  shop  begging — a  general  business  not  confined 
to  any  one  branch — each  shop  is  most  carefully  and 
religiously  visited,  unless  exemption  has  been  purchased  by 
a  commuted  sum  paid  to  the  '  Lord  of  All  the  Beggars.' 

Should  the  shopkeeper  be  a  good-natured  man,  a  cash 
or  two  may  be  flung  to  the  string,  who  may  get  it  without 
even  the  trouble  of  going  further  than  the  doorstep,  but  as 
often  as  not,  if  not  more  often  than  not,  more  patient  toil 
is  necessary  to  earn  even  a  broken  cash.  Then  the  whole 
string  file  in,  each  holding  on  to  the  back  of  the  other,  and 
the  monotonous,  whining,  singsong  appeal  begins  ;  the 
shopmen  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  everything,  titles  are  thrown 
away,  the  pearls  are  cast  before  the  swine,  who  in  this  one 
case,  dare  not  turn  to  rend  them,  perhaps  for  fear  of 
vengeance ;  though  also  is  not  one  string  of  beggars  for 
half  an  hour  better  than  half  a  dozen  strings  of  them  in 
the  same  time  ?  And,  as  long  as  one  string  is  in  possession 
of  the  place,  the  others  pass  by.  Wearied,  some  of  the 
band,  if  not  all  of  them,  crouch  down  on  the  tiled  floor, 
waiting  for  their  opportunity,  for  it  is  bound  to  come 
sooner  or  later  ;  and  here  it  is  at  last,  for  several  customers 
of  another  sort  step  in — purchasers,  at  sound  of  whom  the 
din  and  clatter  of  the  beggars  begin  with  renewed  energy,  and 
the  surly  shopmen,  whom  no  amount  of  pity  could  move, 

432 


Mendicants 

hasten,  for  fear  of  losing  a  good  customer,  to  get  rid  of  the 
wearisome  noise,  by  tossing  a  few  coins  into  the  shallow 
basket  of  the  mendicants,  who  renew  the  same  tactics  at 
each  shop  in  the  street. 

Better  when  the  round  happens  at  meal-time,  for  then 
the  beggar  will  get  some  broken  victuals  to  fill  his  empty 
stomach,  receiving  them  in  the  first  place  in  his  shallow 
basket,  or  in  his  bowl,  which  latter  Shakyamuni  Buddha 
has  sanctified,  and  his  numerous  priest-followers  have 
hallowed  by  the  use  of  centuries. 

The  solitary  beggar  wends  his  way  through  the  mazy 
street,  picking  up  an  odd  cash,  here  and  there,  from  those 
more  charitably  disposed  than  the  rest,  or  from  those  who 
seek  immunity  from  the  pest  that  the  beggar  is  to  the 
whole  of  the  respectable  world. 

Some  select  a  space  in  a  busy  spot,  sit  down  and  wait 
for  alms,  with  a  written-out  appeal  spread  before  them, 
setting  forth  that,  natives  of  other  provinces,  they  are 
stranded  in  what  is,  to  all  intents,  almost  a  strange  land  to 
them  ;  others  select  some  quieter  spot,  but  where  the 
stream  of  passers-by  is  still  sufficient  to  give  a  hope  of  an 
occasional  dole  from  unwilling  hands,  the  donors  hoping 
that  merit  for  the  deed,  though  performed  unwillingly, 
may  mitigate  the  horrors  of  a  future  hell.  One  feels 
a  pity  for  some  of  these  beggars — stranded  wayfarers  ; 
broken-down  tradesmen  ;  ruined  gamblers,  roues,  with 
the  punishment  of  all  their  profligacy  on  them  ;  and, 
saddest  of  all,  some  poor  old  woman  whose  undutiful 
son  has  turned  her  out  on  the  street,  penniless,  and 
with  no  shelter  for  her  grey  hairs,  to  depend  on  the 
uncertain  charity  of  her  neighbours,  who,  though 
virtuous  in  their  indignation,  give  no,  or  but  little, 
practical  proof  of  their  sorrow,  and  who  are  in  constant 
dread  lest  the  old  dame  should  give  up  the  ghost  on  their 
doorsteps ;  harsh  words  and  angry  rebuffs,  therefore, 
forbid  her  sheltering  herself  under  what  were  erewhile 
friendly  roofs  :  for  would  not  the  economy  of  Chinese  social 
life,  as  well  as  its  judicial  system,  render  the  tender-hearted, 

433  2  E 


Things  Chinese 

who  should  overstep  the  limits  of  prudence  and  on  whose 
premises  she  might  die,  liable,  at  least,  to  the  expense  of  a 
coffin  and  funeral  ?  The  presence  of  a  ghost  haunting  the 
house  would  follow  ;  and,  even  worse  still,  some  trumped- 
up  charge  of  having  caused  her  death  might  bring  the 
charitably  disposed  within  the  clutches  of  the  law — a  law 
hard  to  escape,  with  all  its  concomitants  of  torture  and 
pre-Howard-day  prisons. 

It  is  curious  how  very  polite  the  chair-coolies  are  to  the 
blind  beggars  in  the  street,  addressing  them  as  '  Sir,'  when 
requesting  them  to  get  out  of  the  way — a  nice  trait  in 
Chinese  character,  due  to  their  innate  politeness,  and  perhaps 
also  to  self-interest,  as  a  want  of  it  might  lead  to  bad 
language.  These  beggars  are  not  always  most  polite  ;  the 
writer  was  once  knocked,  with  not  a  light  hand,  by  a  woman 
in  the  streets  of  Canton,  but  there  was  some  excuse  for  her, 
as  she  seemed  to  be  crazy.  Many  of  the  beggars  in  Canton 
sleep  in  an  asylum  in  the  east  of  the  city,  and  go  out  by 
day  to  ply  their  trade. 

MINTS. — Nearly  every  provincial  city  has  a  mint  for 
the  issue  of  the  native  cash  ;  but  of  late  years  different 
mints  have  been  established  at  a  number  of  the  principal 
cities  for  the  coinage  of  silver  dollars  and  subsidiary  coins 
and  copper  cents.  Amongst  other  places  where  mints  have 
been  started,  are  Nanking,  Nganking,  Tientsin,  Foochow, 
Wuchang,  Canton,  and  Chengtu.  A  mint  was  opened  in 
Changsha  in  1897,  and  was  in  working  existence  for  two 
years.  Some,  if  not  all,  of  these  have  a  European  Super- 
intendent. The  Chengtu  Mint  after  issuing  a  supply  of 
coin,  sufficient  as  it  was  thought,  was  closed  and  its 
Superintendent  dismissed,  and  this  may  be  the  case  with 
some  of  the  others  as  well. 

'The  Kiangnan  [Nanking]  Mint  was  closed  in  June,  in  consequence 
of  financial  difficulties,  but  the  events  in  North  China  created  a  sudden 
demand  for  dollars,  and  it  was  re-opened,  and  turned  out  20,000  to 
40,000  dollars  a  day  until  the  market  was  choked.  It  then  closed 
again  and  the  English  Superintendent  left.' 

434 


Missions 

MISSIONS— ANCIENT  MISSIONS.— Tradition  points 
to  an  early  proclamation  of  Christianity  in  China.  The 
apostle  Thomas  has  been  mentioned  as  the  first  missionary 
to  this  Empire  ;  at  all  events,  it  seems  that  some  of  the 
first  teachers  of  the  new  faith  must  have  selected  China  as 
their  mission  field.  It  would  be  most  interesting  to  have 
had  some  particulars  of  this  enterprise,  but  we  must  be 
content  with  rumours  and  detached  notices  in  ancient 
ecclesiastical  writings,  which  give  but  a  vague  and  misty 
idea  of  the  extent  of  the  work  and  its  results. 

NESTORIAN  MISSIONS. — The  first  really  solid  ground 
that  we  have  to  rest  upon  is  the  historical  fact  of  the 
Nestorians  having  carried  on  missions  in  China.  A 
thousand  questions  present  themselves  to  one's  mind  as  to 
the  work  done  by  these  men,  the  extent  of  country  they 
travelled  over,  the  numbers  that  came  to  China,  their 
modus  operandt,  the  success  that  attended  their  labours. 
But  to  these  and  many  others  we  get  answers  which  only 
whet  our  appetite  for  more  information. 

'  The  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Nestorians  in  China 
cannot  be  specified  certainly,  but/  Williams  states,  '  there 
are  grounds  for  placing  it  as  early  as  A.D.  505.'  One  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  ancient  monuments  in  China,  while 
at  the  same  time  '  the  most  ancient  Christian  inscription 
yet  found  in  Asia,'  is  the  Nestorian  monument.  It  is  '  the 
only  record  yet  found  in  China  itself  of  the  labours  of  the 
Nestorians.'  It  was  discovered  in  A.D.  1625  by  some 
workmen  in  the  suburb  of  Ch'ang-an,  a  district  city  in 
Shen-si.  It  was  erected  in  A.D.  781. 

'The  contents  are  threefold: — Doctrinal,  Historical,  Eulogistic. 
The  first  part  gives  a  brief  outline  of  the  teachings  of  the  religion, 
and  of  the  ways  and  practices  of  its  ministers  ;  the  second  part  tells 
of  its  first  entrance  into  China,  and  of  the  patronage  extended  to  it 
for  the  most  part  for  nearly  150  years  by  various  emperors  ;  in  the 
third  part,  to  which,  though  it  be  the  shortest,  the  two  others  are 
introductory,  the  Christians  express,  in  verse,  their  praise  of  God  and 
their  religion,  and  also  of  the  emperors  whose  protection  and  favour 
they  had  enjoyed.' 

From  this  inscription  we  learn  that  a  priest,  Olopun  by 
name,  made  his  way  through  difficulties  and  perils  from  the 

435 


Things  Chinese 

West,  guided  by  the  '  azure  clouds  '  to  China,  bringing  with 
him  the  '  True  Scriptures.'  He  was  favourably  received  by 
the  Emperor  in  the  palace,  in  A.D.  635,  where  a  portion  of 
the  Scriptures  was  translated  in  the  library  of  the  palace, 
and  approving  of  the  new  doctrine,  with  that  eclecticism 
the  Chinese  are  so  noted  for,  the  Emperor  gave  special 
orders  for  its  propagation,  and  a  proclamation  issued  a  few 
years  after  with  regard  to  it  ended  with  the  words  : — '  Let 
it  have  free  course  throughout  the  Empire.'  A  monastery 
was  built  '  sufficient  to  accommodate  twenty-one  priests ' ; 
succeeding  sovereigns  vied  with  each  other  in  the  benefits 
they  conferred  on  the  new  religion  which  had  the  aegis  of 
imperial  patronage  thrown  over  it;  it  spread  throughout  the 
then  ten  provinces  of  China ;  '  monasteries  filled  a  hundred 
cities.'  Then  came  a  period  of  persecution,  for  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years,  from  a  bigoted  Buddhist  Empress,  when 
another  time  of  prosperity  ensued,  the  buildings  being 
restored  and  more  helpers  coming  from  the  West.  Not 
only  did  the  imperial  favour  shine  on  them  again,  but  an 
eminent  Buddhist  from  India  appears  to  have  embraced 
Christianity,  and  '  threw  all  his  wealth  and  influence  into 
the  promotion  of  the  Christian  cause,  manifesting  especially 
an  extraordinary  charity.'  Thus  we  have  a  summary  of 
the  history  of  Nestorian  Christians  in  China  for  nearly  150 
years,  till  A.D.  781.  Of  its  history  subsequent  to  that  date 
there  is  not  much  to  be  said  ;  for  sixty  years  or  more  it 
continued  ;  during  this  time  Buddhism  made  vigorous 
progress,  which  called  forth  spirited  protests  from  the 
literati.  The  Taoists,  in  A.D.  841,  finding  their  oppor- 
tunity come,  succeeded  in  getting  the  Emperor  to  launch 
a  proscription  against  Buddhism,  and  Buddhist  monas- 
teries were  destroyed  ;  this  persecution  also  affected  the 
Nestorians,  as  they  were  referred  to  in  the  edict,  and 
the  Nestorianism  of  Si-ngan-fu  never  recovered  from  the 
blow. 

Marco  Polo,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  mentions 
Nestorian  churches  in  China;  but  it  is  not  thought  that 
these  were  descendants  of  the  former  Nestorian  Church. 

436 


Missions 

It  is  probable  that  the  monument  we  have  already 
mentioned  was  buried  at  the  time  of  this  great  persecution, 
and  so,  after  a  period  of  two  hundred  years  or  more,  ended 
an  interesting  chapter  of  missions — that  of  the  Nestorians 
in  China.  Its  failure  was  doubtless  due  to  two  causes  :  the 
one  being  the  reliance  on  the  Emperor  and  men  in 
power ;  the  other  being  the  absence  of  the  Gospel  in 
their  presentation  of  the  truth.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
future  researches  may  discover  further  evidence  of  this 
church  at  the  different  periods  of  its  existence  in  China. 
Some  have  thought  it  possible  that  such  may  be  the  case, 
and  that  remains  of  this  ancient  Nestorian  Church  may  yet 
be  found — that  converts,  buried  in  some  isolated  region,  with 
possibly  the  ancient  translation  of  the  Scriptures  made  by 
their  first  missionaries,  still  in  their  possession,  will  be  come 
across,  as  the  descendants  of  the  Hebrew  community  were 
some  half  a  century  ago  in  the  interior  of  China.  (See 
Articles  on  Buddhism  and  on  Jews.) 

ROMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS. — We  now  come  to  the 
prosecution  of  missions  on  a  larger  scale. 

The  founders  of  Jesuit  missions  in  China  were  Michael 
Ruggiero  and  Matteo  Ricci,  who  arrived  in  this  Empire 
in  A.D.  1579  and  A.I).  1581  respectively.  The  latter  has 
been  described  as  'a  man  of  great  scientific  acquirements, 
of  invincible  perseverance,  of  various  resource,  and  of 
winning  manners,  maintaining,  with  all  these  gifts,  a  single 
eye  to  the  conversion  of  the  Chinese,  the  bringing  the 
people  of  all  ranks  to  the  faith  of  Christianity.'  They 
found  it  difficult  to  obtain  a  footing,  but  Ricci  established 
himself  at  Shiuhing,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Canton 
Province,  and  worked  his  way  up,  till  he  finally  reached  the 
capital,  where  he  died  in  A.D.  1610.  He  was  favourably 
received  by  the  Emperor  Wan  Li,  of  the  Ming  dynasty. 
He  was  the  author  of  a  number  of  learned  works  as  well  as 
books  on  Christianity,  and  left  many  converts  behind  him, 
the  most  noted  of  whom  was  Hsu  Kwang-si,  a  member  of 
the  Han-lin  college  and  an  official  of  high  rank.  One  of 
Hsii's  daughters,  known  as  Candida,  built  thirty-nine 

437 


Things  Chinese 

churches,  printed  one  hundred  and  thirty  books,  and  sent 
many  blind  story-tellers,  instructed  in  gospel  history,  out 
in  the  streets  to  tell  what  they  had  learned. 

The  Church  of  Rome  was  wise  in  her  generation  in 
sending  out  at  first  men  of  the  stamp  of  Ricci,  among 
whom  may  be  named  Adam  Schaal  and  Verbiest ;  it  was 
not  only  Jesuits,  but  the  different  Roman  Catholic  sects, 
such  as  Franciscans,  Dominicans,  and  others,  which  sent 
their  members  to  China. 

'The  Dynasty  of  Ming,  .  .  .  was  drawing  near  to  its  close, 
and  the  Manchus  were  preparing  for  the  conquest  of  the  Empire. 
Many  difficulties  and  perils  encompassed  the  missionaries,  but  Schaal 
was  able  to  maintain  his  position  at  Peking  by  his  astronomical 
knowledge  in  correcting  the  calendar,  and  by  establishing  a  foundry, 
where  he  cast  cannon  to  be  used  against  the  Manchus.  And  this 
position  he  continued  to  hold  when  the  Empire  fell  to  those  invaders. 
He  was  made  head  of  the  Board  of  Astronomy  and  Mathematics,  and 
was  a  favourite  with  the  first  Manchu  sovereign,  though  he  did  not 
shrink  from  remonstrating  with  him  against  certain  severe  measures, 
and  urging  him  rather  to  justice,  forbearance,  and  mercy.  He  was 
able  to  lay,  in  A.D.  1650,  the  foundation  of  a  grand  church  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Imperial  palace. 

'When  the  second  Emperor,  known  to  us  as  K'ang  Hsi — by  the 
name  of  his  reign — succeeded  to  his  father  at  the  early  age  of  eight, 
there  was  trouble  during  the  minority  ;  but  as  soon  as  he  took  the 
Government  into  his  own  hands,  he  gave  his  full  confidence  to  the 
missionaries.  He  was,  probably,  the  most  able  and  enlightened 
sovereign  who  ever  sat  on  the  Chinese  throne,  and  his  reign  lasted 
sixty-one  years.  Schaal  and  Verbiest  regulated  the  calendar  and 
cast  cannon  for  him.  Regis  and  several  others  conducted  for  him 
the  survey  of  the  Empire,  which  Remusat  correctly  describes  as  "  the 
most  complete  geographical  work  ever  executed  out  of  Europe." ' 

Disputes,  however,  arose  amongst  the  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  as  to  the  correct  terms  to  use  for  God  (as  to 
what  words  were  to  be  applied  by  their  Christians  to  the 
Deity) ;  as  to  the  worship  of  ancestors  and  Confucius — 
whether  it  were  a  mere  homage  or  real  worship,  and 
whether  their  converts  consequently  might  engage  in  it. 
Unable  to  agree  amongst  themselves,  the  dispute  had  grown 
to  such  a  head  that  they  referred  it  not  only  to  the  Pope 
but  also  to  the  Emperor  of  China  ;  each  of  whom  gave  a 
different  verdict.  The  missionaries,  of  course,  were  bound 
to  obey  the  Pope,  and  this  setting  up  of  an  outside  authority 
over  that  of  their  own  Emperor,  incensed  the  Chinese,  and 

438 


Missions 

the  storm  which  was  gathering  burst  in  the  .next  reign, 
when  in  A.D.  1724,  an  edict  was  issued  against  them,  pro- 
hibiting the  propagation  of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  only 
retaining  the  few  missionaries  required  for  scientific  purposes 
in  Peking  ;  all  the  others  were  required  to  leave  the  country. 
Some  obeyed  the  edict,  while  others  remained  in  secret. 
Many  of  the  Chinese  converts  remained  firm,  notwith- 
standing the  persecutions  which  arose  now  and  then. 
Matters  remained  in  this  state  for  about  a  century,  when  in 
A.D.  1842  Christianity  was  tolerated  by  treaty.  There  are 
now  numbers  of  priests  and  numerous  bodies  of  Roman 
Catholics  in  the  country.  When  the  priests  care  to  use  a 
Bible,  the  translation  they  employ  is  said  to  be  that  of  the 
first  Protestant  missionary,  Dr.  Morrison  ;  for  though  trans- 
lations of  portions  have  been  made  by  them,  yet,  like  the 
Church  of  Rome,  they  seem  never  to  have  printed  the  whole 
Bible  and  given  it  to  the  people  ;  they  have,  however,  quite 
a  literature  of  their  own  in  Chinese.  They  do  not  seem 
to  practise  any  public  preaching ;  but  retain  hold  of  the 
communities  of  converts  already  made.  In  one  point  they 
are  very  aggressive,  and  that  is  in  the  baptising  of  infants, 
for  every  one  so  sprinkled  becomes  a  unit  in  their  grand 
total  of  Christians. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Register,  a  paper  published  a  few 
years  since  in  Hongkong,  gave  the  following  as  the 
statistics  of  Romish  missions  in  China: — Bishops,  41; 
European  priests,  664;  native  priests,  559;  colleges,  34; 
convents,  34;  native  converts,  1,092,818.  One  well-known 
writer  speaks  thus  of  their  work  : — 

'  Had  they  adhered  to  religious  teaching,  their  converts  would 
doubtless  have  been  legion  ;  but  the  usual  rash  meddling  with  politics 
soon  aroused  fear  of  foreign  aggression,  leading  to  violent  opposition 
and  terrible  persecution,  which  have  been  repeated  with  every  fresh 
scare  of  undue  political  influence.  .  .  .  It  is  this  arrogation  of  temporal 
authority  which  has  so  incensed  the  Chinese,  and  accounts  for  much 
of  the  hostility  to  missionaries  and  converts  of  all  Christian  churches 
and  denominations,  as  the  ignorant  masses  naturally  could  not  dis- 
criminate between  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics.  Hence,  in  the 
Edict  of  Toleration,  proclaimed  in  1886,  the  Imperial  Government 
deem  it  necessary  to  state  that  men  who  may  embrace  Christianity 
do  not  cease  to  be  Chinese,  but,  as  such,  are  entitled  to  all  protection 

439 


Things  Chinese 

from  their  own  Government,  to  which  alone  they  owe  obedience.  The 
promulgation  of  this  Edict  followed  immediately  on  the  decision  of 
the  Pope  to  send  a  Papal  Legate  to  the  Court  of  Peking,  to  represent 
him  as  the  sole  foreign  power  interested  in  the  Chinese  Roman 
Catholics,  thereby  totally  disclaiming  all  political  protection  from 
France.' 

PROTESTANTS. — The  first  Protestant  missionary  to 
China  was  the  Rev.  Robert  Morrison,  who  arrived  in  A.D. 
1807.  There  was  such  a  strong  feeling  against  all 
Europeans  at  that  time  that  he  was  unable  to  preach  in 
public  or  carry  on  direct  evangelistic  work  ;  but  he  engaged 
in  some  literary  undertakings,  which  not  only  redounded  to 
his  credit,  but  prepared  the  way  for  future  labourers.  A 
gigantic  dictionary  of  the  language  and  the  translation  of 
the  whole  Bible  have  made  his  name  famous,  and  it  is  a 
marvel  how,  confined  within  the  foreign  factories  (as  the 
European  settlement  in  Canton  was  called)  in  a  godown,  and 
assisted  by  a  teacher  who  was  in  terror  of  being  discovered, 
this  wonderful  man,  nearly  single-handed,  accomplished 
such  tasks.  It  is  true  he  had  a  former  translation  of  a  part 
of  the  New  Testament  which  he  used  as  a  basis,  and  he 
had  the  help  of  Dr.  Milne  in  translating  part  of  the  Old 
Testament,  but  with  all  these  aids  the  labour  must  have 
been  herculean.  '  It  was  printed  from  wood  blocks  and 
published  in  21  volumes  in  1823.'  Thus  Protestant 
Missions  in  China  took  their  start  on  the  Bible,  and  it  is  to 
this  reliance  on  the  word  of  God  at  their  inception,  that 
their  wonderful  success  is  due.  Of  his  other  herculean  task 
it  has  well  been  said  : — '  There  is  no  finer  monument  of 
human  perseverance  than  the  dictionary  of  Dr.  Morrison.' 
Unable  to  penetrate  into  China,  a  number  of  missionaries 
settled  in  the  Straits,  and,  learning  the  language,  were 
ready  when  their  opportunity  came,  to  land,  fitted  for 
work  in  China.  One  of  them  prepared  founts  of  movable 
type,  and  these  were  the  precursors  of  the  numerous 
printing  presses,  which,  now  that  the  Chinese  have  seen 
their  utility,  are  not  confined  to  mission  premises,  but  are 
used  by  the  natives  themselves,  at  the  treaty  ports,  to  a 
limited  extent,  for  the  production  of  their  own  books.  In 

440 


Missions 

addition  to  the  English  missionaries,  some  came  to  Macao 
from  America.  After  the  Nanking  Treaty  of  1842,  by 
which  Hongkong  was  ceded  to  Great  Britain  and  five 
treaty  ports  opened,  the  missionaries  came  up  from  the 
Straits  and  more  arrived  from  home.  Better  translations 
of  the  Bible  were  made,  schools  established,  dispensaries 
opened,  and  books  printed.  There  were  at  that  time  only 
a  few  Chinese  converts  all  told.  Since  then  more  treaty 
ports  have  been  opened,  and  residence  in  the  interior  has 
been  possible  in  many  places,  till  a  few  years  since  there 
were  forty  different  societies  at  work,  and  a  few  in- 
dependent workers  unconnected  with  any  society.  There 
were  589  men,  391  married  women,  and  316  single  ladies, 
making  a  total  of  1,296;  these  were  British,  American, 
German,  and  Canadian.  Of  native  helpers,  there  were 
1,657.  There  were  522  organised  native  churches  (but  this 
number  may  be  stated  as  more  than  a  thousand  if  each 
company  of  believers  is  termed  a  Church),  of  which  94  were 
self-supporting,  and  nearly  50  partially  so.  These  native 
churches  are  a  sufficient  answer  as  to  whether  missions 
have  been  a  success  in  China  or  not,  for  a  Chinese  will  not 
pay  away  money  for  Christianity  unless  he  is  convinced  of 
its  truth.  There  were  also  38  churches  which  were  under 
a  general  endowment  scheme,  the  money  being  contributed 
by  natives  alone ;  beside  this  there  was  a  group  of  sixty 
congregations  which  were  to  support  themselves  ;  there 
were  other  cases  also  which  might  be  included,  so  that  the 
number  of  self-supporting  churches  given  above  fall  short 
of  the  reality.  The  amount  contributed  in  money  was 
$36,SS4'54,  but  '  no  account  is  taken  of  the  value  of  houses 
and  land  given  by  natives  to  the  churches  to  which  they 
belong.'  As  the  \vork  has  increased,  the  figures  are  now 
very  much  larger. 

Extra  to  these  were  the  concomitants  of  mission  work, 
such  as  schools,  with  16,836  pupils,  and  medical  work — of 
hospitals  there  were  61,  of  dispensaries  44,  with  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  patients  passing  through  them  annually. 
There  were  12  religious  journals  published  by  missionaries, 

441 


Things  Chinese 

and  hosts  of  books  are  being  annually  issued  from  the 
mission  presses — not  only  religious  ones,  but  scientific 
manuals  as  well,  of  every  kind  and  character.  Had 
Protestant  missionaries  done  nothing  else  in  China  than 
prepared  and  published  the  books  issued  by  them  in 
Chinese  ;  started  the  schools  ;  written  the  books  in  English, 
containing  narratives  of  their  own  travels,  and  accounts  of 
the  natives,  and  of  their  religious  customs  and  manners  ; 
translated  native  works  ;  instructed  the  youth  of  both 
sexes  ;  and  founded  hospitals  and  dispensaries — had  these, 
we  say,  been  the  only  things  accomplished  by  Protestant 
missionaries,  they  would  have  done  a  noble  work ;  but 
added  to  all  these  more  secular  labours  is  the  directly 
religious  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel,  tract  and  Bible 
distribution,  visiting,  gathering  together  the  converts,  etc., 
all  of  which,  though  less  appreciated  by  the  general 
mercantile  community  of  China,  have  been  as  signally 
successful  as  the  other  class  of  undertakings. 

The  statistics  here  given  are  those  compiled  some  years 
since.  Wonderful  advances  are  being  made  each  year  in 
almost  all  the  various  branches  of  missionary  labour. 

It  is  nearly  a  hundred  years  now  since  Protestant 
missions  were  started  in  China,  and  at  first  the  missionaries 
were  but  a  handful  in  number,  restricted  in  their  opera- 
tions, and  confined  to  a  few  localities.  They  have  had 
hard  up-hill  work,  prejudice  and  ignorance  opposing  them, 
a  difficult  language  to  learn — a  language  requiring  years 
of  unremitting,  diligent  study,  before  a  sufficient  knowledge 
of  it  can  be  acquired  for  general  use, — but  little  sympathy 
from  their  fellow-countrymen  on  the  spot,  and  yet  the 
following  statistics  will  show  what  has  been  the  result  of 
one  phase  alone,  of  their  labours: — in  1842  there  were  6 
communicants;  in  1853,  35°  5  m  ^65,  2,000;  in  1876, 
1 3*03 5  ;  in  1886,  28,000  ;  in  1889,  37,287.  At  the  present 
day  there  must  be  in  round  numbers  some  40,000  or  more 
communicants,  and  besides  these  100,000  of  a  Christian 
community. 

'  If  Christian  missions  advance  in  the  next  thirty-five 

442 


Missions 

years  in  the  same  ratio  as  in  the  past  thirty-five  years, 
there  will  be  at  the  end  of  that  time  twenty-six  millions 
of  communicants  and  a  Christian  community  of  one 
hundred  million  people' -- one-fourth  of  the  Chinese 
nation. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  converts — are  the  native 
Christians  genuine  ?  Unfortunately  some  false  professors, 
who  have  joined  merely  for  the  dollars  which  they  hope  to 
obtain,  have  given  a  bad  name  to  native  Christians 
amongst  certain  classes  of  people.  It  ought  to  be  remem- 
bered that  it  is  these  very  hypocrites  among  them  who 
obtrude  themselves  on  public  notice,  as  what  these  desire 
is  the  opportunity  of  making  money,  and  they  thus  push 
themselves  into  prominence  for  that  object,  while  the 
genuine  ones  are  content  to  occupy  the  humble  position 
they  already  fill.  The  centuries  of  heathenism,  in  which 
the  Chinese  have  been  steeped,  must  also  be  taken  into 
account  in  judging  of  those  just  come  out  of  it :  a  wild 
flower  transplanted  into  a  garden  does  not  produce  the 
beautiful  flowers  of  the  cultivated  species  that  grows  at  its 
side,  but  care  and  labour  have  to  be  expended,  and  the 
skill  of  the  gardener  exercised,  to  develop  its  best  character- 
istics ;  so  we  can  scarcely  expect  one  transplanted  out  of 
all  the  debasing  concomitants  of  idolatry  to  be  on  a  par 
in  all  respects  with  (in  fact,  sometimes  they  are  expected 
to  be  superior  to)  those  who  have  been  surrounded  by 
centuries  of  Christian  influence  in  our  more  highly 
favoured  Western  lands.  But,  notwithstanding  all  this, 
there  are  amongst  the  Chinese  converts  those  who  com- 
pare favourably  with  any  in  the  West.  It  is  not  from 
hearsay  that  this  is  said,  for  the  author  himself  has  seen 
such. 

Books  recommended.  —  'Christianity  in  China:  Xestorianism,  Roman 
Catholicism,  Protestantism,'  by  Professor  Legge,  of  Oxford  University. 
'Christian  Progress  in  China,'  by  Rev.  A.  Foster,  B.A.  There  are  numerous 
other  works  dealing  with  different  sections  of  the  mission  field,  which  are 
good  as  far  as  they  go.  Some  idea  also  of  what  has  been  done,  and  is  doing, 
may  be  gathered  from  a  study  of  '  Records  of  the  Missionary  Conference,  held 
at  Shanghai,  1890.'  Also  sec  China  Review,  vol.  xviii.  p.  152,  and  'The 
China  Mission  Hand-Book.' 

443 


Things  Chinese 

MOHAMMEDANS.— The  introduction  of  Moham- 
medanism into  China  is  interesting,  resulting  as  it  did  in 
the  settlement  of  followers  of  that  religion  in  China,  and 
the  consequent  proselytising,  till  now  there  are  large  com- 
munities of  the  followers  of  the  prophet  scattered  here  and 
there  throughout  the  empire.  The  word  proselytising, 
used  above,  must,  however,  be  taken  in  a  mild  sense,  for  it 
has  not  been  carried  on  with  that  vigour  which  uses  com- 
pulsion to  accomplish  its  objects  and  makes  its  converts 
at  the  point  of  the  sword.  There  is  no  rapid  growth  of 
Mohammedanism  in  China.  Content  with  a  foothold  in 
the  land,  and  with  the  achievements  of  the  past,  it  is 
now  satisfied  with  the  increase  due  to  the  natural  enlarge- 
ment of  its  borders  from  within,  owing  to  the  growth  of 
the  families  of  its  professors. 

Arabia  has  the  honour  of  introducing  Mohammedanism 
into  this  land,  and  commerce  was  the  motive  force  which 
brought  the  most  of  the  early  followers  of  the  false  prophet 
to   these  distant  shores.     Wos  Kassin,  supposed  to  be  a 
maternal    uncle   of  Mohammed,  is   credited   with   having 
introduced  the  Moslem  faith  into  China:  he  came  to  this 
country  in  the  seventh  century,  with  a  band  of  followers. 
Its  missionaries  arrived    at   different   sea-ports,  especially 
at   Canton    and    Hangchow ;    they   also    travelled    in    the 
caravans   from    Central    Asia.     With   such    a  measure   of 
success  was  the  propagation  of  the  Islam  faith  carried  on, 
that   large   numbers   of   Mohammedans   are    to  be  found 
in  China,  especially  in  the  Northern  and  Western  provinces 
where  the  inhabitants  of  whole  villages  are  followers  of  the 
Arabian  prophet ;  there  are  200,000  in  Peking.     In  one  of 
the  large  cities  of  Szchuen  there  are  80,000.     In  Yunnan 
there  are  said  to  be  between  three  and  four  millions.     In 
Kansuh  they  are  estimated  as  8,350,000  in  number,  and  in 
Shensi  as  3,500,000.     These  three  provinces  contain  nine- 
tenths  of  the  whole  Mohammedan  population    of  China. 
(In   some   places    Mohammedans    form    one-third    of   the 
population) ;    it   is   estimated    that   there   are   more   than 
10,000,000  North  of  the  Yang-tsz-kiang ;  there  are  not  so 

444 


Mohammedans 

many  in  the  South.  '  According  to  an  official  estimate 
there  are  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  millions  of  Moslems 
in  China.'  There  are  mosques  in  many  of  the  cities ; 
Canton  boasts  of  four,  two  of  which  were  built  by  Wos 
Kassin.  This  apostle  was  buried,  after  a  residence  of 
fifteen  years  in  China,  outside  the  Great  North  Gate  of 
Canton.  One  of  the  two  pagodas  in  Canton,  different 
rather  in  style  from  the  ordinary  pagoda,  was  erected  in 
connection  with  one  of  these  mosques,  in  order  that  the 
muezzins  might  call  the  faithful  to  prayers  from  it.  The 
followers  of  this  religion  would  appear,  in  this  distant  land 
of  their  adoption,  to  have  held  strictly  to  the  tenets  of  their 
faith,  such  as  circumcision,  alms  deeds,  observance  of  the 
feast  of  Ramadan,  and  prayers  in  the  mosque.  In  all 
their  mosques  is  to  be  found  a  tablet  on  which  is  inscribed 
in  letters  of  gold  :  '  May  the  Emperor  reign  ten  thousand 
years,'  the  penalty  of  the  recognition  of  their  faith  by  their 
sovereign ;  Confucian,  Buddhist,  and  Taoist  temples,  if 
of  any  size,  all  having  the  same  reminder  of  the  homage 
due  to,  and  worship  demanded  by,  the  Son  of  Heaven. 
His  subjects  may  worship  whom  they  choose,  but,  whether 
they  choose  or  not,  adoration  must  be  paid  to  him,  except 
in  the  case  of  Christians,  who  will  not  bend  the  knee  nor 
offer  the  incense  of  worship  to  any  but  the  one  living  and 
true  God. 

'  Unlike'  what  it  has  done  'in  other  countries,  Islam  in  China  has  bent 
itself  to  the  national  ideals,  and  has  become  Chinese,  not  only  in  habits 
and  manners,  but  in  patriotism  and  character.  The  treatment  of  their 
Mahommedan  subjects  by  the  Emperors  of  China  has  been  characterised 
by  the  broadest  toleration,  provincial  rulers  having  been  often  degraded 
or  dismissed  for  failing  to  enforce  equal  treatment  of  them  by  their 
fellow-subjects.' 

A  large  literature  has  been  brought  into  existence  by 
the  Mohammedans.  The  author  had  in  his  possession  a 
well-got-up  work  published  under  Imperial  auspices  ;  the 
title-page  had  two  dragons  encircling  the  name  of  the 
book  —  this  being  the  sign  of  the  imprimatur  of  the 
sanction,  or  approval,  of  the  Emperor. 

There  have  been  several  rebellions  of  considerable 

445 


Things  Chinese 

magnitude  by  the  Mohammedans  against  the  Government, 
of  which  may  be  mentioned  that  of  A.D.  1863,  in  the  North 
of  China,  and  that  in  Yunnan,  lasting  for  many  years. 

Books  recommended. — Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  268-271, 
Gray's  'China,'  vol.  i.  pp.  137-142.  An  article  by  Rev.  H.  V.  Noyea  in  the 
Chinese  Recorder  and  Missionary  Journal,  vol.  xx.  pp.  10-18  and  68-72. 
For  an  account  of  the  literature  published  by  them,  see  Chinese  Recorder  and 
Missionary  Journal,  vol.  xxii.  pp.  263,  354,  377,  401.  The  larger  half  of  the 
second  volume  of  Rocher's  '  La  Province  Chinoise  du  Yun-nan '  is  taken  up 
with  a  narrative  of  the  great  Mohammedan  rebellion  in  that  province  in 
1855-1873, 

MONGOLS.  —  The  Mongols  are  another  of  those 
nomadic  races  bordering  China,  who  have  forced  themselves 
into  relationships  with  that  Empire.  The  Huns,  or  Hwing- 
noo,  were  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Mongols.  As  Attila, 
with  his  hordes  of  savage  Hun,  was  styled  the  '  Scourge  of 
God,'  and  proved  to  be  veritably  the  '  Terror  of  the  West ' 
in  the  fifth  century  ;  so,  early  during  the  time  of  the  Han 
dynasty  (B.C.  202  to  A.D.  190),  the  Hwing-noo  proved 
entitled  to  a  similar  appellation  as  regards  the  China  of 
that  period,  for  they  ofttimes  became  '  virtual  masters  of  the 
Empire.' 

The  Heanbi,  another  Mongolic  tribe,  made  themselves 
famous  in  Chinese  history  during  the  Han  dynasty  for 
about  a  hundred  years.  They  also  proved  an  annoyance 
to  succeeding  dynasties,  becoming  a  formidable  State, 
ranging  over  northern  China  and  engulfing  parts  of  it. 

A  number  of  these  Mongols,  as  well  probably  as  some 
of  the  Huns  and  other  Mongolic  tribes,  were  settled  in 
North  China  ;  and  so  not  only  were  there  foes  without,  but 
foes  within  ;  and  in  preparation  for  a  war  with  the  external 
foes,  the  Emperor  ordered  a  Chinese  '  St.  Bartholomew's 
Day '  of  all  the  nomadic  tribes  within  his  borders,  so  that 
200,000  families  were  slain.  To  prevent  them  turning 
traitors,  many  Chinese  also  suffered  in  the  indiscriminate 
slaughter ;  but,  even  after  such  treatment,  Tibetan  and 
Hunnish  families  collected  in  China,  and  harsh  laws  were 
enacted  against  them,  which  drove  large  numbers  of  them 
out.  Before  that,  Hienbi  Mongols  had  returned  to  China, 

446 


Mongols 

and  they  continued  to  do  so  afterwards.  There  was  a 
Hunnish  Kingdom,  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  many 
rival  ones  into  which  China  was  divided,  in  A.D.  435. 

Mongols,  under  the  name  of  Too-kiie,  assisted  the  first 
Emperor  of  the  Pang  dynasty  to  gain  the  throne  of  China. 
These  same  Turks,  as  they  were  called,  plundered  the  north- 
western and  northern  borders  of  China  during  the  whole  of 
the  T'ang  dynasty. 

The  Khitans,  another  Mongolic  tribe  originally,  have 
also  made  for  themselves  a  chapter  in  Chinese  history. 
Harrying  the  frontiers  and  plundering  the  country ; 
defeated  by  the  Chinese,  who  employed  1,800,000  men  to 
build  a  great  wall  to  protect  the  Empire  from  their  ravages 
in  the  time  of  the  Chi  dynasty  ;  eclipsed  by  the  so-called 
Turks,  they  rose,  to  be  again  defeated.  After  acknowledging 
the  supremacy  of  the  Chinese,  they  again  fought  with  them, 
and  threatened  the  North  of  China  after  the  T'ang  dynasty 
had  crippled  its  strength  in  its  exhausting  and  foolish  war 
against  ancient  Corea  ;  two  expeditions  were  sent  against 
them,  which  proved  ineffectual,  and  it  was  found  im- 
possible to  oust  them  from  the  new  territories  they  had 
acquired.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  follow  the  fortunes 
of  the  Khitans  through  all  the  intricacies  of  the  history  of 
Chinese  dealings  with  their  nomadic  neighbours.  Suffice 
it  to  say,  that  eventually,  in  A.D.  926,  the  Khitans,  after 
Eastern  Mongolia  had  been  formed  into  a  kingdom,  began 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  that  Empire  under  Abdoji,  '  one 
of  the  great  conquerors  of  mankind.'  Under  his  successors 
they  assumed  the  Imperial  power  as  the  Liao,  or  Iron 
dynasty,  overthrowing  the  Ts'in  Emperor.  They  carried 
on  incessant  wars  with  the  Sung,  and  reigned  over  the 
country  north  of  the  Yellow  River,  their  dominion  extend- 
ing as  far  north  as  the  Songari  and  Hoorha  rivers.  The 
Khitans  are  said  to  have  had  a  curious  custom,  that  of 
drinking  human  blood,  which  the  husbands  drank  from  the 
living  bodies  of  their  wives  by  cutting  a  small  slit  in  the 
wife's  back.  Their  higher  civilisation  in  other  matters 
would  almost  appear  to  throw  some  doubt  on  this  strange 

447 


Things  Chinese 

propensity,  as  they  were  painters,  and  had,  at  the  time 
when  they  entered  China,  a  literature  comprising  thousands 
of  volumes,  including  medical  works  ;  they  were  hospitable, 
and  fond  of  drink.  It  may  be  here  proper  to  remark,  that 
'Huns,'  'Turks,'  and  'Mongols'  'differ  only  as  the  Han, 
T'ang,  and  Sung  of  China  differ.  They  are  but  dynastic 
titles  of  the  same  people.'  They  were  finally  driven  out  of 
Northern  China  by  the  help  of  the  ancestors  of  the  present 
Manchus,  who  succeeded  them  as  the  Kin  dynasty,  after  a 
reign  by  the  Liao  dynasty  of  240  years.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  Peking  was  first  made  a  capital  during  their 
time. 

We  next  find  the  Kins,  as  well  as  the  native  Chinese 
dynasty  in  the  south,  swept  off  their  thrones  by  the  Mongols. 
The  name,  Kin,  is  said  by  Ross  to  mean  '  silver.'  Genghis 
Khan  had  gathered  together  the  numerous  bands  '  of  rest- 
less cavalry  on  the  north  of  Shamo  and  the  west  of  the 
Hinganlin.'  Defeated  tribes  swelled  his  numbers,  and  he 
entered  on  a  career  of  conquest ;  his  sons  completed  his 
work  as  far  as  China  was  concerned,  the  Yuan  dynasty,  as 
it  was  called,  reigning  over  the  whole  of  China  for  a  period 
of  eighty-eight  years,  until  the  Ming,  a  native  dynasty,  was 
founded  on  the  ruins  of  the  destroyed  and  hated  power  of 
the  Mongols.  (See  Article  on  Chinese  History.) 

MONGOLS,  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  CUSTOMS  OF. — The 
distinguishing  features  of  the  Mongols  are  described,  by 
the  late  celebrated  Russian  traveller,  Col.  Prejevalsky,  as 
'  a  broad  flat  face,  with  high  cheek-bones,  wide  nostrils, 
small  narrow  eyes,  large  prominent  ears,  coarse  black  hair, 
scanty  whiskers  and  beard,  a  dark  sunburnt  complexion, 
and  lastly,  a  stout  thick-set  figure,  rather  above  the  average 
height.'  The  Chinese  face  is  '  cast  in '  a  '  more  regular 
mould.'  The  men  shave  their  heads  like  the  Chinese,  but 
the  women  plait  their  hair  '  in  two  braids  decorated  with 
ribbons,  strings  of  coral,  or  glass  beads,  which  hang  down 
on  either  side  of  the  bosom.'  The  Mongols  live  in  felt  huts 
or  tents,  and  are  very  dirty,  never  washing  their  bodies  and 
faces,  and  their  hands  but  seldom.  They  drink  great 

448 


Mongol  Language 

quantities  of  tea  and  '  milk  prepared  in  various  ways,  either 
as  butter-curds,  whey,  or  kumiss,'  and  are  much  addicted  to 
drunkenness.  Mutton  is  eaten  in  great  quantities.  '  Their 
only  occupation  and  source  of  wealth  is  cattle-breeding, 
and  their  riches  are  counted  by  the  number  of  their  live 
stock.'  The  Mongols  are  very  fond  of  their  animals,  and 
lay  themselves  out  completely  for  them,  being  very 
considerate  of  them  ;  their  cattle,  etc.,  are  bartered  for 
manufactured  goods.  They  are  very  lazy,  never  walking, 
always  riding  on  horseback,  and  are  great  cowards,  but  are 
fond  of  hunting,  and  kind  and  simple-minded.  '  A  Mongol 
can  only  have  one  lawful  wife,  but  he  can  keep  concubines,1 
the  children  of  the  latter  'are  illegitimate,  and  have  no 
share  in  the  inheritance.'  '  Bribery  and  corruption  are  as 
prevalent  as  in  China.'  '  Religious  services  are  performed 
in  Tibetan.' 

Books  recommended. — Col.  Prejevalsky's  'Mongolia.'  The  late  Rev.  J. 
Gilmour's  'Among  the  Mongols,'  and  'More  About  the  Mongols.'  For  a 
'  depository  of  all  available  Mongol  lore '  on  their  history,  etc. ,  there  are  the 
huge  volumes  of  Howorth's  '  History  of  the  Mongols.' 

MONGOL  LANGUAGE.— The  Mongolian  and 
Chinese  languages  are  quite  distinct  and  not  related  :  Chinese 
is  monosyllabic  to  a  great  extent,  Mongolian  abounds  in 
words  of  several  syllables ;  Chinese  is  non-alphabetic, 
Mongolian  alphabetic.  Mongolian  is  said  to  be  an  easier 
language  to  acquire  than  Chinese,  especially  is  this  the  case 
with  the  written  language.  Gutturals  and  aspirates  are  largely 
used,  'so  much  so  that  their  speech  seems  mostly  gasping  and 
sputtering.'  One  very  curious  feature  in  the  language  is 
the  facility  with  which  terminations  are  added  to  the  verb, 
and  by  this  agglutinative  process  a  great  variety  of  mean- 
ing is  introduced  without  the  need  of  using  additional 
words ;  and  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  from  the  '  dis- 
proportionately large  part  occupied  by  the  verb '  in  the 
language  that '  sentences  are  run  out  to  an  indefinite  length, 
consisting  of  an  indefinite  number  of  participial  clauses 
strung  together  like  the  links  of  a  chain.'  The  Mongol 
language  '  is  rich  in  words  and  several  forms  and  dialects, 

449  2  F 


Things  Chinese 

which,  however,  are  not  very  distinct,  except  as  between 
Northern  and  Southern  Mongolian,  where  the  difference  is 
strongly  marked,'  where  'even  the  construction  of  the 
sentence  changes  ' ;  but,  notwithstanding  all,  it  seems  a  very 
rare  thing  for  Mongols  from  different  parts  of  the  country 
not  to  understand  each  other,  thus  forming  a  sharp  contrast 
to  the  Chinese-speaking  natives.  There  is  a  great  difference 
between  the  colloquial  and  written  language,  and  the 
natives  appear  to  find  it  well-nigh  impossible  to  write  the 
language  as  it  is  spoken.  A  line  of  Mongolian  writing  has 
been  compared  to  a  knotted  cord  ;  the  people  themselves 
say  of  it  that  it  is  like  '  a  stream  of  water  poured  out  from  a 
jug.'  They  read  from  left  to  right  in  vertical  coloumns  : — 

'  There  are  a  good  many  printed  books,  the  Chinese  Government 
having  appointed  a  special  commission,  at  the  end  of  last  century,  to 
translate  into  Mongol,  historical,  educational,  and  religious  works.' 
'But  it  may  be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  outside  of  the  sacred  books 
and  Buddhist  liturgies,  there  is  very  little  in  the  shape  of  literature 
to  be  found  in  the  Mongolian  language.  The  book  collector  may 
find  numerous  manuscript  copies  of  parts  of  Buddhist  scriptures, 
some  histories  of  famous  monks,  and  a  few  tales  written  with  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  Buddhist  doctrines,  but  secular  writings  are  very 
hard  to  find,  religion  having  taken  such  entire  possession  of  the 
Mongolian  mind  that  it  is  thought  a  waste  of  time  to  write  and  copy 
anything  that  has  not  a  religious  value.'  'There  are  schools  at 
Peking  and  Kalgan  for  teaching  the  language,  and  an  almanac  and 
some  books  are  from  time  to  time  printed  in  it.  The  learned  classes 
are  the  princes,  nobles,  and  lamas,  the  latter  also  learning  Tibetan, 
the  princes  and  nobles,  Mongol  and  Manchu.  The  common  people 
are  in  general  illiterate.' 

There  are  three  styles  of  the  written  language  :  first,  that 
of  the  sacred  books,  '  being  that  in  which  the  translations  of 
the  Buddhist  scriptures  are  made,'  stiff  in  its  style  and  ren- 
dering foreign  idioms  literally ;  second,  the  documentary 
style  characterised  by  '  formality  and  the  use  of  uncommon 
words ' ;  and,  lastly,  the  correspondence  style  in  which 
letters  and  business  documents  are  written.  The  last  is 
pure  Mongol,  and  nearer  to  the  colloquial  than  either  of  the 
other  styles. 

The  Mongols  appear  first  to  have  borrowed  the  charac- 
ters used  by  the  Uighur  Turks  of  Kashgaria,  and  this  style 
of  writing  was  commonly  used  by  Chinghiz  Khan  and  his 

450 


Mosquito 

immediate  successors.  The  Uighur  character  was  borrowed 
from  the  old  Syriac,  which  was  probably  brought  into 
Eastern  Turkestan  by  the  Nestor ian  clergy.  This  Syro- 
Uighur  alphabet  was  modified  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  in  Kublai  Khan's  time,  to  better  adapt 
it  for  the  Mongol  language.  Continuous  lines  connecting 
the  letters  vertically  were  introduced,  but  the  system  was 
not  completed.  After  this,  a  square  character  was  invented 
instead  of  the  Uighur.  This  square  character  was  '  founded 
on  a  Tibetan  modification  of  the  Devanagari.'  This  was 
not  acceptable,  though  Kublai  Khan  tried  to  '  force  it  into 
use.'  Finally,  after  a  reversion  to  the  '  Uighuresque  charac- 
ters'  with  some  additions,  this  form  was,  in  A.I).  1307-1311, 
brought  to  perfection.  '  This  is  substantially  the  character 
still  in  use  among  the  Mongols,  though  some  additions 
have  been  since  made  to  it.'  The  Manchu  alphabet,  again, 
was  modelled  upon  this  Mongol  one.  '  Roughly  speaking, 
there  is  about  as  much  difference  between  the  Mongolian 
and  Manchu  character  as  there  is  between  French  and 
English  writing.'  But,  though  very  similar  in  their  written 
forms,  the  Manchu  and  Mongolian  languages  in  their 
spoken  forms  are  quite  different. 

Books  recommended. — The  best  books  for  learning  Mongol  appear  to  be  in 
Russian.  For  a  general  account  of  the  Mongolian  language,  see  Appendix  No. 
3,  in  a  book  entitled  'James  Uilmour  of  Mongolia  :  His  Diaries,  Letters,  and 
Reports,'  by  R.  Lovett,  M.  A. 

MOSQUITO. — This  apparently  insignificant  insect — in 
fact,  a  gnat — has  always  been  considered  a  nuisance  in 
tropical  countries  ;  of  late,  with  the  new  knowledge  acquired, 
it  is  now  known  to  be  not  only  an  object  of  annoyance  but 
of  danger,  from  being  one  of  the  principal  factors  in  the 
transmission  of  malaria  (and  also  elephantiasis,  and  yellow 
fever),  the  parasites  of  malaria  running  their  cycle  through 
man  and  the  mosquito.  The  result  is  that  the  science  of 
medicine  is  being,  or  will  be,  revolutionised  as  regards  its 
application  to  these  diseases,  for  the  adage  that  prevention 
is  better  than  cure  has  received  fresh  point  with  the  new 
discoveries.  Millions  and  millions  of  human  beings  will 

451 


Things  Chinese 

rejoice  in  a  fresh  lease  of  life  and  health  as  the  result  of  the 
war  of  extermination  that  has  commenced  against  this 
ubiquitous  insect.  The  history  of  this  discovery,  or  series 
of  discoveries,  is  one  of  great  interest ;  but  this  is  not  the 
place  to  enter  upon  a  lengthened  description  of  how,  step 
by  step,  what  were  originally  suspicions  were  confirmed, 
and  eventually  the  whole  process  as  regards  malaria  was 
revealed. 

The  mosquitoes  of  the  world  were  said,  some  years  ago, 
to  number  over  200  species.  Doubtless,  with  the  discovery 
of  new  species  made  of  late,  due  to  the  careful  attention  paid 
to  this  insect,  the  number  of  known  species  has  increased 
considerably.  As  far  as  Dr.  Thomson's  investigations  at 
present  have  shown,  there  are  sixteen  species  in  Hongkong 
and  the  New  Territory,  several,  at  least,  of  which  were 
unknown  to  science  before.  Three  out  of  the  sixteen  belong 
to  the  Anopheles,  and  the  rest  are  species  of  Culex.  All 
the  Anopheles  have  spotted  wings,  at  least  this  is  the 
case  in  Hongkong,  and  the  Culex  unspotted.  It  is  the 
Anopheles  which  carries  the  malaria  germs,  while  certain 
species  of  the  Culex  give  elephantiasis.  Several  species, 
one  of  which  at  least  is  present  in  Hongkong,  transmit, 
it  is  believed,  the  yellow  fever  germ.  The  fecundity  of 
the  mosquito  is  a  great  difficulty  in  dealing  with  its 
extermination. 

'  Ficalbi  said  one  mother  mosquito  might  in  the  fifth  generation 
be  the  progenitor  of  fifty  milliards.  Howard  showed  that  one  rain 
barrel  might  contain  19,110  larva?,  and  that  they  may  produce  at 
least  twelve  generations  in  one  summer.  This,  at  seventy  eggs  a 
mosquito,  would  produce  a  number  of  mosquitoes  expressed  by 
twenty-five  figures.' 

'  The  proboscis  of  the  mosquito,  as  revealed  to  us  beneath  the 
magnifying  eye  of  the  microscope,  is  indeed  a  marvellously  con- 
structed organ.  It  is  a  perfectly  equipped  case  of  the  most  delicate 
surgical  instruments.  Here  are  its  contents  named  in  order  of  use: 
the  keenest  of  lancets  ;  a  pair  of  fine-toothed  saws,  set  back  to  back  ;  a 
powerful  suction-tube,  through  which  the  blood  of  its  victim  is  drawn  ; 
and  lastly,  an  injection  pipe,  through  which  is  spirted  the  subtle 
poison  that  causes  the  irritation  and  subsequent  swelling,  and  which 
by  the  light  of  corroborated  investigation,  we  know,  holds  the  parasite 
that  generates  malaria,  elephantiasis,  or  some  other  of  the  many 
disagreeable  ills  to  which  frail  flesh  is  heir  in  the  tropics.  Accurately 

452 


Mosquito 

-described,  the  wound  inflicted  by  the  mosquito  is  not  a  bite  at  all  ; 
for  the  flesh  is  not  pinched,  nipped,  held,  or  seized  in  any  manner 
either  by  teeth  or  by  anything  equivalent  to  teeth.  It  is  rather  a 
comparatively  deep  incision.  The  intolerable  smarting  sensation 
may  be  partly  the  result  of  contact  of  the  exposed  edges  of  the  wound 
with  the  air,  directly  the  glutted  insect  withdraws  its  proboscis  ;  but 
it  is  more  probably  very  largely  due  to  the  after-effects  of  the 
injection.' 

'  There  is,  it  appears,  a  microscopic,  parasitic  little  beast — an  amoeba 
— which  lives  and  multiplies  in  the  blood  of  man,  and  which  also 
lives  and  multiplies,  after  another  fashion,  in  the  mosquito.  The 
creature  is,  strange  to  say,  "  metoxenous  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  emigrates. 
Having  lived  one  life  in  man,  later  on  it  lives  another  life  in  the 
mosquito.  Malarial  fever  is  due  to  the  presence  and  development  of 
these  parasites  in  the  blood.  Ultimately  they  produce  "zygotes,"  and 
the  mosquito,  having  bitten  a  person  in  whom  the  zygotes  are  present, 
takes  them  into  its  own  system.  There  they  develop  themselves 
again  and,  passing  to  all  parts  of  the  insect,  make  their  way  to  the 
salivary  gland,  ready  for  the  blood  of  a  fresh  human  victim.  It  is  the 
injection  of  the  secretion  of  the  mosquito's  salivary  gland  which  causes 
the  lump  which  follows  the  mosquito's  bite.  A  large  series  of  ex- 
periments has  shown  conclusively  that  malarial  infection  is  caused  by 
the  bite  of  the  mosquito.' 

'  Mosquitoes  cannot  fly  long  distances,  though  they  may  be  carried 
by  a  strong  wind  1 5  miles.  .  .  .  Another  plan,  where  it  is  not  desired 
to  contaminate  the  water,  is  to  introduce  into  the  breeding  waters 
carp  and  other  small  fish  which  devour  the  eggs  of  the  mosquito. 
Another  remedy  is  to  drain  the  swamps,  and  still  another  is  to  plant 
eucalyptus  trees.  There  is  considerable  testimony  to  the  effect  that 
this  tree  will  drive  them  away,  and  that  a  branch  of  it  on  the  pillow  at 
night  will  afford  protection  to  the  sleeper.  In  a  rather  unpractical 
way  the  dragon-fly  is  a  remedy  against  mosquitoes,  as  he  feeds  upon 
them  at  every  stage  of  his  varied  career.  When  darting  about  in  the 
air,  as  he  seems  to  in  summer,  he  is  snapping  up  mosquitoes.' 

There  are  three  methods  of  combating  malaria  :  one  is 
to  saturate  the  human  system  with  doses  of  quinine  ; 
another  is  to  have  fine  wire  at  all  windows  and  doors 
in  malarial  districts  and  prevent  the  mosquitoes  from 
entering  the  house  ;  and  the  third  is  to  destroy  the  breeding 
places  of  the  Anopheles. 

With  regard  to  precautions,  the  following  abstract, 
made  by  the  Honourable  Dr.  Clark,  M.O.H.,  of  Hongkong, 
of  Reports  furnished  to  the  Malarial  Committee  of  the 
Royal  Society  by  Dr.  Christophers  and  Dr.  Stephenson,  is 
interesting : — 

'  I.  The  Anopheles  larvae  breed  in  small  sheltered  pools, 
especially  those  containing  organic  matter  in  suspension 

453 


Things  Chinese 

These  pools  may  be  either  natural  or  artificial,  the  latter 
being  most  commonly  rain-water  tanks.  The  larvae  may 
even  be  found  in  deep  wells  when  the  surface  of  the  water 
is  some  20  or  30  feet  down. 

'  II.  Anopheles  can  fly  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or 
more. 

'III.  At  the  end  of  a  dry  season,  living  ova  do  not  exist 
in  the  earth  of  the  dried-up  pools. 

'  IV.  Anopheles  usually  exist  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
native  dwellings  throughout  the  whole  of  the  dry  season, 
even  when  it  may  extend  to  several  months,  and  from  5  to 
10  per  cent,  of  such  Anopheles  will  be  found  to  be  infected 
with  the  malarial  organism. 

'  V.  In  tropical  countries  Europeans  are  mostly  infected 
with  malaria  from  the  natives,  not  from  other  Europeans,  so 
that  the  first  means  of  protection  for  Europeans  consists  in 
avoiding  the  native  quarters  with  their  infected  population 
and  infested  Anopheles. 

'VI.  European  dwellings  should,  therefore,  be  distant 
not  less  than  400  or  500  yards  from  the  nearest  native 
dwellings  other  than  those  servants'  quarters  which  are  a 
necessary  adjunct  to  the  dwelling  and  which  come  under 
the  personal  supervision  of  the  European  occupants  of  the 
dwelling.' 

Pools  in  which  mosquitoes  may  breed  should  be  filled 
up,  nullahs  trained  so  as  to  offer  no  facilities  of  lodgment 
for  the  Anopheles,  and  brushwood,  undergrowth,  and  grass 
kept  closely  cropped,  for  the  insect  frequents  such  places  of 
shelter  ;  and  in  houses,  dark  corners  cleared  out  and 
fumigation  with  sulphur  occasionally  carried  out  in  winter 
months  to  dislodge  the  mosquito  while  hibernating  in 
servants'  quarters,  basements,  box-rooms,  stables,  etc.  The 
following  directions  by  Dr.  Thomson,  of  Hongkong,  who  has 
made  the  study  of  the  mosquito  a  speciality,  are  herewith 
appended.  The  directions  are  for  the  destruction  of 
the  larvae  of  mosquitoes,  and  they  are  published  as  an 
appendix  to  Dr.  Thomson's  able  and  interesting  annual 
report  on  his  systematic  examination  and  classification 

454 


Mourning 

of  the  mosquitoes  that  prevail  in  Hongkong  and  its 
dependencies.  This  appendix  is  dated  the  i8th  October 
1901,  and  appeared  in  the  Hongkong  Government  Gazette 
for  that  year  : — 

'The  one  great  principle  to  act  on  is  to  prevent  or  abolish  all 
stagnant  water. 

'  Careful  search  should  be  systematically  made  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  all  dwellings  for  any  vessels  that  might  contain  stagnant 
water  from  rain  or  any  other  source  ;  and  arrangements  should  be 
made  to  keep  them  empty,  or  to  have  them  emptied,  or  the  water 
changed,  once  a  week. 

'If  running  streams  or  ravines  should  be  near  .  .  .  efforts  should 
be  made  to  confine  the  water  to  a  central  channel.  Side  pools  should 
be  filled  up  ;  rock  hollows  should  be  smoothed  out  by  cement  or 
concrete,  or  a  channel  should  be  made  from  them  by  means  of 
hammer  and  chisel  ;  and  a  ready  exit,  or  drainage  under  ground, 
should  take  the  place  of  all  oozings  of  water  from  the  ground 
surface. 

'  Where  this  guiding  principle  cannot  be  applied,  or  until  it  can  be 
applied,  still  or  stagnant  water  surfaces  should  be  systematically 
inspected  for  the  presence  of  larva;  of  mosquitoes,  and  measures 
adopted  to  destroy  them.  This  is  most  conveniently  done  in  this 
locality  by  sprinkling  the  water  surface  with  kerosene  oil.  The  oil 
spreads  in  a  very  thin  layer  over  the  surface  and  prevents  the  larva? 
from  rising  to  breathe  the  air,  which  results  in  their  speedy  death. 
About  one  tea-spoonful  of  oil  to  each  square  yard  of  water  surface  is 
sufficient,  and,  if  there  is  little  movement  of  the  water,  once  a  week  is 
often  enough. 

'As  the  colour  of  the  larva?  assimilates  itself  to  the  colour  of  the 
water  it  inhabits,  the  larvae  cannot  usually  be  easily  seen  in  the 
water-pool  itself.  It  is  necessary  to  dip  up  the  water  with  a  rapid  dip 
of  a  large  spoon  or  a  saucer.' 

Books  recommended.  —  'Tropical  Diseases,'  by  Patrick  Manson,  M.I). 
'Mosquitoes  and  Malaria,'  by  0.  Christy;  Sampson,  Low,  Marston  &  Co. 
'Gnats  or  Mosquitoes,'  by  G.  M.  Giles,  I. M.S.,  John  Ball,  Sons,  & 
Danielson.  'A  Monograph  of  the  Culidie  or  Mosquitoes,'  by  F.  V.  Theobald, 
Entomologist  to  the  British  Museum.  Published  by  the  British  Museum. 

MOURNING. — The  Chinese  are  very  punctilious  in 
their  observance  of  mourning.  At  the  funeral  the  mourners 
are  clothed  in  coarse  sackcloth,  while  the  sons  and  nearest 
of  kin  wear  caps  of  the  same.  Mourning,  especially  deep 
mourning,  is  not  graceful  in  the  East.  No  Chinese  widow 
looks  well  in  her  weeds  ;  and  to  enhance  the  unsightliness 
of  the  mourning  costume,  the  finger-nails  are  not  cut,  and 
the  mourner  goes  unshaven  and  unshorn  for  seven  weeks. 
No  marriages  of  course,  take  place  in  the  family,  nor  can 

455 


Things  Chinese 

its  members  go  to  theatres.  The  two  large,  red,  globular 
lanterns  hung  up  outside  the  front  door  are  changed  for 
white  ones  ;  the  pieces  of  red  paper  pasted  over  the  door 
are  replaced  by  white  strips.  The  widow  and  children  sit 
on  the  ground  for  seven  days,  and  sleep  on  mats  on  the 
floor  near  the  coffin  ;  food  is  not  cooked,  the  friends  and 
neighbours  supplying  what  is  required  ;  chop-sticks  are  not 
allowed  to  be  used,  but  the  deep  sorrow,  supposed  to  be 
felt,  is  symbolised  by  the  employment  of  the  hands  in  eating, 
and  needles  and  knives  must  be  eschewed  as  well.  After 
the  deepest  mourning  of  sackcloth  is  discarded,  white  is 
worn  as  deep  mourning — white  shoes,  white  robes,  a  white 
button  on  the  cap,  and  white  cord  braided  into  the  queue. 
Blue  is  used  as  lighter  mourning  ;  it  must  not,  however,  be 
supposed  that  a  simple  blue  jacket  implies  that  anyone 
has  been  bereaved  of  friends,  as  a  great  majority  of  the 
Chinese  would  then  be  in  mourning  every  day  of  their  lives  ; 
but  a  blue  knob  on  the  top  of  the  cap  instead  of  a  black  or 
red  one,  also  a  blue  cord  braided  into  the  end  of  the  queue, 
are  other  signs  of  it,  as  well  as  certain  styles  of  blue 
shoes ;  blue  earrings  are  worn  by  women.  In  the  North 
of  China,  white  is  the  only  mourning  used.  The  visiting 
cards  also  show  that  one  is  in  mourning,  a  different  shade 
of  colour  being  used.  The  whole  nation  goes  into  mourn- 
ing, to  a  certain  extent,  on  the  death  of  the  sovereign  :  no 
one  is  allowed  to  shave  for  100  days  after  it  is  proclaimed  ; 
the  poor  barbers  must  have  a  sad  time  of  it.  The  dis- 
comfort and  distress  are  minimised  by  the  natives  getting 
a  clean  shave  before  the  decree  enforcing  it  is  promulgated. 
The  writer  chanced  to  be  in  Shanghai  on  the  death  of  the 
Emperor  T'ung  Chih,  and  it  was  curious  to  see  all  the 
wheel-barrows  come  out  with  blue  clothes  on  their  seats 
(for  wheel-barrows  are  the  cabs  of  the  native  population 
in  Shanghai)  instead  of  the  red  ones. 

A  Chinese  wears  mourning  for  his  superiors  and  equals 
in  relationship  ;  he  does  not  require  to  put  it  on  for  his  wife, 
but  an  affectionate  husband,  as  the  author  himself  has  seen, 
will  sometimes  put  on  white  at  his  wife's  funeral,  though  it 

456 


Mourning 

is  not  incumbent  on  him  to  do  so,  or  even  to. attend  the 
corpse  to  the  grave ;  in  the  same  way,  some  abstain  from 
red  cord  in  the  queue,  and  bright  colours,  though  it  is  not 
obligatory  to  do  so.  As  some  who  profess  horrible  creeds 
are  often  better  than  their  beliefs,  so  there  are  Chinese 
who  are  better  than  their  heartless  ceremonials,  which 
take  no,  or  but  little,  account  of  women  or  children. 

A  period  of  seven  times  seven  days  is  observed  in 
mourning,  funeral  rites  being  performed  on  each  seventh 
day  up  till  the  forty- ninth. 

There  are  five  degrees  of  mourning,  as  follows  : — for 
parents  ;  for  grandparents  and  great-grandparents  ;  for 
brothers,  sisters,  etc.;  for  uncles,  aunts,  etc.;  and  for  distant 
relatives  in  line  of  descent  or  ascent. 

In  the  first,  sackcloth  without  hem  or  border  ;  in  the 
second,  sackcloth  with  hem  or  border  ;  in  the  third,  fourth, 
and  fifth,  pieces  of  sackcloth  are  placed  on  certain  parts  of 
the  dress.  When  sackcloth  is  worn,  after  the  third  interval 
of  seven  days  is  over,  the  mourners  can  cast  it  off,  and  then 
wear  plain  colours,  such  as  white,  grey,  black,  and  blue. 
For  a  parent,  the  period  of  mourning  is  nominally  three 
years,  but  really  twenty-seven  months,  and  for  all  this  time 
no  silk  can  be  worn ;  during  these  months,  officials  have  to 
resign  their  appointments,  as  a  general  rule,  and  retire  from 
public  life.  There  is  an  immense  amount  of  ceremonial 
connected  with  Chinese  mourning,  and  different  duties  to 
be  performed,  certain  of  them  devolving  on  the  chief 
mourner,  such  as  carrying  a  certain  mourning  staff  in  the 
procession.  The  whole  subject  is  one  that  much  might  be 
written  upon,  as  there  are  many  curious  customs  connected 
with  deaths,  such,  for  example,  as  the  chief  mourner, 
supported  on  each  side  and  accompanied  by  friends,  going 
out  with  a  musician  playing  a  discordant  flageolet,  till  they 
come  to  a  well  or  pool,  when  a  cash  or  two  is  flung  into  the 
water,  of  which  some  is  dipped  up  in  a  basin  they  have 
brought  with  them,  taken  home,  and  the  corpse  washed  in 
it ;  while  lanterns  with  blue  characters  on  them  arc  hung 
up  at  the  front  door  instead  of  the  usual  red  ones  with 

457 


Things  Chinese 

black  characters  ;  and  the  ornament  over  the  front  door  (a 
curious  shaped  sort  of  tablet  suspended  over  the  doors  of 
officials,  and  at  weddings  and  funerals)  is  of  white  paper 
pasted  on  a  framework  of  bamboo. 

A  shed  constructed  of  bamboo  and  mats,  or  a  roof  made 
of  the  same  materials,  is  put  up  over  the  street  in  front  of 
the  house  in  which  the  death  has  taken  place  ;  a  paper 
stork  is  erected  on  the  top  of  bamboo  poles,  rising  to  the 
height  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet  above  the  street — for  it  is 
believed  that  the  spirits  take  their  flight  into  the  other 
world  on  such  birds,  and  paper,  many  feet  in  length  and  a 
yard  or  two  in  breadth,  is  posted  up  on  the  outside  wall  of 
the  house,  giving  notice  of  the  spirit's  departure  and  the 
route  to  be  taken,  and  warning  others  from  coming  across 
the  road,  in  case  any  disaster  should  happen.  Funeral  cards 
are  sent  out  by  the  family,  giving  intimation  of  the  death 
to  friends.  These  are  large  documents,  and  amongst  other 
matters,  they  contain  the  date  of  birth  and  death  of  the 
deceased  and  a  list  of  the  children  ;  a  slip  is  enclosed  with 
them,  giving  the  date  when  the  reception  of  friends  to 
worship  the  spirit  of  the  departed  one  will  take  place.  A 
small  present  of  money  (perhaps  a  sum  of  fifty  cents.,  that 
being  a  very  common  amount)  is  sent  to  the  bereaved 
family  to  purchase  candles,  joss-paper,  and  incense  for  the 
ceremonies.  As  an  instance  of  what  may  take  place, 
we  quote  from  a  Chinese  novel  the  directions  given 
by  the  Astrologer  for  the  funeral  rites  of  an  official's 
wife  : — 

'  (This  Astrologer)  decided  that  the  coffin  should  remain  in  the 
house  for  seven  times  seven  days,  that  is  forty-nine  days  ;  that  after 
the  third  day,  the  mourning  rites  should  be  begun  and  the  formal 
cards  should  be  distributed  ;  that  all  that  was  to  be  done  during  these 
forty-nine  days  was  to  invite  one  hundred  and  eight  Buddhist  bonzes 
to  perform,  in  the  Main  Hall,  the  High  Confession  Mass,  in  order  to 
ford  the  souls  of  the  departed  relatives  across  the  abyss  of  suffering, 
and  afterwards  to  transmute  the  spirit  (of  Mrs.  Ch'in) ;  that,  in 
addition,  an  altar  should  be  erected  in  the  Tower  of  Heavenly 
Fragrance,  where  nine  times  nine  virtuous  Taoist  priests  should,  for 
nineteen  days,  offer  up  prayers  for  absolution  from  punishment,  and 
purification  from  retribution.  That  after  these  services,  the  tablet 
should  be  moved  into  the  Garden  of  Concentrated  Fragrance,  and 

458 


Mourning* 


that  in  the  presence  of  the  tablet,  fifteen  additional  eminent  bonzes 
and  fifteen  renowned  Taoist  priests  should  confront  the  altar  and 
perform  meritorious  deeds  every  seven  days.' 

Further  on  we  have,  in  the  same  novel,  the  follow- 
ing :— 

'  This  day  was  the  thirty-fifth  day,  the  very  day  of  the  fifth  seven, 
and  the  whole  company  of  bonzes  had  just  (commenced  the  services) 
for  unclosing  the  earth,  and  breaking  Hell  open  ;  for  sending  a 
light  to  show  the  way  to  the  departed  spirit  for  its  being  admitted 
to  an  audience  by  the  King  of  Hell  ;  for  arresting  all  the  malicious 
devils,  as  well  as  for  soliciting  the  soul-saving  Buddha  to  open  the 
golden  bridge  and  to  head  the  way  with  streamers.  The  Taoist 
priests  were  engaged  in  reverently  reading  the  prayers  ;  in  worship- 
ping the  Three  Pure  Ones  and  in  prostrating  themselves  before  the 
Gemmy  Lord.  The  disciples  of  abstraction  were  burning  -incense, 
in  order  to  release  the  hungered  spirits,  and  were  reading  the  Water 
Regrets  Manual.  There  was  also  a  company  of  twelve  nuns,  of 
tender  years,  got  up  in  embroidered  dresses,  and  wearing  red  shoes, 
who  stood  before  the  coffin,  silently  reading  all  the  incantations  for 
the  reception  of  the  spirit  (from  the  lower  regions),  with  the  result 
that  the  utmost  bustle  and  stir  prevailed.' 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  interesting  to  give  an 
account  of  a  Chinese  funeral  procession,  and  we  select  for 
that  purpose  a  tolerably  full  description  of  that  of  the  late 
Mr.  T'ong  King-sing  taken  from  the  North  China  Daily 

News : — 

'  At  the  head  of  the  procession  were  two  gigantic  paper  figures, 
one  in  black  and  the  other  in  red.  The  first  represented  a  fierce- 
looking  soldier,  and  the  other  a  mild-looking  minister  of  state  ;  the 
functions  of  these  being  to  scare  away  any  malignant  spirits  that 
might  be  inclined  to  trouble  the  spirit  of  the  deceased.  Next  came 
five  men  on  ponies,  in  single  file,  followed  by  sixty  dirty  young 
ragamuffins  bearing  boards  containing  the  names  of  the  offices  and 
titles  of  the  deceased.  Then  came  two  flags  ;  four  more  men  dressed 
in  blue  on  ponies,  followed  by  an  umbrella,  thirteen  soldiers  carrying 
many  coloured  banners,  twenty-four  men  on  foot  bearing  weapons 
with  pewter  heads  and  wooden  handles,  two  men  blowing  clarions,  a 
mandarin  on  a  pony,  four  soldiers  with  banners,  twenty-three  soldiers 
with  bayonets  fixed,  behind  them  being  a  three-flounced  umbrella  and 
mandarin  runners.  Next  came  ten  musicians  very  well  dressed,  and 
another  umbrella  and  attendants.  A  green  chair,  borne  by  eight 
carriers,  with  a  mourner  on  each  side,  and  two  handsome  scrolls  im- 
mediately preceded  the  Taotai's  band,  who  were  followed  by  thirty 
well-dressed  soldiers,  a  number  of  tables  on  which  were  a  roasted  pig, 
a  skinned  goat,  fruit,  and  pewter  wine-bottles,  while  some  paper  tables 
had  on  them  gold  and  silver  mock  sycee,  scrolls,  and  representations 
of  Chin  Shan  and  Yin  Shan, — the  Gold  and  Silver  Mountains — all  these 

459 


Things  Chinese 

latter  intended  to  be  burnt.  The  handsomest  part  of  the  procession 
was  the  "  myriad  name  umbrellas,"  of  which  there  were  twenty-four, 
presented  by  the  people  whose  names  appeared  in  velvet  characters 
on  the  lower  flounces,  while  round  the  upper  ones  were  quotations 
from  the  classics.  These  umbrellas  were  very  handsome,  and  were 
mostly  of  silk  and  in  many  colours.  Then  there  were  two  more  chairs, 
some  Taoist  and  Buddhist  priests,  satin  scrolls,  and  a  chair  containing 
the  picture  of  the  deceased,  on  either  side  of  the  chair  being  a  mourner. 
Next  came  some  Buddhist  priests  playing  on  flutes,  and  then  behind 
them  boys  carrying  flowers  on  stands.  A  hundred  of  the  friends  of 
the  deceased  in  their  official  robes  followed,  each  bearing  a  lighted 
joss-stick.  Many  handsome  scrolls  succeeded,  and  then  came  the 
Town  Band,  four  mourners,  the  sons  of  the  deceased,  gongs,  and 
images.  The  catafalque  was  carried  by  thirty-two  bearers,  the  pole 
which  ran  through  it  having  the  head  and  tail  of  a  dragon,  a  token 
of  Imperial  favour,  and  the  end  of  the  procession  was  brought  up  by 
hundreds  of  Chinese  in  carriages  and  chairs  and  on  foot.' 

What  value  the  Chinese  attach  to  such  matters  may  be 
judged  by  the  saying  that,  '  the  most  important  thing  in  life 
is  to  get  buried  well.' 

No  one  who  has  not  been  married  is  entitled  to  a 
funeral  procession.  The  coffin  in  such  a  case  would  simply 
be  carried  to  the  grave  without  all  the  concomitants  of 
music,  and  all  the  chairs  and  open  stands,  lanterns,  insignia, 
et  hoc  genus  omne,  which  brought  together  into  a  trailing 
picturesque  confusion  form  that  delight  of  the  Chinese,  a 
procession.  When  children  die  they  are  not  always 
coffined,  but  the  bodies  are  often  put  into  a  box. 
Amongst  the  Cantonese  this  may,  perhaps,  be  done  in 
eight  cases  out  of  ten,  and  the  corpses  of  infants  which  are 
seen  floating  in  rivers  and  pools  and  lying  by  the  wayside 
or  on  the  hill  slopes  are  many  of  them  those  which  are 
thus  indecently  cast  aside  without  heathen  burial,  though 
some  of  them  are  the  bodies  which  have  been  exposed  or 
killed  outright  by  their  inhuman  parents. 

There  are  many  superstitions  prevalent  with  regard  to 
funerals  :  some  firmly  believed  in  by  some  people,  and  by 
others  thought  of  little  account.     Again,  different  super- 
stitions are  found  in  different  parts  of  the  country  ;  some 
places  being  extremely  superstitious  and  others  less  so. 
The  following  will  serve  as  instances  :— 
It   is   not  lucky  for  certain  people  to  go  to  a  certain 

460 


Mourning 

funeral. or  even  to  see  the  corpse  when  the  encoffining  takes 
place.  The  man  who  selects  the  auspicious  time  and  date 
for  burial,  etc.,  states  what  persons  of  a  certain  age 
(dependent  on  the  time  the  deceased  died)  should  not  be 
present. 

There  is  an  idea  that  if  two  coffins  come  together,  i.e., 
meet  while  going  in  opposite  directions,  should  the  death 
or  deaths  be  recent,  this  will  cause  another  death  in  the 
family ;  and  if  two  coffins  meet  another  it  will  cause  two 
deaths.  Such  circumstances  are  supposed  to  be  unlucky 
for  the  living  and  even  for  the  spirit  of  the  dead,  and  will 
prevent  in  the  last  case  the  family  of  the  deceased  from 
having  good  luck.  In  this  connection  also,  see  Article  on 
Geomancy. 

The  bringing  of  several  corpses  together  while  only 
recently  dead  is  much  objected  to  by  some  Chinese. 

The  distinction  between  the  sexes  as  to  meeting  one 
another,  etc.,  is  overlooked  to  a  certain  degree  at  times  of 
death. 

People  of  a  certain  age  should  not  attend  a  certain 
funeral  or  even  see  the  corpse  at  all  ;  this  depends  on  the 
hour  the  deceased  died  and  the  age  of  the  living  persons. 
In  order  to  find  this  out,  the  dates  and  hours  of  birth  and 
death  of  the  deceased  are  taken  to  a  man  whose  business 
it  is  to  select  the  lucky  dates  for  events,  i.e.,  for  starting 
business,  for  encoffining,  and  for  burial  ;  the  same  man 
decides  whether  two  persons  should  marry,  and  the  day  for 
boys  to  start  going  to  school,  and  sometimes,  as  well,  the 
day  to  start  on  a  journey,  but  this  is  seldom  done  ;  and  the 
people  also  look  in  the  almanacs  for  the  time  for  digging 
foundations  for  a  house  and  for  putting  up  ridge-poles. 
This  man  may  be  a  fortune-teller  as  well  or  not.  He  gives 
directions  as  to  what  aged  people  are  not  to  look  at  the 
corpse  at  the  encoffining  and  not  to  look  on  at  the  burying. 
There  is  a  propitious  time  for  the  funeral  to  start,  and  a 
lucky  time  for  the  corpse  to  be  lowered  into  the  grave. 
Again,  in  Amoy  they  are  intensely  superstitious  over  all 
these  things,  and  funerals  in  consequence  are  fixed  for  all 

461 


Things  Chinese 

hours  of  the  day  and  night — midnight,  or  any  other  hour 
which  may  turn  out  to  be  lucky. 

Books  recommended. — Archdeacon  Gray's  'China,'  for  Cantonese  customs. 
Rev.  J.  Doolittle's  '  Social  Customs  of  the  Chinese,'  for  those  at  Foochow  ; 
and  one  or  two  articles  in  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press,  for  1861,  for  some 
account  of  those  of  the  Hakkas.  Also  see  the  'Li-Ki'  as  to  the  ancient 
mourning  customs  on  which  the  modern  ones  are  based,  modified  by  local 
usages  and  practice.  The  China  Review,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  47  and  48,  contains 
a  list  of  Days  of  Official  Mourning  in  China.  For  a  short  account  of  some 
of  the  funeral  rites  performed  once  every  seven  days  until  the  forty-ninth  day 
see  China  Review,  vol.  xvii.  p.  38. 

MUSIC  :- 

'  Music  in  China  has  undoubtedly  been  known  since  the  remotest 
antiquity.  It  is  said  to  have  been  invented  by  the  Emperor  Fu-hsi 
(B.C.  2852).  ...  It  is,  say  the  Chinese,  the  essence  of  the  harmony 
existing  between  heaven,  earth,  and  man.  .  .  .  The  first  invaders  of 
China  certainly  brought  with  them  certain  notions  of  music.  The 
Aborigines  themselves  had  also  some  kind  of  musical  system  which 
their  conquerors  admired,  and  probably  mixed  with  their  own.' 

Different  systems  seem  to  have  been  evolved  by 
different  emperors  and  were  differently  styled,  but  it 
assumed  its  '  characteristic  form '  with  the  Emperor 
Huang  Ti  (B.C.  2697),  when,  amidst  other  innovations, 
names  were  given  to  the  sounds,  and  one  fixed  upon  as  a 
base  note.  Theoretically,  music  holds  a  position  of  para- 
mount importance  in  the  good  government  of  a  State. 
Either  this  ancient  music  was  of  an  extraordinary  character 
— for  Confucius  was  so  ravished  on  hearing  a  piece,  com- 
posed by  the  great  Shun  1,600  years  before  his  time,  that 
he  did  not  taste  meat  for  three  years — or  the  Chinese  were 
sensitively  responsive  to  certain  combinations  of  sounds,  in 
a  manner  unknown  to  Europeans.  Unfortunately  we  have 
no  means  of  testing  which  is  true,  for  the  knowledge  of 
this  ancient  music  is  lost.  If  the  descriptions  of  it  are  true 
to  the  reality,  no  one  who  has  heard  Chinese  music  of  the 
present  day  will  have  any  hesitation  in  accepting  the 
statement  of  its  being  unknown  now,  for  it  has  been  re- 
marked, in  a  comic  strain,  that  the  music  of  the  Chinese  is 
' "  deliciously  horrible,"  like  cats  trying  to  sing  bass  with 
sore  throats.'  Some  most  abstruse  theories  are  all  that 

462 


Music 

remain  for  us.  At  the  great  destruction  of  books,  those  on 
music,  as  well  as  musical  instruments,  shared  '  the  same 
fate  as  every  object  which  could  give  rise  to  any  remem- 
brance of  past  times.' 

Great  efforts  were  made  to  resuscitate  the  lost  art ;  some 
of  the  books  and  instruments  were  recovered  from  their 
hiding  places  ;  but  the  times  were  not  favourable  for  the 
cultivation  of  peaceful  arts  ;  the  memory  of  the  great 
music-master,  in  whose  family  the  office  had  been  heredit- 
ary, was  not  sufficient  to  bridge  over  the  chasm  which  the 
great  catastrophe  had  occasioned  ;  different  authors  dis- 
agreed in  their  theories,  and  a  confusion  of  the  different 
systems  has  resulted.  Two  Emperors  of  the  present 
dynasty,  K'ang  Hsi  and  Ch'ien  Lung,  used  their  best 
efforts  '  to  bring  music  back  to  its  old  splendour,'  but 
without  much  success. 

'  Modern  music  really  dates  from  the  T'ang  dynasty 
(A.D.  600).'  Mr.  Van  Aalst  divides  Chinese  music  into 
two  kinds  ;  '  ritual  or  sacred  music,  which  is  passably  sweet, 
and  generally  of  a  minor  character ;  and  the  theatrical 
or  popular  music.  .  .  .  The  present  Chinese  theoretically 
admit  seven  sounds  in  the  scale,  but  practically  they  only 
use  five,  and  that  as  well  in  ritual  music  as  in  popular 
tunes.'  Chinese  music  cannot  be  exactly  represented  on 
our  Western  musical  instruments,  as  the  intervals  between 
the  notes  are  not  the  same  as  ours. 

Ritual  music  is  used  in  the  acts  of  worship  in  which 
the  Emperor  either  takes  part  himself  or  is  represented  by 
a  deputy,  such  as  the  worship  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  of 
Ancestors,  of  the  Sun  and  Moon,  etc.,  and  of  Confucius. 
The  popular  music  includes  all  other  kinds,  and  there  are 
not  a  few.  Not  a  procession  of  any  importance  winds  its 
meandering  course  through  the  busy  narrow  lanes,  that  do 
duty  for  streets  in  a  great  part  of  China,  but  has  bands  of 
musicians,  sometimes  scores  of  bands,  having  small  drums 
and  clashing  cymbals,  etc.  That  music  should  take  a  pro- 
minent part  in  a  marriage  is  naturally  to  be  expected,  but 
it  takes  an  equally  prominent  part  in  funerals,  the  poorest 

463 


Things  Chinese 

of  which  has  at  least  one  musician,  and  the  better  ones 
more,  playing  a  dirge  on  shrill  clarionets — in  the  latter  case 
also  bands  of  performers  on  instruments  are  seen  as  well. 
No  officer  of  a  high  grade  proceeds  on  an  official  visit 
without  the  deep-toned  boom  of  the  sonorous  gong  pro- 
claiming, by  the  number  of  beats,  the  rank  of  the  '  great 
man,'  while  its  other  uses  are  not  a  few.  In  evening 
worship  on  board  ship,  it  [and  the  drum  provide  the 
music. 

Much  of  the  attraction  of  the  theatre  to  the  natives 
consists  in  the  music  and  singing — attractive  to  the  native, 
but  ear-splitting  and  headache-producing  to  the  foreigner. 
The  singing  on  the  stage  'is  not  unfrequently  in  the 
"  recitative  "  style,  and  the  way  the  orchestra  accompanies, 
in  broken,  sudden  chords,  or  in  long  notes,  bears  a  striking 
resemblance  to  our  European  recitative.' 

Ballad  singing  is  much  appreciated  ;  blind  men  play  one 
species  of  guitar,  while  blind  singing  girls  accompany 
themselves  on  another.  The  courtesans  are  given  a 
musical  education  according  to  Chinese  ideas ;  and 
scarcely  a  boy  or  coolie  but  delights  in  singing  to 
his  heart's  content  from  a  book  of  songs  of  one  kind  or 
another,  or  screeches  a  song  in  imitation  of  some  theatrical 
character.  Grass-cutters  and  field-labourers  beguile  the 
time  by  singing  responsive  songs,  the  men  and  boys  sing- 
ing one  verse  and  the  girls  the  other.  The  Buddhist 
priests  chant  in  their  services ;  while  the  Taoists  also 
chime  their  instruments  and  sing  their  liturgies. 

There  is  quite  a  variety  of  musical  instruments  in  use, 
some  being  confined  to  the  Chinese  sacred  music  in  their 
ritual  ceremonies,  and  other  to  popular  music.  One  of  the 
most  ancient  is  called  the  '  stone  chimes,'  consisting  of  a 
series  of  sonorous  stones  of  varying  thickness,  hung  in 
a  frame.  There  is  also  the  '  single  sonorous  stone '  and 
a  marble  flute.  This  employment  of  stone  for  musical 
instruments  is  peculiar  to  China.  A  '  conch,'  a  large  shell, 
is  used  by  soldiers,  watchmen,  and  bands  of  pirates. 

Bells  of  different  shapes — square  and  round,  and  of  all 
464 


Music 

weights,  from  over  fifty  tons  downwards — are  much  used, 
every  temple  of  any  size  having  one  large  one  at  least,  as 
well  as  a  large  drum.  Amongst  curious  ancient  Chinese 
musical  instruments  may  be  noted  the  chimes  of  small  bells 
suspended  in  a  framework  ;  and  the  chimes  of  gongs,  ten 
in  a  frame  ;  while  another  outrt  object  is  a  wooden  mortar 
struck  with  a  wooden  hammer.  The  cymbals  in  use  are 
said  to  have  come  originally  from  India. 

Some -of  the  stringed  instruments  are  also  most  ancient ; 
there  are  a  number  of  lutes,  guitars,  and  violins,  some  of  the 
latter  with  the  bow  passing  between  the  strings. 

Of  wind  instruments,  there  are  flutes  and  clarionets,  or 
flageolets. 

Wooden  instruments  are  also  made  :  one  of  the  most 
common  is  the  wooden  fish,  it  is  shaped  somewhat  like  a 
skull,  and  hollowed  out ;  it  is  struck  with  a  piece  of  wood, 
and  is  much  used  by  priests.  Of  drums  there  are  not  a  few 
varieties. 

'The  sh£ng  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  Chinese  musical 
instruments.  .  .  .  No  other  instrument  is  nearly  so  perfect,  either  for 
sweetness  of  tone  or  delicacy  of  construction.  The  principles  em- 
bodied in  it  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  of  our  grand  organs. 
Indeed,  according  to  various  writers,  the  introduction  of  the  sheng 
into  Europe  led  to  the  invention  of  the  accordion  and  the  harmonium. 
Kratzenstein,  an  organ-builder  of  St.  Petersburg,  having  become  the 
possessor  of  a  sheng,  conceived  the  idea  of  applying  the  principle  to 
organ  stops.' 

The  following  notes  written  to  the  author  by  a  scientific 
Professor  of  Music  will  be  of  interest : — 

'  It  is  strange  that  the  Chinese  found  out  perfect  Intonation  cen- 
turies before  we  ever  dreamt  of  such  a  thing,  and  that  the  scale  of 
music  is  based  not  upon  the  ist  sound  or  tonic,  but  upon  the  4th. 
The  sets  of  tubes  kept  to  tune  instruments  by  (that  is  the  standard 
cones  kept  at  the  Capital,  gauged  by  their  holding  so  many  grains  of 
millet)  are  scientifically  exact,  with  one  curious  exception,  at  the 
6th,  which  is  81,  while  the  true  scale  is  only  80,  the  difference  being  a 
comma  of  81/80,  which  is  the  cause  of  all  our  trouble  in  tempered 
tuning.  The  scale  of  Nature  is  in  the  proportion  of 

ist        2nd        3rd       4th         5th         6th        7th         8th 
True  48        -54         60         64         72         80         90         96 

Chinese        48         54         60        64         72         Si         90        96 

This  has  been  caused  by  the  fact  which  has  stumbled  all  our  learned 

465  2   G 


Things  Chinese 

musicians,  viz.,  that  the  2nd  tone  of  the  scale  54  does  not  bear  a 
perfect  fifth  of  2  to  3,  but  is  imperfect  by  a  comma. 

'Another  misleader  to  all  writers  on  Chinese  Music  is  that  the  scale 
is  used  in  the  same  way  as  the  Moderns  do,  viz.,  from  the  ist  or  Tonic 
to  its  Octave.  Chinese  Music  is  quite  different,  and,  like  our  old 
Scotch,  Irish,  and  English  Music — indeed,  all  the  old  music  of  the 
world.  It  may  begin  on  any  note  of  the  scale,  reading  the  tones  from 
the  ist  to  the  ist,  2nd  to  the  2nd,  3rd  to  the  3rd,  and  so  on  ;  for 
instance,  if  you  look  at  "  Madame  Wang,"  page  38  of  the  treatise 
[Chinese  Music],  you  will  see  it  runs  from  the  3rd  to  the  3rd  of  the 
scale,  that  is  from  Mi  to  Mi.  Page  42,  "  Haunts  of  Pleasure,"  is  in 
the  mode  of  the  ist  of  the  scale;  44,  "Oh  Manima,"  mode  of  the 
2nd  ;  so  is  the  "  Wedding  March,"  page  46.  The  "  Funeral  March," 
same  page,  is  in  the  mode  of  the  3rd  ;  please  compare  this  melody  with 
Macrimmon's  "  Lament,"  or  with  Alackintosh's  in  the  "  Thistle," 
and  you  will  see  how  much  they  are  of  the  same  character.  .  .  . 
Read  the  Introduction  to  the  "Thistle"  .  .  .  specially  as  to  the 
modes  ;  what  is  explained  there  of  Scottish  Music  is  equally  true  of 
Chinese.' 

Chinese  music,  as  looked  upon  from  a  foreign  standpoint, 
has  been  thus  described  : — 

'The  intervals  of  the  Chinese  scale  not  being  tempered,  some  of 
the  notes  sound  to  foreign  ears  utterly  false  and  discordant.  The 
instruments  not  being  constructed  with  the  rigorous  precision  which 
characterises  our  European  instruments,  there  is  no  exact  justness  of 
intonation,  and  the  Chinese  must  content  themselves  with  an  a  pen 
pres.  The  melodies  being  always  in  unison,  always  in  the  same  key, 
always  equally  loud  and  unchangeable  in  movement,  they  cannot 
fail  to  appear  wearisome  and  monotonous  in  comparison  with  our 
complicated  melodies.  Chinese  melodies  are  never  definitely  major 
nor  minor  ;  they  are  constantly  floating  between  the  two,  and  the 
natural  result  is  that  they  lack  the  vigour,  the  majesty,  the  tender 
lamentations  of  our  minor  mode  ;  and  the  charming  effects  resulting 
from  the  alternation  of  the  two  modes.'  '  The  Chinese  have, 
theoretically,  a  perfect  scale  and  a  fairly  good  notation  ;  there  is, 
however,  one  great  lack  in  their  system,  they  have  no  satisfactory 
method  of  expressing  time.  .  .  .  This  is  all  the  more  strange,  seeing 
that  in  practice  they  are  strict  timists.' 

Professor  C.  J.  Knott,  D.Sc.,  F.R.S.,  thus  writes : — 

'The  Chinese  musical  school,  as  it  is  developed  in  Japan,  is 
peculiar  in  the  high  pitch  in  which  the  leading  female  voice  chants 
the  libretto.  There  is  melody  in  the  airs  and  truthfulness  in  the 
instrumental  ensemble  of  fiddles,  guitars,  and  flutes.  But  there  is  no 
harmony  in  our  sense  of  the  term.  Each  piece  is  very  long  and 
wearisome  in  its  apparently  endless  repetitions.' 

The  Chinese  do  not  appreciate  our  music  any  more  than 
we  do  theirs.  A  Chinese,  who  was  listening  to  the  military 
band  playing  in  Hongkong,  was  asked  his  opinion  of  it, 

466 


Names 

and  he  said  the  music  lacked  harmony.  That  they  fully 
appreciate  their  own  music  needs  but  a  glance  at  the  crowd 
round  a  Chinese  band  performing  ;  their  writings  equally 
show  this  appreciation,  for  example,  take  the  following  from 
'  Gems  of  Chinese  Literature  '  :— 

'Softly,  as  the  murmur  of  whispered  words  ;  now  loud  and  soft 
together,  like  the  patter  of  pearls  and  pcarlcts  dropping  upon  a  marble 
dish.  Or  liquid,  like  the  warbling  of  the  mango-bird  in  the  bush  ; 
trickling  like  the  streamlet  on  its  downward  course.  And  then,  like 
the  torrent,  stilled  by  the  grip  of  frost,  so  for  a  moment  was  the  music 
lulled,  in  a  passion  too  deep  for  words.' 

Who  will  say  after  that,  that  the  Chinese  have  no  soul 
for  music  ? 

Books  recommfndcd.—'  Chinese  Music,'  by  .1.  A.  Van  Aalst — published 
as  No.  6  of  the  '  Special  Series'  of  the  publications  of  the  Imperial  Maritime 
Customs,  1884 — is  a  most  interesting  and  learned  monograph  on,  the  subject. 
See  China  Review  for  August  1882,  on  the  Slu-iig,  by  F.  \V.  Eastlake  ;  also 
see  same  magazine,  vols.  i.  and  ii.,  Cor  a  series  of  articles  on  'The  Theory  of 
Chinese  Music,'  by  Rev.  E.  Falter,  Tli.I).  Two  articles  in  The  Chinese 
Recorder  and  Missionary  Journal  contain  some  very  interesting  particulars, 
they  are  'Chinese  Music  and  its  Relation  to  our  Native  Services,'  by  Rev. 
"W.  E.  Soothill,  vol.  xxi.  p.  221,  and  'Chinese  Music,'  by  Mrs  Timothy 
Richards,  vol.  xxi.  p.  305. 

NAMES. — The  different  names  that  a  Chinese  has  are 
a  perfect  puzzle  to  a  European  ;  for  nearly  every  Chinese 
has  several  names.  He  keeps  his  surname  through  life,  of 
course,  as  we  do,  but  at  every  memorable  event  in  his  life, 
such  as  first  going  to  school,  and  getting  married,  he  takes 
another  name.  It  must  not,  therefore,  be  supposed  that 
because  a  native  gives  you  different  names  for  himself  he 
is  attempting  to  palm  himself  off  as  someone  else,  though 
this  system  of  a  plurality  of  names  offers  facilities  to  one 
who  is  inclined  to  be  tricky. 

A  Chinaman's  surname  then  is  unchangeable,  and 
generally  consists  of  one  syllable,  though  there  are  a  few  of 
two  or  three.  The  surname  comes  first,  and  the  other 
names  afterwards — in  fact  the  Chinese  follow  the  convenient 
order  used  in  our  directories.  A  remembrance  of  this 
would  prevent  the  foreign  resident  from  prefixing  our 
'  Mr.'  to  the  personal  name  of  a  Chinese.  It  sounds  incon- 
gruous enough  to  prefix  '  Mr.'  to  a  Chinese  surname — an 

467 


Things  Chinese 

attempt  to  mix  two  civilisations  which  will  not  blend 
together  in  harmony,  but  it  sounds  ten  times  worse  to  call 
a  perfect  stranger  by  his  personal  name  and  then  prefix  a 
'  Mr.'  to  it.  To  illustrate : — Say  a  Chinese  bears  the 
euphonious  designation  of  Ch'un  Wa-fuk.  Now  the  first, 
Ch'un,  is  his  surname,  and  Wa-fuk  is  what  he  elects  to  be 
called  by,  his  Christian  name  in  fact.  If  the  '  Mr.'  must  be 
used,  then  he  is  Mr.  Ch'un  or  Mr.  Ch'un  Wa-fuk,  but  not 
Mr.  Wa-fuk  or  Mr.  Fuk  any  more  than  Mr.  John  Harry 
Jones  is  Mr.  John  Harry,  or  Mr.  Harry,  to  a  stranger. 

Though  it  generally  happens  that  the  first  syllable  or 
word  in  the  string  of  three  words,  which  usually  form  the 
surname  and  name  of  a  Chinese,  is  the  surname,  it  does  not 
always  follow  that  it  is,  as  Chinese  have  a  few  double 
surnames  as  well  as  English,  they  have  even  a  very  few 
trisyllabic  surnames.  One  of  the  most  common  of  these 
bisyllabic  surnames  in  the  South  of  China  is  Au-yong,  so 
therefore  in  the  combination  Aii-yong  Tat  the  two  syllables 
form  the  surname  and  the  last  syllable  the  name. 

About  a  month  after  birth  a  feast  is  given,  and  the  boy 
gets  his  '  milk  name,'  as  it  is  called.  This  name  clings  to 
him  through  life,  as  in  fact  all  his  names  do  after  they  are 
once  bestowed.  This  milk  name  is,  if  anything,  more 
especially  distinctive,  as  it  is  used  by  his  relatives  and 
neighbours,  and  in  official  matters  if  he  has  no  '  book  name.' 
This  name  of  infancy  often  consists  of  but  one  character, 
and  in  that  case  has,  in  the  extreme  South,  the  prefix  Ah 
put  before  it,  so  that  a  boy  named  Ch'un  Luk  will  commonly 
be  called  Ch'un  Ah  luk,  though  the  Ah  is  not  really  a  part 
of  his  name.  In  the  Fuhkeen  so-called  dialects,  this  Ah 
is  not  used. 

On  first  going  to  school  the  boy  has  another  name 
given  to  him,  the  'book  name.'  It  'generally  consists 
of  two  characters,  selected  with  reference  to  the  boy's 
condition,  prospects,  studies,  or  some  other  event  connected 
with  him.'  This  name  is  used  by  his  master  and  school- 
fellows, in  official  matters,  and  in  any  matters  connected 
with  literature. 

468 


Names 

On  marriage  the  young  man  takes  still  another  name, 
his  style  or  'great  name/  and  this  his  father  and  mother 
and  relations  use  as  well  as  the  '  milk  name.' 

Another  name  called  'another  style' may  be  assumed, 
which  is  employed  by  acquaintances  and  friends,  not  by 
relatives  and  parents.  The  latter  have  a  right  to  use  the 
'  milk  name,'  but  with  well-to-do  people,  who  have  more 
than  one  name,  it  is  not  considered  the  proper  thing  for 
outsiders  to  call  a  man  by  his  '  milk  name '  ;  of  course  it  is 
different  with  farmers,  labourers,  and  others  who  only  own 
one  name. 

On  taking  a  degree,  on  entering  official  life,  or  on 
having  official  distinction  or  rank  conferred  on  him,  a  man 
takes  yet  another  name,  known  as  the  '  official  name.' 

After  death  he  is  known  by  his  posthumous  name  in 
the  Hall  of  Ancestors. 

Besides  all  these,  we  may  notice  one  or  two  other 
designations.  It  is  a  very  common  thing  for  the  Southern 
Chinese  to  give  a  suggestive  sobriquet  to  anyone  who 
may  have  some  personal  defect  or  characteristic,  and  the 
euphonic  syllable,  Ah,  is  often  used  before  these,  leading 
foreigners  to  think  that  such  a  nickname  is  a  real  name  ; 
it  is  at  the  same  time  tantamount  to  a  real  name,  as  every- 
one speaks  of  the  person  so-called  as  such,  and  calls  him  or 
her  by  it.  The  individual  bears  it  complacently,  knowing 
that  he  must  accept  the  inevitable.  Such  names  are  called 
'  flowery  names.'  When  they  consist  of  more  than  one 
syllable  the  Ah  is  dropped  :  they  are  used  in  combination 
with  the  personal  name  or  not  ;  as  instances  of  this  class 
are  such  names  as  Giant  Ah  Yong  (here  Ah  Yong,  of 
course,  is  the  man's  right  name),  other  terms  of  a  similar 
kind  are  Dwarfy,  Fatty,  etc.  A  very  common  one,  used 
alone,  without  any  name  with  it,  is  Ah  Pin  =  flat,  meaning 
flat  nose,  another  often  heard  is  Tau-p'ei,  Small-pox 
Marked,  and  there  are  a  few  others. 

To  cheat  the  evil  spirits  which  may  wish  to  rob  a  man 
of  his  son,  the  boy  may  be  called  by  some  name  that  will 
convey  the  idea  of  vilifying  the  young  child,  such  as 

469 


Things  Chinese 

'  Puppy,'  or  his  head  may  be  shaved  and  he  be  called 
'  Buddhist  priest.'  It  is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  call  the 
children  in  a  family  Primus,  Secundus,  Tertius,  etc.,  but 
this  practice  sounds  rather  ridiculous  when  it  is  not  limited 
to  the  first  few  numbers,  and  one  hears  a  child  or  boat- 
woman  called  Duodecima. 

There  is  also  yet  another  name,  which  is  a  very  im- 
portant one,  it  is  the  fong  name.     It  is  difficult  to  convey 
its   import    by   an    English    translation,   but    it   may   be 
rendered  by  '  ancestral  name,'  or  '  family  name,'  or  '  house 
name,'  remembering  that  all  these  terms  must  bear  a  re- 
stricted  meaning  if  applied   to   the    Chinese.     A  man  of 
means,  having  a  house  of  his  own,  is  sure  to  possess  such  a 
name,  and  he  has,  in  all  probability,  inherited  it  from  his 
father  or  ancestors,  unless  he  has  risen   from  the   lowest 
ranks  of  society,  and  has  to  select  such  a  name  for  himself. 
This  name  will  generally  be  found  up  at  his  door  on  a  small 
board.     It  represents    himself  and    it  also  represents  his 
family  in  a  way.     If  he  dies,  his  sons  (if  they  continue  to 
live  together,  as  the  Chinese  so  often  do,  in  the  same  family 
house)  retain  the  name,  and  together,  or  separately,  make 
use  of  it.     This  Pong  name  is  often  used  in  business,  some 
partners  appearing  under  such  names,  while  others  appear 
under  some  of  their  other  names.     In  such  a  case  the  fong 
name  in  the  partnership  may  only  represent  one  man  or 
the   whole    branch    of  the    family,   with    what   result   of 
confusion    and    shiftiness    when    bankruptcy    occurs    may 
readily  be  understood,  for  only  one  member  of  the  family 
may  be  down  in  a  firm's  books  under  his  fong  name,  and  in 
other  cases  this  fong  name   in   a    firm's    books    may  not 
represent  one  man  but  the  family,  and  there  may  be,  which 
often  happens,  no  proof  of  what  it  really  stands  for.     If, 
however,  the  brothers  separate  and  live  in  different  houses, 
they    add    certain    words    to    the    fong  name    signifying 
'second  family,'  or  'third  family,'  etc.,  as  they  may  chance 
to  be  second  or  third  sons,  etc.     The  fong  name  has  the 
word   fong  attached   to    the  end    of  it,   and    is    otherwise 
composed  of  some  happy  sounding  combination  of  words, 

470 


Names 

such,  for  example,  as  Wing  Shin  T'ong,  which  might  be 
rendered  into  English  as  '  The  Hall  of  Eternal  Goodness.' 

One  of  the  most  ridiculous  mistakes  which  foreign 
residents  make  in  China  is  calling  natives  by  the  name  of 
the  business  they  are  engaged  in.  True  enough  a  Chinese 
when  asked  who  he  is,  or  '  Who  you  b'long  ?  '  in  pidgin- 
English,  will  perhaps  answer  '  Sun  Shing' :  so  a  man  from 
a  foreign  business  might  say  at  times,  '  I  am  Smith,  Brown 
&  Co.'  It  is,  however,  in  fact  more  absurd  to  call  such  a 
man  Mr.  Sun  Shing,  or  look  upon  that  as  his  name,  than  it 
would  be  to  call  the  other  Mr.  Smith  Brown  ;  in  the  latter 
case  it  is  possible  the  man's  name  may  be  Smith  or  Brown, 
in  the  other  it  is  almost  impossible  that  the  man's  name 
could  be  Sun  Shing.  A  clearer  idea  of  the  incongruity  of 
thus  styling  Chinese  might  be  got  by  supposing  that  a 
foreigner  in  England,  seeing  the  name  '  Royal  Oak  '  over  a 
public  house  should  style  the  proprietor  Mr.  Royal  Oak. 
At  the  same  time,  some  of  the  very  small  master  masons, 
etc.,  occasionally  add  the  character  Kef  to  the  end  of  their 
surname  and  name,  and  take  this  combination  as  their 
business  style ;  for  instance,  a  man  named  Ch'an  Ah  Luk, 
might  take  as  his  business  style  Ch'an  Luk  Kef.  This  is 
the  only  approach  to  a  man's  name  appearing  in  his 
business  on  his  signboard ;  for  the  majority  of  '  business 
styles'  are  such  combinations  as  'Mutual  Advantage,' 
'  Extensive  Harmony,'  and  '  Heavenly  Happiness.' 

A  man  engaging  in  different  branches  of  business  will 
also  often  take  different  business  names  for  each  branch,  or 
use  some  other  method  of  distinguishing  the  different 
businesses. 

Girls  are  left  out  in  the  cold  as  far  as  names  are 
concerned.  They  have  to  be  content  with  a  milk  name,  a 
marriage  name,  and  nicknames.  They  retain  their  own 
surnames  when  married  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  married  woman 
considers  her  maiden  surname  as  her  own,  and  gives  it  as 
such ;  by  courtesy  she  is  addressed  by  her  husband's 
surname,  being  the  equivalent  of  our  Mrs.  So  and  So.  In 
official  documents  her  two  surnames  are  given  one  after  the 

4/1 


Things  Chinese 

other,  and  the  combination  serves  as  her  name  ;  for  example, 
a  woman's  maiden  surname  may  be  Le"f  (pronounced 
Lay),  her  married  surname  Ch'un.  She  would  then  be 
known  as  Ch'un  L&i  Shf,  the  Shi  denoting  that  she 
belongs  to  the  Lei  family  by  birth. 

A  lady  will  not  give  her  name.  The  author  has  heard 
a  Chinese  lady,  when  asked  her  name  in  Court,  answer  that 
she  had  no  name.  The  stranger  must  be  content  with 
simply  knowing  the  combination  of  two  surnames,  such  as 
given  above ;  for  there  is  a  feeling,  partly  of  modesty, 
partly  of  fear,  that  an  impudent  stranger  might,  in  sheer 
impertinence,  call  her  by  it  if  it  were  known.  The  wives  of 
labourers  and  of  the  lower  classes  do  not  have  the  same 
feeling,  and  will  tell  their  names  freely,  at  least  the 
Cantonese  will  ;  and  with  this  experience  of  them  it  was 
curious  to  the  author  to  find  the  same  class  of  people  in 
Ch'ao  Chow-fu  not  prepared  to  respond  freely  to  such 
inquiries,  the  questioner  having  to  be  content  with  the 
husband's  name  (not  surname)  followed  by  the  word  sister, 
aunt,  or  mother,  according  to  the  age  of  the  woman. 

Emperors  in  China  also  rejoice  in  a  multiplicity  of 
names  which  are  very  confusing  to  the  foreign  student  of 
Chinese  history.  After  his  death  the  Emperor  is  known  by 
his  posthumous  title,  such  for  example  as  '  The  Great 
Ancestor/  '  The  Martial  Ancestor,'  etc.  While  he  is  on  the 
throne,  the  years  of  his  reign  have  a  designation  which 
serve  as  the  equivalent  of  his  name.  This  '  year  style  '  is 
composed  of  two  characters,  which,  in  combination,  will 
sound  well,  such  for  example,  as  '  Compliant  Rule.' 
Fortunately,  in  this  present  reigning  dynasty,  the  one 
designation  serves  for  the  whole  reign,  but  it  has  not  always 
been  so,  and  confusion  seems  worse  confounded  when 
every  few  years  in  one  sovereign's  reign  the  '  year  style'  is 
changed,  owing  possibly  to  some  untoward  event  having 
happened.  Such  changes  have  taken  place  half  a  dozen  or 
more  times.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  name  by  which 
an  Emperor  is  known  is  not  one  of  his  own  personal  names, 
as  in  the  case  of  King  Edward  or  any  of  our  Western 

472 


Navy 

sovereigns.  In  fact,  a  Chinese  Emperor's  personal  name  is 
too  sacred  to  be  used  by  the  general  public,  no  one  is 
permitted  to  utter  it  or  even  write  it,  as  long  as  the  same 
family  remains  on  the  throne,  even  though  the  Emperor  who 
bore  it  is  dead  ;  and  to  prevent  this  difficulty,  the  characters 
composing  it  are  changed  by  the  alteration  or  addition  of 
parts  of  the  character.  Nor  is  it  proper  for  a  child  to  use 
his  father's  own  name  ;  it  is  considered  disrespectful.  His 
father's  name  is  tabooed,  so  is  a  husband's  name  to  a  wife ; 
so  far  is  this  carried  that  some  wives  amongst  the  Chinese 
do  not  even  know  their  husbands'  names.  After  this  it  will 
excite  no  surprise  to  learn  that  no  one  is  allowed  to  use  the 
names  of  Confucius  and  Mencius.  The  surnames  of  these 
sages,  however,  are  not  considered  sacred.  The  great  sage 
of  China  has  many  descendants  to  this  day  bearing  his 
honoured  cognomen. 

Literary  men  are  fond  of  the  disguise  of  a  nom  de  plume 
in  China  as  well  as  in  the  West ;  and,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  China  is  the  '  Flowery  Land,'  it  may  readily  be 
understood  what  a  fanciful  form  such  a  name  sometimes 
assumes. 

NAVY. — In  the  first  and  second  editions  of  this  book 
we  wrote : — 

'We  have  a  very  fine  coat,  but  there  is  no  man  inside  it,'  such 
was  the  estimate  of  the  Chinese  Navy  by  a  Chinese  naval  officer  of 
the  Northern  Fleet,  and  probably  a  very  just  estimate,  not  only  of 
that  portion  of  the  navy,  but  of  the  whole  of  the  modern  Chinese  fleet 
made  on  Western  lines  ;  for  very  fine  vessels  they  are,  but  the  Chinese 
cannot  yet,  with  all  their  inexperience  of  them  and  their  bribery  and 
corruption,  be  proper  masters  of  their  own  vessels. 

When  we  turn  to  the  native  junks,  which  were  all  the  navy  she 
had  till  of  late,  we  find  that  for  conflict  with  Western  powers,  China 
is  as  ill-prepared  as  a  soldier  of  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest 
would  be  at  the  present  day. 

We  may  now  add  she  was  almost  as  ill-prepared  with 
her  modern  ironclads.  A  fleet  of  twenty-five  vessels  of  all 
sizes  and  armaments  forming  the  Northern  Squadron,  or 
the  greater  part  of  it  belonging  to  that  portion  of  the 
Chinese  navy,  some  of  the  number  being  powerful  ironclads 

473 


Things  Chinese 

built  in  Europe,  were  lost  to  the  Chinese  during  the  late 
disastrous  war  with  the  Japanese  in  1894.  These  vessels 
were  sunk,  or  destroyed,  or  set  on  fire,  or  surrendered  to 
the  Japanese,  while  one  or  two  of  them  were  wrecked,  the 
Japanese  gaining  a  considerable  addition  to  their  navy. 
As  the  Chinese  fleet  of  ships  built  on  foreign  models  con- 
sisted in  1892  of  47  men-of-war  of  one  class  or  another,  it 
will  be  seen  that  half  of  their  vessels,  and  of  those  many  of 
them  of  an  advanced  type,  were  lost  at  almost  one  blow. 
'  The  officers  and  men  had  both  received  much  careful 
training ' — a  most  complete  one  and  of  '  a  very  efficient 
standard  ' ;  but  official  corruption,  added  to  the  vanity  and 
ignorance  so  frequently  displayed  by  the  Chinese  naval 
authorities  in  recent  years  worked  out  their  natural  result 
in  the  first  serious  conflict  with  the  foe.  This  is  not  the 
first  serious  disaster  that  the  Chinese  have  suffered  in  try- 
ing their  prentice  hands  at  the  modern  game  of  war,  for  a 
fleet  of  vessels,  1 1  in  number,  built  on  the  foreign  model, 
were  sunk  or  destroyed  by  the  French  in  August  1884,  at 
Foochow,  by  a  fleet  immensely  their  superiors ;  but  this 
last  one  in  1894  was  a  far  more  severe  blow  and  a  far 
greater  loss  than  the  previous  one.  To  repair  this  annihila- 
tion and  carrying  off  of  the  major  portion  of  their  modern 
naval  force,  the  Chinese  began  to  reconstruct  their  navy  ; 
the  first  instalment  of  this  new  fleet,  built  in  Europe,  was  to 
consist  amongst  other  ships,  of  2  battleships  of  8,000  .tons, 
2  armoured  cruisers  of  5,000  tons,  and  4  protected  cruisers 
of  3,000  tons. 

One  writer  well  said,  '  It  may  be  predicted,  however, 
that  unless  the  Chinese  improve  their  present  system  of 
recruiting  and  training,  the  fleet,  which  they  are  now 
seeking  to  re-form,  will  be  exposed  to  ...  a  disaster 
similar  to  that  of  Weiheiwei.' 

In  addition  to  these  vessels  we  should  mention  four 
powerful  torpedo-boat  destroyers  of  6,000  horse-power,  to 
steam  at  the  rate  of  32  knots  per  hour. 

The  Chinese  do  not  depend  for  their  war  vessels 
entirely  on  those  constructed  in  foreign  lands,  but  they  are 

474 


Navy 

able  to  turn  out  new  ships  for  their  navy  at  the  various 
arsenals  established  of  late  years  on  the  models  of  those 
amongst  Western  nations.  A  steel  cruiser  of  about  1,800 
tons  was  completed  at  the  Foochow  arsenal.  She  was  to 
be  armed  entirely  with  quick-firing  guns,  and  was  probably 
to  be  employed  as  a  training  vessel  for  the  new  graduates 
of  the  Tientsin  Naval  Academy.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
the  Chinese  were  gradually  building  up  their  ruined  navy 
again,  or  at  least  the  northern  portion  of  it,  before  the 
last  war,  for  with  but  one  or  two  exceptions  it  was  only 
the  Northern  Squadron  that  was  engaged  in  the  Japanese 
war;  and  an  amusing  story  is  told  of  the  Captain  of  a 
vessel  belonging  to  another  portion  of  the  Chinese  navy, 
when  taken  by  the  Japanese,  requesting  to  be  let  off,  as 
his  ship  did  not  belong  to  the  Northern  Squadron  which 
only  was  fighting  the  Japanese. 

A  writer  in   1899  thus  describes  the  Chinese  navy: — 

'  Little  progress  is  being  made  with  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Chinese  Navy,  and  unless  it  is  taken  in  hand  by  another  Lang  it  is 
feared  by  those  who  have  an  intimate  knowledge  of  it,  that  it  will  be 
one  of  the  biggest  of  the  many  failures  in  China.  The  mismanage- 
ment by  the  Chinese  authorities  is  simply  appalling.  More  Europeans 
are  required — at  the  very  least  a  captain  and  an  engineer  for  each 
ship.  Suitable  men  would  be  difficult  to  get,  however,  for  few  would 
have  patience  to  endure  the  Chinese  methods,  and  fewer  still  have 
the  tact  to  work  along  with  the  incompetent  Chinese  officers  who  are 
appointed  to  the  ships.  It  is  very  difficult,  apparently,  to  get  them  to 
understand  the  difference  between  an  officer  and  a  member  of  his  crew, 
and,  in  consequence,  there  is  always  lacking  that  spirit  of  discipline  so 
necessary  for  the  proper  management  of  a  warship.  We  hear  that 
the  higher  Chinese  officials  are  anxious  to  get  rid  of  all  the  foreigners 
in  the  service.  If  this  is  true,  then  the  speedy  dissolution  of  the 
Chinese  Navy  is  in  sight  ;  but  we  expect  it  will  manage  to  weather 
the  threatened  storm.  China  does  not  know  how  to  reward  faithful 
service  by  foreign  employes,  and  so  it  will  be  difficult  to  get  another 
Lang  ;  but  the  miraculous  may  happen  some  day,  and  China  herself 
produce  a  clean-handed  official  who  will  reconstruct  the  Naval 
Department,  and  place  it  on  a  sound  footing.' 

'The  Statesman's  Year  Book'  for   1902  says:— 

'  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with  Japan  the  Chen  Hal  and  the 
Kang  Chi  alone  remained  to  China,  of  her  effective  Pei  Yang  squadron. 
Some  swift  vessels  have  since  been  added  to  the  fleet.  Among  these 
are  the  cruisers  Hai  Chi  and  Hai  Tien  (4,300  tons\  launched  in  the 
Tyne  in  1897  and  1898.  They  have  6-inch  armoured  shields  and  a 

475 


Things  Chinese 

5-inch  deck,  and  they  carry  two  8-inch,  ten  47  inch,  and  twelve  3  pr. 
Armstrong  quick-firers.  The  speed  is  24  knots.  The  small  cruisers 
Hai  Yung,  Hai  S/ie;i,  and  Hai  Shew  (2,900  tons),  have  been  launched  at 
Stetton  (1897),  four  destroyers,  built  at  Elbing,  have  been  captured,  and 
distributed  to  England,  France,  Germany,  and  Russia.  A  French 
engineer,  M  Doyere,  has  reorganised  the  Arsenal  of  Foochow,  and  a 
torpedo  gun-vessel  (817  tons)  and  a  2o-5-knot  torpedo-boat  are  in 
hand  there  [1901].  The  Chinese  blue-jacket  is  good  as  any  in  the 
world.' 


Besides  these  are  three  or  four  other  protected  cruisers, 
four  torpedo  gunboats,  six  floating  batteries,  twenty-two 
river  gunboats,  and  twenty-one  torpedo  boats. 

The  Chinese  fleet  is  divided  into  the  North  Coast 
Squadron,  the  Foochow  Squadron,  the  Shanghai  Flotilla, 
and  the  Canton  Flotilla. 

The  Foochow  Squadron  was  stated  in  1892  to  consist 
of  '  nine  cruisers  of  from  1,300  to  2,480  tons,  three  gunboats, 
nine  despatch  boats,  and  three  revenue  cruisers ' ;  but  this 
Nanyang  (i.e.,  South  Coast)  fleet  was  described  in  1894  as 
consisting  of  the  cruisers  Kaichi,  lost  by  explosion  in  1902, 
Huantai,  Chingtsung,  NanisJieng,  Nainshui  (German  built), 
Paoning,  and  the  sloops  WeicJiing,  and  CJmnJio,  and  the 
mosquito  gunboats  (one  36-ton  gun  each),  Lungsiang, 
Huwei,  Feising,  and  Ts'eticn.  The  Southern  Squadron 
has  its  headquarters  at  Foochow ;  its  officers  have  a 
slight  acquaintance  with  foreign  methods. 

The  Viceroy  Chan  Chi-tung  also  possessed  in  1894 
'  four  sloops  built  either  at  Shanghai  or  Foochow,  whose 
names  '  commenced  '  with  the  characters  T'su,  denoting  the 
provinces  (Hunan  and  Hupeh)  they  are  intended  to 
protect.' 

In  1892  the  Shanghai  Flotilla  consisted  '  of  an  armoured 
frigate,  2,630  tons,  a  gunboat,  six  floating  batteries  (wood), 
and  three  transports.' 

In  the  same  year  the  Canton  flotilla  consisted  of '13 
gunboats  .  .  .  of  100  to  350  tons  displacement.'  Since  then 
there  has  been  added  to  the  last  flotilla  three  large  steel 
cruisers,  named  the  Knangchia,  Knangping,  and  Knangyi. 
These  three  ships  '  are  commanded  and  officered  for  the 

476 


Navy 

most  part  by  young  men  who  received  their  first  foreign 
education  in  the  United  States.  Their  commodore  is 
named  Yii,  and  is  reported  to  have  seen  some  active 
service.'  Most  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  late  Northern 
Squadron,  it  may  be  remarked,  had  also  been  taught  the 
European  methods  of  war,  though  the  late  Admiral  Ting, 
who  was  in  command,  had  not  had  such  a  training,  being  a 
purely  native  untrained  Mandarin,  his  substantive  appoint- 
ment being  that  of  a  General  of  Cavalry  ;  the  Chinese  have 
not  yet  learned  with  regard  to  Government  officials,  in  the 
words  of  Herbert  Spencer,  that  '  the  transformation  of  the 
homogeneous  into  the  heterogeneous,  is  that  in  which 
progress  essentially  consists  ' ;  for  a  Mandarin  is  considered 
to  be  in  a  general  way  competent  to  undertake  any  duties, 
civil,  military,  naval,  judicial,  fiscal,  or  even  those  connected 
with  civil  engineering.  The  more  progressive  officials  see 
that  this  plan  will  not  do  with  regard  to  a  navy  on  foreign 
lines,  and  consequently  the  inferior  officers  have  been 
educated  in  Europe  as  well  as  at  different  places  in  China, 
where  naval  colleges  and  arsenals  have  been  established  of 
late  years.  There  has  been  an  arsenal  at  Foochow  for  a 
number  of  years  past,  where  Chinese  youths  are  trained; 
besides  this  there  are  naval  and  military  colleges  at 
Tientsin,  Nanking,  Shanghai,  and  Foochow. 

'  Several  viceroys  and  governors  of  provinces  have  taken  in  hand 
the  reorganisation  of  their  forces.  Yuan  Shih-kai  has  led  the  way,  by 
his  vigorous  steps  for  the  enrolment  of  100,000  men  in  the  capital 
province  and  the  reorganisation  of  the  Northern  fleet.  The  Governor 
of  Shan-hsi  has  now  announced  his  purpose  to  enlist  fifteen  regiments 
of  trained  men.  They  are  to  be  newly  recruited  and  trained  by 
competent  instructors.  The  Governor  of  Shan-hsi  has  applied  to 
Yuan  Shi-kai  for  assistance  in  the  supply  of  instructors,  some  of  whom, 
it  is  presumed,  will  be  foreign.' 

A  number  of  small  gunboats  are  found  at  different 
ports  in  connection  with  the  revenue  service,  the  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs,  as  well  as  others  under  the  control  of 
the  high  provincial  authorities  or  others. 

The  purely  native  craft  are  uncouth-looking  objects, 
and  utterly  unfit  to  cope  for  a  moment  with  foreign 
vessels. 

477 


Things  Chinese 

Books  recommended. — Brassey's  'Naval  Annual.'  '  The  Statesman's  Year 
Book.'  For  an  account  of  the  destruction  of  the  Chinese  fleet  at  Foochow, 
see  'The  French  in  Foochow,'  by  J.  F.  Roche  and  L.  L.  Cowen,  U.S.N. 

NEWSPAPERS  AND  PERIODICALS.— There  are 
foreign  newspapers  at  several  of  the  Treaty  Ports.  In 
Shanghai  five  dailies  are  published  in  English  and  French, 
viz.: — The  North  China  Daily  News,  The  New  Press,  and 
LEcho  de  Chine,  in  the  morning ;  and  The  Shanghai 
Mercury  and  The  China  Gazette,  in  the  evening.  There  are 
four  weeklies :  The  North  China  Herald,  The  Celestial 
Empire,  The  Union,  and  Der  Ostasiatische  Lloyd.  There  is 
the  Chefoo  Express  at  Chefoo.  In  Amoy  a  small  shipping 
sheet  is  printed,  called  The  Amoy  Gazette,  and  a  weekly 
appears,  named  The  Amoy  Times  and  Shipping  Gazette. 
The  Foochow  Echo  is  the  one  paper  that  that  city  boasts  of. 
In  Hongkong  there  are  three  dailies: — The  Hongkong 
Daily  Press,  a  morning  paper,  and  The  China  Mail  and 
The  Hongkong  Telegraph,  both  evening  papers.  The 
weeklies  are  The  Overland  China  Mail,  The  Hongkong 
Weekly  Press,  and  the  Telegraph  also  issues  a  weekly  paper. 
The  clientele  of  these  are  principally  foreigners,  but  a  few 
natives  who  know  English  subscribe  to  them.  At  Kiaochao 
there  is  a  German  newspaper  published  daily  and  weekly, 
called  Der  Deutsche  Asiatische  Warte.  And  every  now  and 
then  newspapers  are  started  at  different  ports. 

There  is  a  German  newspaper  published  in  Shanghai,  and 
an  Italian  paper  in  Tientsin  in  1902.  The  latter  starting 
in  English  and  Chinese,  Italian  to  be  substituted  for 
English  later  on.  It  was  stated  a  short  time  since  that  a 
paper  was  to  be  started  in  Peking  in  seven  languages, 
surely  a  unique  venture.  These  were  to  be  Chinese, 
Japanese,  English,  French,  German,  Russian,  and  Italian, 
at  a  subscription  of  $10  a  year. 

There  are  several  Portuguese  papers  in  Macao  and 
Hongkong,  one  of  which  publishes  a  portion  of  its 
contents  in  English. 

Of  periodicals,  in  English  there  is  published  in  Shanghai 
The  East  of  Asia,  a  new  magazine,  with  a  German  edition, 

478 


Newspapers  and  Periodicals 

Der  Feme  Os ten,  started  in  1902,  The  Chinese  Recorder  and 
Missionary  Journal,  issued  monthly,  and  Women's  Work  in 
the  Far  East,  issued  half-yearly.  (See  Article  on  Books  on 
China.)  Besides  these,  there  are  two  or  three  journals  of 
different  societies,  and  The  China  Medical  Missionary 
Journal,  issued  quarterly. 

The  first  European  journal  published  in  China  was 
The  Canton  Register,  issued  in  1827. 

As  regards  papers  published  in  Chinese,  many  of  which 
are  commercial  ventures,  there  are  in  Shanghai  the  Shun 
Pao,  and  some  sixteen  newspapers  sold  at  the  price  of  ten 
and  eight  cash  each  ;  these  have  a  very  large  circulation, 
some  have  a  circulation  of  10,000  a  day.  There  is  the 
monthly  illustrated  journal,  The  Wan  Kwo  Kung  Pao; 
The  Chung  Si  Cliao  Hui  Pao,  a  monthly  journal  ;  The 
Shin  Cliang  Hwa  Pao,  issued  thrice  a  month  ;  the  Hwa 
Tu  Sin  Pao,  a  monthly  journal.  There  are  five  Chinese 
daily  papers  in  Hongkong :  The  Chung  Ngot  San  Pb, 
issued  from  the  Daiiy  Press  office ;  The  Wd  Tsz  Yat  Pb, 
or  Chinese  Mail,  published  at  the  China  Mail  office ;  The 
TS'UH  Wan  Yat  Pb,  and  The  Wai  San  Yat  Pb,  The  Chung 
favok  Pb  and  the  Hong  Hoi  Yat  Pb.  In  Canton  there 
are  The  Yilt  Kin  Kei  Man,  The  On  Ngd  Shu  Kuk  Shai 
Shiit  P'in,  and  The  Shong  Mb  Pb.  In  Macao  there  is  at 
present  no  Chinese  newspaper.  Tientsin,  Hankow,  and 
Foochow  have  each  two,  besides  others  at  other  ports. 
Soochow  has  a  daily,  and  an  occasional  one  issued  once, 
or  several  times  a  month.  In  Kiaochaii,  one,  assisted  by 
the  German  Government.  In  Peking,  besides  the  ancient 
Gazette,  there  are  four  papers.. 

One  of  the  latest  ventures  is  a  first  attempt  to  issue  a 
regular  newspaper  in  Hainan  by  the  Taotai,  in  the  form 
of  a  small  daily  gazette. 

All  these  native  papers  mentioned  are  the  direct  result 
of  foreign  influence,  as  before  the  arrival  of  foreigners  in 
China  the  Chinese  had  no  newspapers  according  to  our  idea 
of  the  term.  In  1895  there  were  only  nineteen  native  news- 
papers ;  in  1898  this  number  was  quadrupled,  and  now, 

479 


Things  Chinese 

'  There  are  some  6p  or  70  native  newspapers  and  periodicals 
being  regularly  issued  [in  China],  the  circulation  of  many,  especially 
in  Central  China,  being  very  large.' 

The  Chinese  living  abroad  have  also  native  newspapers. 
There  are  three  Chinese  newspapers  in  Singapore ;  in 
Penang,  one;  in  Sydney,  two;  Manila,  one;  San  Fran- 
cisco, seven  ;  Honolulu,  four ;  and  in  Japan,  two,  but  not 
dailies. 

The  Peking  Gasette  is  the  only  newspaper  the  Chinese 
had  till  recent  years,  and  it  is  the  oldest  newspaper  in  the 
world.  It  is  published  daily,  being  more  of  the  nature  of  a 
Government  Gazette  than  an  ordinary  newspaper. 

'It  is  simply  the  record  of  official  acts,  promotions,  decrees,  and 
sentences,  without  any  editorial  comments  or  explanations  ;  and,  as 
such,  of  great  value  in  understanding  the  policy  of  Government.  It  is 
very  generally  read  and  discussed  by  educated  people  in  the  cities, 
and  tends  to  keep  them  more  acquainted  with  the  character  and 
proceedings  of  their  rulers  than  ever  the  Romans  were  of  their 
sovereigns  and  Senate.  In  the  provinces,  thousands  of  persons  find 
employment  by  copying  and  abridging  the  Gasette  for  readers  who 
cannot  afford  to  purchase  the  complete  edition.' 

'  The  printing  is  effected  by  means  of  wooden  movable  types, 
which,  to  judge  from  some  specimens  examined,  are  cut  in  willow  or 
poplar  wood,  a  cheap  if  not  highly  durable  material.  .  .  .  An  average 
Gazette  consists  of  10  or  12  leaves  of  thin,  brownish  paper,  measuring 
1\  by  3$  inches,  and  enclosed  between  leaves,  front  and  back,  of 
bright  yellow  paper,  to  form  a  species  of  binding.  The  whole  is 
roughly  attached  or  "stitched"  by  means  of  two  short  pieces  of  paper 
rolled  into  a  substitute  for  twine,  the  ends  of  which,  passing  through 
holes,  punched  in  the  rear  margin  of  the  sheets,  are  loosely  twisted 
together.  [This  being  the  usual  manner  of  "stitching  "  small  pam- 
phlets in  China.]  .  .  .  The  inside  leaves,  being  folded  double  in  the 
usual  Chinese  fashion,  give  some  twenty  or  more  small  pages  of  matter, 
each  page  divided  by  red  lines  into  seven  columns.  Each  column 
contains  fourteen  characters  from  top  to  bottom,  with  a  blank  space 
equal  to  four  characters  in  height  at  the  top.'  'As  everything  which 
the  Emperor  says  takes  precedence  of  everything  else,  his  replies  to 
memorials  appear  in  advance  of  the  documents  to  which  they  relate, 
and  this  produces  an  effect  much  like  that  of  a  Puzzle  Department, 
where  all  the  answers  should  be  printed  one  week,  and  the  original 
conundrums  the  next.' 

It  has  been  well  remarked  that : — 

'Although  as  a  matter  of  antiquarian  interest,  it  may  be  said  that 
China  in  her  Peking  Gazette  had  the  first  newspaper  in  the  world,  yet, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  newspapers  are  but  of  yesterday.  The  .  .  . 

480 


Newspapers  and  Periodicals 

[native]  newspapers  of  Hongkong  and  Shanghai  have  been  the  true 
pioneers  of  the  native  press.  That  work  has  borne  fruit  in  a  remark- 
ably short  time.  Take,  for  example,  Canton,  which  had  until  the 
other  day  four  dailies  and  one  newspaper  of  a  more  literary  nature, 
published  once  in  ten  clays.  .  .  .  The  number  of  readers  is  immense, 
for  it  must  be  remembered  that  newspapers  are  written  in  the  "book 
style"  of  language,  which  is  understood  throughout  the  Empire.  Any- 
one who  has  even  only  occasionally  glanced  at  these  papers,  must 
have  noticed  a  tendency  to  pander  too  much  to  native  tastes  and 
ideas,  that  are  recognised  by  the  Chinese  of  any  education  as  false  and 
degrading.  But  it  would  not  be  fair  to  lay  hold  on  these  blemishes, 
not  acknowledging  that  for  the  most  part  they  have  exercised  a 
beneficial  and  enlightening  influence  over  their  readers.  A  few  years 
ago,  the  one  newspaper  then  in  existence  in  Canton  had  suddenly  to 
move  from  the  city  to  the  Shamien,  to  avoid  the  persecution  of  the 
officials.  When  the  pressure  passed  away,  that  paper  was  again 
removed  to  the  city,  and  in  the  interval  three  more  papers  have 
been  started.  A  visit  to  the  offices  of  these  papers  is  an  inspiration 
and  a  splendid  testimony  to  the  spread  of  ideas  in  China.  Most  of 
the  printers  have  received  their  training  in  Hongkong.  The  old 
printing-blocks  and  hand-presses  have  given  place  to  modern  steam- 
printing  machinery.  One  of  the  Canton  papers  has  on  its  staff  a 
Chinaman  who  was  educated  in  Germany,  and  who  is  therefore  well 
abreast  of  the  times.'  [1900  or  1901.] 

Several  newspapers  and  periodicals  are  published  by 
the  missionaries  in  different  parts  of  China,  some  partaking 
more  or  less  of  a  scientific  and  religious  character  as  well 
as  detailing  news.  A  few  of  these  have  been  mentioned 
already  by  name.  A  small  monthly  in  Romanised  Col- 
loquial has  been  started  in  Canton. 

The  Chinese  abroad  have  copied  us  in  instituting 
papers  in  their  own  language.  San  Francisco,  with  a 
Chinese  population  of  over  60,000,  has  a  Chinese  daily  with 
a  circulation  of  3,500,  and  several  prosperous  weeklies. 

The  following  extract  marks  a  new  departure.  There 
is  a  talk  of  similar  enterprise  in  Canton,  and  one  of  the 
Hongkong  native  papers  prints  [1902]  occasionally  a  piece 
in  Colloquial.  We  hope  to  see  this  extended  throughout 
China. 

'  Some  time  ago  it  was  announced  that  Hangchow  scholars  were 
issuing  a  newspaper  in  Colloquial  language.  Some  scholars  of  advanced 
view  in  Peking  are  emulating  the  example  thus  set  them,  and  purpose 
publishing  a  paper  in  Pekingese  on  the  same  lines  as  the  Hangchow 
paper,  and  with  the  same  object,  viz.,  to  enlighten  the  people.  They 
also  think  it  will  help  people  in  the  study  of  Pekingese,  and  thus 
accomplish  a  double  purpose.  They  also  intend  to  send  men  into  the 

481  2    H 


Things  Chinese 

country  to  distribute  the  paper  free  to  all  who  wish  to  read  it,  and  for 
Chihli  alone  50,000  will  be  required.  The  capital  is  at  present 
furnished  by  one  or  two  patriotic  men,  but  as  such  a  large  enterprise 
requires  much  capital,  it  is  hoped  that  others  will  come  forward  and 
give  financial  help.' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  modern  newspaper  is 
destined  to  be  an  important  factor  for  good  in  China,  if  it 
falls  into  judicious  hands.  Unfortunately,  a  tendency  very 
occasionally  reveals  itself  to  pander  to  depraved  tastes  in 
articles  not  conducive  to  public  morality,  and  a  rabid 
hatred  of  the  foreigner  is  sometimes  visible  in  some  dis- 
torted account  of  them  and  their  doings,  but  on  the  whole, 
the  '  tendency  seems  towards  morality,  etc.' 

Books  recommended.  — '  List  of  Periodicals  in  the  Chinese  Language  '  being 
Appendix  F.  to  Records  of  the  Missionary  Conference  held  in  Shanghai,  1890. 
'The  Peking  Gazette' :  being  an  article  in  The  China  Rr.view,  vol.  iii.  p.  12. 
See  also  article  on  '  The  Peking  Gazette  and  Chinese  Posting,'  by  E  H. 
Parker,  in  Longman's  Magazine  for  November  1896.  An  article  on  the 
European  Press  in  China,  by  M.  Henri  Cordier,  appeared  in  the  China  Mail 
some  time  ago. 

NOBILITY. — There  is  no  real  nobility  in  China. 
Mayers,  in  his  invaluable  work  on  Government  Titles, 
says  : — 

'The  existing  Chinese  system  of  conferring  patents  of  nobility, 
and  honorary  titles  is  linked  by  an  unbroken  chain  of  descent  with  the 
history  of  the  feudal  states  of  the  sixth  century  before  Christ, 
perpetuating  in  its  nomenclature,  on  the  one  hand,  the  titles  of  the 
semi-independent  Princes  of  that  era,  and,  on  the  other,  the  names  of 
official  degrees  which  have  ceased  for  many  centuries  to  exist  in 
practical  operation.  .  .  .  The  titles  now  conferred  are  not  to  be 
regarded  as  other  than  official  distinctions  of  a  peculiar  class,  and 
cannot  rightly  be  considered  as  bestowing  aristocratic  position  or 
privilege  in  the  European  sense.  The  nine  degrees  of  nobility, 
indeed,  which  are  conferred  at  the  present  day,  and  which  are  either 
heritable  within  certain  limits,  ...  or  hereditary  for  ever,  .  .  . 
are  granted  exclusively  as  rewards  for  military  services.' 

The  five  highest  ranks  of  hereditary  nobility  then  are 
Kung  (Koong),  Hau  (How),  Pak  (Pahk),  Tsz,  and  Nam 
(Nahm),  generally  rendered  into  English  as  Duke,  Marquis, 
Earl,  Viscount,  and  Baron.  Each  of  these  is  subdivided 
into  classes  or  degrees.  'To  the  titles  of  the  first,  second, 
and  third  ranks  laudatory '  titles  or  terms  '  are  appended, 

482 


Nobility 

significant  of  the  special  services  by  which  the  rank  has 
been  earned.'  We  are  not  aware  whether  an  attempt  has 
ever  been  made  to  render  the  four  lower  ranks  into  an 
English  equivalent.  Any  such  attempt  would  probably  be 
even  less  successful  than  that  already  made  as  regards  the 
five  higher  ranks.  These  lower  titles  '  have  occasionally  the 
degree  next  above  them  "  annexed  "...  the  bearer  being 
thus  enabled  to  rank  "  with,  but  after,"  possessors  of  the 
title  immediately  preceding.'  All  the  different  ranks, 
except  the  lowest,  are  '  hereditary  during  a  specified 
number  of  lives,  ranging  from  twenty-six '  for  a  Duke  of 
the  first  class,  to  one  for  the  eighth  rank,  the  next  but 
lowest  of  all.  Any  of  them  also  become  hereditary  by 
being  '  conferred  posthumously  ...  on  officers  killed  in 
battle.'  Meritorious  public  servants  are  also  rewarded  by 
having  hereditary  official  rank  bestowed  upon  their  sons, 
grandsons,  younger  brothers,  or  nephews.  The  whole 
principle  it  will  thus  be  seen  is  against  perpetuating  here- 
ditary rank,  the  son  with  but  few  exceptions — so  few  as  to 
be  scarcely  worthy  of  notice — taking  a  lower  title  until  at 
length  the  status  of  a  commoner  is  reached.  The  most 
noticeable  exceptions  are  the  following : — the  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Confucius,  who  is  a  Duke  ;  and  the  descendants 
of  Mencius,  and  of  Koxinga  (the  Conqueror  of  Formosa), 
each  of  whom  is  a  Marquis.  The  son  of  a  man  of 
exceptional  renown,  such  as  of  the  first  Marquis  Tseng, 
whose  son,  the  well-known  minister  to  England,  has 
the  title  continued  ;  but  it  goes  no  further  unless  the 
son's  deeds  have  been  such  as  to  merit  its  bestowal  on 
the  grandson. 

Titles  of  honour  are  also  conferred  as  rewards  '  for 
merit  or  service,  or  of  Imperial  bounty,  on  occasions  of 
rejoicing.'  These  are  bestowed  upon  the  official  himself, 
his  wife,  parents,  or  grandparents  while  they  are  living,  or 
'  as  a  posthumous  distinction  ...  to  his  deceased 
progenitors.'  These  titles  differ  for  each  of  the  nine  degrees 
of  official  rank  (See  Article  on  Mandarin)  and  their 
subdivisions,  making  in  all  eighteen,  while  the  wives  have 

433 


Things  Chinese 

nine.     Military  officials  also  receive   honorary  titles  of  a 
martial  character. 

Posthumous  titles  of  honour  may  be  granted  to  officials 
losing  'their  lives  at  sea  or  on  any  of  the  inner  waters, 
whilst  engaged  in  the  public  service,'  and  their  eldest  sons 
are  given  official  rank.  Most  sensibly  the  Chinese  have 
put  before  them  merit  as  the  cause  of  their  nobility,  and 
not  the  mere  circumstance  of  blue  blood.  The  class  which 
in  European  lands  would  form  the  aristocracy,  is  in  a  very, 
comparatively,  inferior  position  in  China.  There  are 
certain  classes  who  own  titles  on  account  of  kinship  with 
the  Emperor  ;  but  here  again  heredity  is  the  exception, 
and  extinction  of  the  title  (which  decreases  in  degree  from 
father  to  son)  happens  in  the  case  of  descendants  of  a 
prince  in  about  twelve  generations.  The  only  exceptions 
to  this  rule  amongst  these  classes  are  the  eight '  Iron-Capped 
Princes,'  who  are  descendants  of  the  Chieftains  who 
immediately  preceded  the  Sovereigns.  Another  is  the 
Prince  of  I,  a  descendant  of  the  thirteenth  son  of  K'ang 
Hsi,  the  second  Emperor  of  this  dynasty.  These  all  retain 
the  title  in  perpetuity. 

NOVELS. — There  are  thousands  of  books  of  this  class 
in  China,  at  least  18,000  well-known  ones,  classified  con- 
temptuously by  the  pedantic  literary  class  as  '  small  talk.' 

' "  Novel,"  as  the  name  of  a  thing  came  to  us  with  the 
thing  itself  from  Italy  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.'  The 
'  thing  itself,'  as  this  writer  thus  describes  the  novel  of  the 
West,  was  known  in  China  long  before  the  time  of  our  good 
Queen  Bess.  '"Tell  me  a  story"  is  among  the  earliest 
expressions  of  our  wants  in  life,'  and  amongst  John 
Chinaman's  numerous  children  this  want  was  early 
expressed.  '  Stories  told  for  their  own  sake,'  and  stories 
furnished  with  morals,  all  doubtless  held  their 
sway  over  the  progenitors  of  the  seemingly  phlegmatical 
Chinese,  who  will  listen  spellbound  to  the  raconteurs  in 
public  squares  and  streets.  To  the  East  is  ascribed  the 
first  taste  for  the  romance,  and  it  is  stated  that  there  is  even 

484 


Numerical  Categories 

a  Chinese  variant  of  Petronius's  '  Widow  of  Ephesus.'  And 
to  come  to  more  modern  times  and  a  more  recent 
development  of  the  tale  of  the  West,  we  have  it  stated  by 
one  sinologue,  in  comparing  the  construction  of  Chinese 
novels  with  those  of  Richardson,  that  the  '  authors  render 
their  characters  interesting  and  natural  by  reiterated  strokes 
of  the  pencil  which  finally  produce  a  high  degree  of  illusion.' 

A  Chinese  novel  is  generally  a  finished  sketch  in  black 
and  white — very  black  and  very  white,  no  softening  down, 
nor  shading  :  the  characters  stand  out  in  bold  relief.  The 
villains  are  as  black  as  black  can  be,  and  form  the  deepest 
background  to  throw  into  relief  the  virtuous  hero  and 
heroine  and  their  friends,  helpers,  and  well-wishers.  The 
hero  is  a  paragon  of  excellence,  physically,  mentally,  and 
morally.  He  often  possesses  the  prowess  of  a  warrior,  the 
intellect  of  a  senior  wrangler,  while  as  regards  the  virtues 
he  stands  at  high-water  mark.  The  heroine — but  what  need 
to  describe  her:  it  is  needless  to  say  she  is  charming,  as 
seen  through  Chinese  spectacles ;  her  lover  will  generally 
find  her — in  this  so  different  from  the  real  Chinese  women 
— so  well  acquainted  with  letters  as  to  lift  her  from  the 
mere  position  of  a  doll,  and  withal  '  a  clever,  resourceful, 
and  a  modest  young  lady.'  Apparently  insuperable  diffi- 
culties are,  of  course,  piled  up  by  the  novelist  for  him 
to  clear  away  by  his  consummate  skill  in  the  unravelling 
of  the  plots  and  intrigues  against  hero  and  heroine,  and 
all  comes  well  at  the  end.  There  are  historical  novels  as 
well  as  social  ones  in  China.  (See  Article  on  Literature 
and  History,  p.  334.) 

Novels  are  largely  read,  not  only  by  men,  but  some 
women  even  manage  to  pick  up  a  sufficient  "knowledge  of 
the  printed  character  to  be  able  to  enjoy  them,  and 
circulating  libraries  are  carried  through  the  streets  with 
novels  for  the  delectation  of  their  clientele. 

NUMERICAL  CATEGORIES.—'  Number  has  long 
exercised  a  peculiar  fascination  over  the  Far-Eastern  mind. 
Europeans,  no  doubt,  sometimes  use  such  expressions  as 

485 


Things  Chinese 

"  The  Four  Cardinal  Virtues "  and  "  The  Seven  Deadly 
Sins,"  but  it  is  not  part  of  our  mental  disposition  to 
divide  up  and  parcel  out  almost  all  things  visible  and 
invisible  into  numerical  categories  fixed  by  unchang- 
ing custom,  as  is  the  case  among  the  nations  from 
India  eastward,'  so  writes  Mr.  Chamberlain  in  '  Things 
Japanese.'  The  Chinese  have  thus  grouped  together 
any  and  everything  into  such  classes,  beginning  with 
two  and  ending  with  ten  thousand.  The  fact  that 
Mayers'  '  Chinese  Reader's  Manual '  has  a  second  part, 
consisting  of  sixty-seven  pages,  devoted  to  this  portion 
of  Chinese  literature,  will  show  its  importance,  and 
even  it  is  not  an  exhaustive  list ;  to  it  we  refer  the 
curious  reader,  while  we  only  give  a  dozen  of  the  most 
common : — 

THE  Two  EMPERORS  of  Antiquity,  Yao  and  Shun, 
who  reigned  B.C.  2357  and  2287  respectively. 

THE  THREE  LIGHTS  :  The  Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars. 
THE  THREE  POWERS  OF  NATURE  :    Heaven,  Earth, 
and  Man,  which,  taken  together  are  used  in  the  sense  of 
the  universe,  or  creation  in  general. 

THE  FOUR  CARDINAL  POINTS:  North,  South,  East, 
and  West.  When  the  centre  is  included,  they  are  called 
The  Five  Points. 

THE  FOUR  BOOKS,  which  with  THE  FIVE  CLASSICS 
may  be  called  the  Bible  of  the  Confucianist.  (See  Article 
on  Literature.) 

THE  FIVE  BLESSINGS  :  Longevity,  Riches,  Peacefulness 
and  Serenity,  the  Love  of  Virtue,  and  An  End  Crowning 
the  Life. 

THE  FIVE  ELEMENTS  OR  PRIMORDIAL  ESSENCES: 
Water,  Fire,  Wood,  Metal,  and  Earth.  '  Upon  these  five 
elements  or  perpetually  active  principles  of  Nature  the  whole 
scheme  of  Chinese  philosophy  ...  is  based.' 

THE  FIVE  METALS  :  Gold,  Silver,  Copper,  Lead  and 
Tin,  and  Iron. 

THE  FIVE  ESCULENTS  OR  GRAINS  :  Hemp,  Millet, 
Rice,  Corn,  and  Pulse. 

486 


Numerical  Categories 

THE  FIVE  COLOURS:  Black,  Red,  Azure  (Green,  Blue, 
or  Black),  White,  and  Yellow. 

THE  EIGHT  GENII,  or, '  EIGHT  IMMORTALS,  venerated 
by  the  Taoist  sect ' ;  each  celebrated  for  possessing  some 
mystic  power  or  owning  some  wonderful,  magic-working 
instrument.  One,  if  not  two  of  them,  were  females. 
One  went  about  with  one  shoe  off  and  one  shoe  on. 
Another,  having  gone  up  to  heaven,  and  left  injunctions 
that  his  body  was  to  be  preserved  for  seven  days 
for  his  return,  found  on  his  soul  desiring  to  re-enter 
it  after  six  days,  that  his  disciple,  who  had  been  left  to 
watch  it,  had  been  called  away  to  his  mother's  death-bed, 
and  consequently  his  master  had  no  vitalised  body  of  his 
own,  but  was  forced  to  enter  that  of  a  beggar  just  expired. 
Another  had  a  white  mule,  by  which  he  was  carried 
thousands  of  miles  in  a  single  day,  and  which  was  folded 
away  and  put  into  his  wallet  at  night,  and  resuscitated  in 
the  morning  by  his  master  spurting  water  from  his  mouth 
on  him. 

THE  EIGHTEEN  ARHAN  :  Eighteen  of  Buddha's 
immediate  disciples,  which  are  found  in  Buddhist  temples. 
Besides  these  there  are  THE  FIVE  HUNDRED  DISCIPLES 
of  BUDDHA,  also  found  in  some  temples,  the  number  is  even 
carried  up  to  ten  thousand  sometimes. 

The  following  are  in  common  use  likewise  amongst 
the  people  of  Canton,  and  similar  geographical  and  other 
combinations  are  doubtless  used  in  other  parts  of  China  as 
well. 

THE  THREE  DISTRICT  CITIES  :  Nam,  P'un,  and  Shun  ; 
that  is  Nam  Hoi,  P'un  Yii,  and  Shun  Tak. 

THE  FOUR  GREAT  TRADING  MARTS,  viz.,  Fatshan, 
Hankow,  Kintak  (the  great  porcelain  manufactory),  Chii 
Sin. 

THE  FOUR  DISTRICT  CITIES  :  Van,  Hoi  and  San,  in 
concise  terms ;  but  in  full,  Yan  P'ing,  Hoi  P'ing,  San 
Ning,  and  San  Wui,  all  in  the  Canton,  or  Kwongtung 
Province. 

THE  LOWER  FOUR  PREFECTURES  :  K6,  Lou,  Li'm,  and 

487 


Things  Chinese 

K'ing,  in  concise  terms ;  in  full  K6  Chau  fu,  Lou  Chau  fu, 
Lfm  Chau  fu,  and  K'ing  Chau  fu. 

OPIUM. — The  poppy  seems  to  have  been  cultivated  in 
China  as  an  ornamental  flower  in  the  Sung  dynasty,  or 
before,  and  the  healing  virtues  of  its  seeds  were  commended, 
while  '  the  medical  use  of  the  capsules  was  of  course  early 
known.'  Opium  was  used  for  medicinal  purposes,  and  it 
was  a  highly  esteemed  drug,  being  imported  overland  from 
Burmah  and  through  Central  Asia.  There  would  appear 
not  to  be  sufficient  warranty  for  the  opinion  that  the 
poppy  was  grown  in  China  at  an  early  date  for  other  than 
ornamental  purposes ;  everything  points  to  a  contrary 
conclusion  It  was  '  an  article  of  trade  at  Canton  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,'  but,  up  to  nearly  the  close  of 
that  century,  it  was  a  limited  trade. 

We  quote  from  Dr.  Dudgeon,  of  Peking,  a  short 
summary  of  the  origin  of  that  destructive  vice,  opium- 
smoking  : — 

'  Opium-smoking  was  introduced  from  Java  by  the  Chinese 
from  Chien-chieu  and  Chang-chow  in  the  early  years  of  the  eighteenth 
century  and  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  K'ang  Hsi,  1662-  1723. 
The  first  edict  issued  against  it  was  in  1729,  and  was  directed  against 
the  practice  in  Formosa,  and  was  the  result  of  a  report  of  an  official 
sent  by  K'ang  Hsi  to  inquire  into  the  unseemly  proceedings  in  the 
island.  K'ang  Hsi  died,  and  his  successor  was  some  six  or  seven  years 
on  the  throne  before  steps  were  considered  necessary  .  .  . 
to  stop  the  evil  there.  It  had  been  introduced  by  people  from  the 
above  two  prefectures  on  the  mainland.  From  Formosa  and  these 
southern  ports,  the  practice  spread  gradually,  and  very  slowly.  As 
late  as  the  end  of  the  century,  the  import  and  consumption  of  opium, 
both  for  medicine  and  smoking,  was  comparatively  trifling.  The 
use  of  opium,  first  as  capsules  and  then  as  an  extract,  is  of  older  origin, 
and  was  used  solely  as  a  medicine.  Part  came  by  land  through 
Central  Asia  by  the  Mohammedan  merchants  and  travellers,  part  by 
sea  to  Canton,  and  part  also  overland  from  Burmah  and  India.  The 
opium  which  came  overland  was  for  the  most  part  as  tribute,  and 
we  read  in  the  Ming  history  of  as  much  as  200  catties  for  the 
Emperor  and  100  catties  for  the  Empress  being  presented  as  tribute. 
Other  drugs  were  likewise  presented.  ...  At  the  time  when 
smoking  began,  a  short  bamboo  tube  filled  with  coir,  opium,  and 
tobacco  was  the  regular  mode  of  insufflation. 

'The  present  pipe  is  more  modern,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
invented  in  the  province  of  Canton.  .  .  .  The  native  growth 
is  of  still  more  recent  origin.  The  cultivation  of  the  poppy,  for 

488 


Opium 

the  sake  of  its  extract,  began  about  70  years  ago.  Since  that  time 
it  has  been  gradually  making  its  way  over  the  Empire,  until  now 
there  is  not  a  province  where  it  is  not  grown.  .  .  .  The  native 
growth  and  consumption  of  the  native  drug  having  thus  largely 
increased  in  the  North,  it  has,  year  by  year,  been  driving  the  Indian 
article  out  of  the  market.  This  process  bids  fair  to  continue  to 
increase,  and  at  no  distant  day  in  all  likelihood  the  foreign  import 
will  cease,  unless  it  can  compete  with  the  native  in  price.  Its 
superior  quality  and  freedom  from  adulteration  would  in  these 
circumstances  always  command  a  sale.  .  .  .  The  great  dimensions 
to  which  the  native  growth  is  reported  latterly  to  have  grown 
is  only,  it  is  evident,  within  the  past  few  years.  The  native 
growth  has  been  stimulated  by  the  growing  demand  for  opium 
and  its  profitable  nature,  the  poppy  not  being  taxed  as  a  cereal. 
.  .  .  The  increase  of  the  native  growth  is  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  profitable  to  admix  with  the  Indian,  and  the 
proportion  given  is  native  ^  with  foreign  /„.  .  .  .  The  consumption 
of  opium,  where  it  was  formerly  strictly  forbidden,  has  greatly 
increased  since  the  relaxation  caused  by  the  late  agreement,  by 
which  the  Imperial  Government  collects  both  Import  and  Likin 
duties  at  the  ports,  and  opium  is  allowed  to  pass  freely  throughout 
the  Empire.' 

With  regard  to  this  increase  of  the  native  opium  we 
are  informed  from  another  source  that : — 

'  The  Chinese  are  every  quarter  increasing  the  native  -  grown 
opium  .  .  .  the  import  of  the  foreign  drug  is  steadily  declining  in 
consequence.'  Again,  'The  Customs'  returns  for  1895  show  that  the 
market  falling  in  the  import  for  1894  was  not  arrested  in  1895,  but 
on  the  contrary,  the  decline  in  the  trade  was  even  more  conspicuous 
in  the  latter  year.  ...  It  is  a  question  of  cost.  .  .  .  The 
poppy  is  rarely  met  with  in  Kwongtung,  and  as  the  soil  and 
climate  are  not  favourable  it  is  not  likely  to  be  extensively  cultivated 
there.' 

'In  1887,  the  value  of  the  opium  imported  was  Hk.  Tls. 
27,926,865,  and  the  figure  for  1897  stands  at  Hk.  Tls.  27,901,056  ;  but 
whereas  in  the  former  year  the  sum  expended  procured  a  supply  of 
74,350  piculs,  the  almost  identical  amount  in  1897  purchase  only 
49,217  piculs.  The  cost  of  the  foreign  drug  has  increased  since  the 
closing  of  the  Indian  mints,  and  the  quality  of  the  native  drug  is 
said  to  be  undergoing  an  improvement  which  brings  it  more  into 
demand.' 

It  is  but  natural  after  this  to  find  the  following  as  a 
newspaper  summary,  made  within  the  last  few  years,  of  one 
item  of  our  Indian  revenue: — 

'OPIUM.  —  Decrease  R. 1,550,000.  This  represents  a  distinct 
worsening  of  the  financial  position  with  no  corresponding  gain  to  the 
people  of  India.  This  part  of  the  revenue  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  consumption  of  opium  in  India  (which  is  taxed  under  Excise), 

489 


Things  Chinese 

and  is  in  reality  the  profit  of  the  Government  of  India  as  a  monopolist 
manufacturer  and  exporter  to  foreign  markets  (chiefly  China).  At 
all  times  subject  to  great  fluctuations,  this  source  of  income  shows 
a  steady  tendency  to  decline.' 

The  following  on  the  taxation  of  native  opium  in  China, 
was  published  in  1897,  and  will  be  interesting  in  this 
connection  : — 

'According  to  a  memorial  of  the  Board  of  Revenue  recommending 
a  new  system  of  taxing  native-grown  opium,  the  chief  opium  pro- 
ducing provinces  in  China  are  stated  to  be  Szechuan,  which  will 
produce  this  year  a  crop  of  120,000  piculs  ;  Yunnan,  80,000  piculs  ; 
Kueichou,  40,000  piculs  ;  Chekiang,  14,000  piculs  ;  Kiangsu,  10,000 
piculs  ;  Kirin,  6,000  piculs ;  Anhui,  2,000  piculs  ;  Fukien,  2,000 
piculs ;  and  the  provinces  of  Kansu,  Shensi,  Shantung,  Shansi, 
Honan,  and  Chihli,  an  aggregate  amounting  to  60,000  piculs,  or  a 
total  of  334,000  piculs  from  14  out  of  the  21  provinces  which 
constitute  the  present  empire  of  China — not  including  Outer  Mongolia 
and  Tibet.  The  memorial  further  states  that  according  to  the  above 
estimate,  which  the  Board  has  reason  to  believe  to  be  quite  accurate, 
having  been  compiled  by  Sir  Robert  Hart  at  the  Board's  request, 
the  duty  on  the  native  opium  this  year  should  amount  to  at  least  20 
million  taels,  at  the  ordinary  tax  of  Tls.  60  per  picul  ;  but,  so  far, 
not  a  third  of  this  amount  has  found  its  way  to  the  Imperial  exchequer, 
the  rest  having  gone  to  enrich  the  provincial  authorities  and  their 
tax  collectors.  It  is  now  proposed  to  begin  with  the  provinces  of 
Kirin,  Szechuan,  Yunnan,  and  Kiangsu,  for  the  collection  of  native 
opium  duty  which  is  to  be  handed  over  to  the  I.M.  Customs  at 
Shanhaikuan,  Chungking,  Mengtze,  and  Chinkiang,  respectively.' 

When  the  liking  for  it  began,  the  English,  to  their  shame, 
be  it  said,  continued  to  bring  the  fatal  drug  to  administer 
to  the  depraved  tastes  of  the  Chinese,  whose  rulers  made 
most  piteous  attempts  to  prevent  its  introduction.  And 
the  feeling  of  dislike  to  the  English,  and,  through  them,  to 
the  hated  and  despised  foreigner  in  general,  partially  due 
to  this  cause,  is  not  confined  solely  to  the  upper  classes,  as 
anyone  may  find  who  knows  the  language  and  mixes  with 
the  people  ;  for  it  is  not  an  unfrequent  question  : — Why  do 
you  foreigners  bring  opium  to  China  ?  And  the  only  reply 
that  can  be  given  is  : — There  are  bad  people  (there  is  no 
use  combating  the  idea  of  the  badness  of  the  people  who 
do  such  a  thing — it  is  a  foregone  conclusion  in  a  China- 
man's mind)  in  every  nation  as  well  as  good  ;  and  if  you 
Chinese  would  not  smoke  it,  they  would  not  bring  it. 

It    is   impossible   to  say   what    proportion    of  Chinese 

490 


Opium 

smoke  opium,  but  immense  numbers  of  all  classes  of  the 
community  do  so  ;  in  some  parts  of  the  country  the  pro- 
portion is  larger  than  in  others.  From  the  Imperial 
Palace  down  to  the  lowest  hovel  every  class  has  its 
smokers,  even  women  and  children  are,  in  some  places, 
preys  to  this  insidious  vice.  Many  smoke  it,  as  we  have 
already  said,  at  the  present  day,  and  the  number  is  in- 
creasing. It  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  25,000,000 
of  opium  smokers  in  China  ;  another  estimate,  considered 
to  be  moderate,  puts  them  at  40,000,000,  that  is  a  ninth,  or 
tenth,  of  the  whole  population.  In  the  city  of  Foochow 
alone  there  are  said  to  be  1,000  registered  opium  dens,  they 
'  being  more  numerous  than  tea  or  rice  shops.' 

The  habit  is  easily  begun  ;  the  offering  of  it,  as  a  glass 
of  wine  amongst  many  classes  of  Englishmen,  easily  leads 
the  fashionable  votary  into  the  practice  ;  the  fast  man  takes 
it  sometimes  as  an  aphrodisiac  ;  the  prostitutes  take  it 
because  their  visitors  do  ;  others  take  it  first  to  ease  pain, 
or  disease  ;  while  others  are  led  into  it  by  their  friends  and 
acquaintances.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that,  '  figures  taken  from  the  Perak  Hospital  returns  during 
1893  ar>d  part  of  1892  show  that  no  protective  influence 
against  malaria  can  be  claimed  by  the  opium  smoker.' 

Once  formed,  the  habit  is  very  difficult  to  break — some 
try,  over  and  over  again,  to  wean  themselves  from  the  pipe. 
One  man  actually  came  to  a  hospital  no  less  than  five  times 
for  that  purpose.  Five  hundred  smokers  in  the  course  of 
one  year  were  desirous  of  entering  a  refuge,  which  was 
opened  in  Foochow,  in  order  to  cure  themselves. 

'Terribly  rapid  is  the  ascendency  of  this  fatal  vice.  A  few  weeks' 
indulgence  will  rivet  its  chains  for  life.  Thenceforth  the  unhappy 
captive  must  have  his  stimulant  at  accustomed  hours,  or  even  his 
feeble  labour  is  impossible,  and  griping  pain  and  intolerable  depres- 
sion lay  hold  of  him.  Many  a  labourer  whose  wages  amount  to  £3 
or  85  a  month  expends  twice  such  sums  on  opium.  How  is  this  con- 
trived ?  The  smoker  borrows  on  all  sides  ;  the  pawnbroker  fattens 
on  his  wretchedness.  The  poor  mother  toils  all  day  at  embroidery 
to  earn  food  to  hush  her  little  ones'  hunger-cries.  Clothing  of  wife 
and  children,  and  lastly  their  very  home  is  sold  over  their  heads,  even 
if  they  themselves  are  not  bargained  away  for  opium.  Every  resident 
in  the  interior  of  China  has  seen  once  well-to-do  people  changed  to 

491 


Things  Chinese 

out-cast  vagabonds  by  this  noxious  vice  ;  "  whole  bands  of  beggars," 
as  one  has  described  them,  "  pleading  on  their  knees  for  the  ashes 
from  a  neighbour's  opium  pipe." 

' "  No  flesh,  no  strength,  no  money,"  is  a  native  proverbial  summing- 
up  of  the  dismal  case  ;  it  is  well  known  that  three  or  four  generations 
will  exhaust  an  opium  smoking  family. 

'The  increasing  frequency  of  opium  suicide  in  China  is  awakening 
the  anxiety  of  even  Chinese  statesmen.' 

Opium  is  the  most  common  means  of  committing  suicide 
at  present  in  China,  and  China  is  said  to  have  the  unenvi- 
able notoriety  of  being  the  country  in  which  suicides  are 
most  frequent.  '  Since  the  introduction  of  opium  in  China, 
suicides  have  become  alarmingly  frequent.' 

'  Some  twenty  years  ago  few  Chinese  women  smoked  opium,  but 
now  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  one-tenth  of  the  female  population 
are  its  slaves  ;  nor  can  we  wonder  that  those  whose  lot  in  Eastern 
lands  is  so  joyless  should  seize  on  such  antidote  for  suffering  and 
relief  from  ennui.' 

The  evils  which  arise  from  opium-smoking  are  many. 
It  injures  the  health  and  physical  powers,  especially  of  the 
working  and  poorer  classes,  whose  wages  are  only  sufficient 
to  meet  their  necessities,  and  who  curtail  the  amount  spent 
on  food  and  clothing  to  gratify  their  craving  for  the  vice, 
and,  consequently,  are  less  able  to  resist  its  inroads  on  their 
system ;  whereas  the  wealthy  buy  certain  foods  with  the 
purpose  of  nourishing  and  strengthening  their  systems 
against  it.  All  these  factors,  and  others,  have  to  be  taken 
into  account  ;  and  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  there 
are  some  men  who  have  such  a  resolute  will  (though  like 
many  other  vices,  the  opium  habit  weakens  the  will  power) 
that  having  fixed  upon  a  certain  amount  as  the  limit  of 
their  indulgence,  they  do  not  overstep  it,  thus  staving  off 
some  of  the  worst  effects  of  opium-smoking.  Those  who 
have  yielded  to  it  for  years,  and  who  are  slaves  to  the  pipe, 
are  miserable  if  circumstances  should  arise  to  debar  them 
from  their  accustomed  whiffs  :  it  is  extraordinary  to  see 
how  perfectly  wretched  they  are ;  every  attitude,  every 
feature  of  the  face,  every  sentence,  is  a  living  witness  that 
they  are  in  agony  till  the  craving  is  satisfied.  The  opium 
sots  or  '  opium  devils,'  as  the  natives  term  them,  are  pitiable 

492 


Opium 

objects,  emaciated  almost  to  a  skeleton,  until  they  finally 
succumb  to  their  vice. 

As  to  wealth,  it  often  melts  away  when  the  pipe  is 
indulged  in.  The  author  remembers  especially  one  case 
where  a  man  smoked  away  a  valuable  property  consisting 
of  a  number  of  houses  advantageously  situated  in  the  city 
of  Canton,  and  eventually  smoked  himself  into  his  grave. 
It  is  a  great  waste  of  time,  as  the  process  of  smoking  is  a 
slow  one  and  requires  long  preparation,  and,  as  the  habit 
increases,  more  has  to  be  smoked  to  produce  an  effect,  and 
consequently  longer  time  spent  over  it  :  from  a  quarter,  or 
half  an  hour  at  first,  it  increases  till  hours  are  required,  and 
a  great  part  of  the  night  is  wasted  in  it  instead  of  being 
spent  in  sleep.  The  smokers  lie  down  in  couples  across  a 
wide  couch,  with  a  small  stool-like  table  between  them  con- 
taining the  opium-tray,  on  which  are  the  pipe  and  pipe- 
bowls,  opium-lamp,  and  the  different  instruments  used  in 
connection  with  the  pipe.  Taking  up  the  pipe,  one  of  the 
smokers  lifts  up  a  small  quantity  of  opium  on  the  end  of  a 
long  needle-like  instrument.  The  bowl  of  the  pipe  is  held 
over  the  lamp,  and  the  drug,  which  has  been  already  pre- 
pared so  as  to  be  of  the  consistency  of  treacle,  is  worked  by 
him  in  the  heat  of  the  flame  over  the  small  orifice  of  the 
pipe-bowl.  This  takes  some  time,  and,  when  all  is  ready, 
a  few  whiffs  exhaust  it,  so  that  the  whole  process  has  to  be 
gone  over  again,  each  smoker  often  taking  the  preparation 
of  the  pipe  in  turn.  The  following  account  by  a  doctor 
who  has  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject,  gives  with 
minute  exactness  the  whole  process  summarised  above  : — 

'  The  smoker,  lying  on  his  couch  or  divan,  with  the  pipe,  lamp, 
and  other  implements  on  a  tray,  takes  a  portion  on  the  point  of  a 
wire  and  warms  it  carefully  over  the  flame  of  the  lamp.  He  dips 
it  again  into  the  little  jar  of  opium  until  the  requisite  quantity  adheres, 
alternately  warming  it  over  the  flame  and  pressing  it  on  the  flat  bowl 
of  the  pipe,  turning  it  over  and  over  and  working  it  carefully  on  the 
end  of  the  wire,  until  it  is  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  soft  solid  by  the 
evaporation  of  a  portion  of  the  water.  During  this  process  it  swells 
up  into  a  light  porous  mass  from  the  formation  of  steam  within,  and 
must  therefore  be  heated  up  to  the  boiling  point  of  water.  When  the 
little  bolus  has  been  brought  to  the  exact  state  fitted  for  smoking,  it 
is  worked  into  a  conical-shaped  ring  around  the  wire,  the  point  of 

493 


Things  Chinese 

the  wire  inserted  into  the  round  hole  of  the  pipe,  and,  by  twirling  the 
wire  around  while  withdrawing  it,  the  opium  is  deposited  on  the 
pipe,  the  hole  in  it  corresponding  to  the  hole  in  the  bowl  of  the  pipe. 
The  stem  of  the  pipe  being  applied  to  the  lips  and  the  bowl  held  over 
the  lamp,  the  heat  of  the  flame  is  drawn  in  over  the  opium,  convert- 
ing into  vapour  all  the  volatilizable  material  in  the  bolus.  To 
understand  what  takes  place,  it  is  important  to  note  that,  preparatory 
to  smoking,  the  bolus  of  opium  has  been  slowly  and  carefully  heated 
until  steam  has  been  generated  in  its  substance.  While  in  this 
heated  state,  and  with  water  enough  to  prevent  charring  and  to  form 
more  steam,  the  flame  of  the  lamp  passes  over  it,  converting  part  of 
it  into  the  so-called  smoke,  and  leaving  a  solid  residuum  known  as 
"  ym-she,"  opium  dross,  and  also  as  "  yi-ym,"  seconds.' 

'  The  vapour  is  inhaled  into  the  lungs,  and  comes  in  contact  with 
the  immense  surface  of  the  respiratory  mucous  membrane,  by  which 
the  alkaloids  are  absorbed  into  the  blood,  and  thus  act  upon  the 
whole  system.' 

1  Notwithstanding  the  theory  of  some  scientific  gentlemen  .  .  . 
that  none  of  the  alkaloids  are  carried  by  the  smoke  into  the  system, 
it  is  demonstrated  a  thousand  times  a  day  by  every  whiff  a  Chinaman 
takes  of  his  pipe  that  certain  constituents  of  the  watery  extract  of 
opium  are  converted  into  vapour:  and  the  sallow  complexion,  stupid 
visage,  and  wasted  frame  of  old  smokers,  and  especially  the  remorse- 
less grip  of  the  craving  on  every  fibre  of  their  nervous  system,  afford 
strong  reason  to  believe,  if  they  do  not  absolutely  prove,  that  every 
inhalation  of  the  vapour  conveys  a  portion  of  the  alkaloids  into  the 
victim's  blood.' 

Opium-smoking  induces  laziness,  idle  habits,  and 
unwillingness  to  exertion,  shortens  life,  and  diminishes 
vitality. 

'Among  the  well-to-do,  with  healthy  constitutions,  good  food, 
comfortable  surroundings,  and  especially  if  there  be  pressing  business 
to  attend  to,  the  drug  may  be  used  for  a  lengthened  period  without  any 
apparent  deleterious  results,  but  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  observed 
that  any  indulgence  in  the  vice,  even  under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances,  diminishes  functional  activity  in  the  nervous  system, 
impairs  and  arrests  the  process  of  secretion,  and  ultimately  produces 
structural  changes  in  important  organs,  and  a  general  undermining 
of  the  constitution  all  round.  Although  the  effects  are  more  gradual, 
they  are  none  the  less  sure.  Vital  resistance  to  its  evil  effects  is  soon 
diminished  as  the  smokers  become  poor,  thus  depriving  the  victims, 
not  of  opium,  for  the  supply  must  increase  with  the  craving,  but  of 
the  necessary  sustenance,  thus  enfeebling  the  system,  and  rendering 
it  more  susceptible  to  its  evil  influence  ....  Sooner  or  later  retribu- 
tion overtakes  them,  and  they  are  suddenly  cut  off.  .  .  .  That  there 
is  no  more  harm  in  its  continuous  use  than  smoking  the  mildest 
cigarettes  is  an  utterly  absurd  statement.  It  is  pernicious  in  itself 
apart  from  its  too  frequent  conjunction  with  other  well-known  social 
evils.  In  such  cases  opium  tells  with  redoubled  violence  ....  The 

494 


Opium 

reasons  for  believing  the  habit  to  be  harmless  and  that  it  can  be 
abandoned  without  suffering,  have  been  made  by  some  to  depend 
upon  the  bodyweight  of  the  smokers  when  admitted  to  gaol  and  once 
a  week  afterwards.  The  weight  is  not  much  affected,  provided  the 
habit  is  not  great  nor  of  great  duration,  and  the  material  surroundings 
are  good.' 

'After  the  imperious  craving  has  been  established,  then  the  smoker 
smokes  not  for  positive  enjoyment  but  to  relieve  the  pains  and  aches 
which  the  non-satisfaction  of  the  craving  sets  up.  It  is  ...  foolish 
to  read  of  the  stalwart  races  which  are  addicted  to  opium.  It  is  quite 
fallacious  to  reason  thus  :  the  Chinese  are  given  to  opium:  but  the 
Chinese  are  industrious,  therefore,  opium  is  beneficial.  The  poor, 
lazy,  good-for-nothing  people  in  China  are  the  opium  smokers,'  and 
if  they  are  not  that  when  they  begin  to  smoke  it,  the  vice  soon  does 
its  best  to  hurry  them  to  these  conditions.  '  No  doubt,  immediately 
after  the  craving  has  been  satisfied,  there  is  unwonted  brilliancy  and 
activity,  both  physical  and  mental,  and  this  requires  constantly  to  be 
renewed.  .  .  .  There  does  not  seem  much  hope  for  the  rejuvenescence 
of  China  so  long  as  this  terrible  evil  remains  in  their  midst,  the  vice 
is  enthralling,  the  craving  is  imperious,  and  the  abandonment  of  the 
habit  extremely  difficult.' 

The  following  is  from  a  native  newspaper,  the  Shcnpao, 
of  Shanghai  :— 

'  Opium  came  from  abroad,  but  the  poison  is  left  with  China.  The 
drug  wastes  time,  destroys  energy  and  health,  and  dissipates  one's 
property.  There  is  no  poison  more  deleterious.  It  is  hated  by  non- 
smokers  who  merely  behold  its  ravages  in  others.  But  even  smokers 
also  hate  it,  for  they  know  its  awful  power  to  destroy  them.  At  first  all 
opium  was  contraband,  for  China  hoped  to  interdict  the  curse.  But 
soon  it  became  apparent  that  the  attempt  to  exclude  it  was  hopeless. 
Hence  China  devised  a  new  plan  to  check  the  evil,  if  the  evil  could  not 
be  eradicated,  viz.,  a  high  tariff  on  opium.  But  alas  !  make  the  duty 
as  high  as  we  please  the  stream  keeps  flowing  in,  in  ever-increasing 
volume,  and  every  province  besides  grows  native  opium.  Smokers 
increase  apace,  and  sellers  of  the  drug  are  more  numerous  every  day. 
Our  Government  knows  the  evil  of  opium,  but  poverty  makes  it  loth  to 
give  up  this  source  of  revenue,  especially  in  view  of  the  load  of 
indemnities  upon  its  back.' 

The  Viceroy  Chang  Chi-tung  thus  writes  about 
opium  :— 

4  In  all  provinces  the  nuisance  has  appeared,  and  causes  incalcul- 
able damage.  It  ruins  the  people,  enervates  the  soldiers,  pauperises 
the  rich,  and  makes  the  officials  useless.'  '  Opium  has  pauperised 
and  poisoned  the  Chinese,  and  is  the  greatest  evil  of  the  ages.' 

A  new  vice,  that  of  the  subcutaneous  injection  of 
morphia,  appears  now  to  be  following  that  of  opium- 
smoking,  and  the  habit  is  spreading  rapidly,  in  some  parts 

495 


Things  Chinese 

of  the  country  at  all  events.  It  was  making  enormous  ad- 
vances in  Hongkong  until  put  down  by  law  a  few  years 
since.  As  an  instance  of  what  a  hold  the  habit  takes  on 
the  people  already  prepared  for  it  by  opium-smoking,  the 
following  facts  as  to  the  practice,  taken  from  a  British 
Consular  Report,  and  the  Imperial  Customs'  Annual  Report, 
may  prove  of  interest : — 800  ozs.  were  imported  in  one 
month  in  1894,  in  Amoy,  and  there  was  a  decrease  in  the 
import  of  opium.  Some  of  it  was  doubtless  used  for  pills, 
powders,  etc.,  and  not  all  for  hypodermic  injections. 

The  habit  of  injecting  morphia  was  greatly  on  the  in- 
crease in  Amoy  in  1894,  there  being  many  establishments 
in  the  city  where  the  practice  was  carried  on. 

'  Habitual  opium  smokers  taking  to  morphine  injections  are  enabled 
to  abstain  from  the  opium  pipe,  but  are  by  no  means  cured  of  opium 
smoking,  as  a  cessation  of  the  injection  habit  inevitably  leads  to  an 
increased  indulgence  in  smoking.'  In  1895  the  total  amount  of 
morphia  imported  into  Amoy  was  4,835  ozs.  and  of  hypodermic  syringes 
128,  in  Shanghai  for  the  same  period  64,043  ozs.  were  imported, 
being  double  that  of  1894  and  more  than  four  times  that  of  1892. 
The  Commissioner  of  Customs  thus  speaks  of  it  in  that  part  of  the 
country: — 'Though  partly  consumed  as  a  liquid  decoction,  it  is 
chiefly  used  to  make  pills  and  tabloids,  which  are  taken  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  opium  by  those  who  find  it  inconvenient  to  smoke  during 
business  or  when  travelling.  This  easily  becomes  a  habit.'  The 
Commissioner  at  Canton  says,  '  morphia  ...  is  largely  being  availed 
of  amongst  [opium]  smokers.'  In  the  general  report  on  the  foreign 
trade  of  China  for  the  same  year  (1895)  we  find  it  noted  that,  'there 
is  a  large  increase  in  the  importation  of  morphia,  which  indicates  a 
greater  use  of  so-called  anti-opium  pills  and  that  indulgence  in 
morphinism  is  spreading.' 

It  appears  that  the  amount  and  consequently  the  habit, 
must  be  increasing,  for  in  the  Annual  Returns  for  1897, 
it  is  stated  that  in  Amoy,  9,103  ozs.  of  morphia,  valued  at 
Hk.  Tls.  15,473,  passed  the  Customs, — the  highest  total 
yet  reached.  In  Shanghai,  for  the  year  1897,  it  had  risen 
to  68, 1 70  ozs. ;  and  in  Canton  the  amount  for  the  same  year 
was  1,580,  value  Hk.  Tls.  2,429,  as  against  a  value  in  1895 
of  Hk.  Tls.  954.  A  large  quantity  of  opium  pills  are  also 
made,  and  sold  under  the  name  of  anti-opium  pills.  Some, 
in  the  endeavour  to  give  up  opium-smoking,  try  these  ;  but 
they  seldom  cure  anyone  of  the  habit ;  they  simply,  by  the 

496 


Pagoda 

opium  they  contain,  satisfy  the  longing  of  the  smoker  and 
enable  him  to  stave  off  the  desire  to  smoke  for  a  while. 
Those  who  take  them  can  also  conceal  the  opium  habit  from 
their  friends  ;  they  require  less  waste  of  time,  as  they  are 
swallowed  at  once,  whereas  the  smoking,  if  much  is  taken, 
runs  away  with  hours  which  a  poor  man  can  ill  afford. 
They  are  mostly  prepared  from  opium  dross  mixed  with 
soft-boiled  rice,  or  paste,  and  various  medicines,  according 
to  the  different  prescriptions.  They  would  appear  to  be 
somewhat  cheaper  than  the  opium. 

There  are  Chinese  opium  dens  in  the  United  States  and 
in  London.  It  was  stated  on  good  authority  a  few  years 
ago,  that  2,500  Chinese  visit  the  port  of  London  in  the 
course  of  the  year — chiefly  sailors,  firemen,  carpenters,  cooks 
and  stewards  employed  on  steamers  running  between 
China  and  England,  as  well  as  a  few  more  permanent 
residents  ;  so  that  there  are  quite  sufficient  out  of  that 
number  to  patronise  these  places  and  keep  them  going. 
Opium  probably  costs  the  Chinese  at  least  168,000,000 
taels  annually. 

Books  recommended '. — 'The  Evils  of  the  use  of  Opium,'  by  J.  Dudgeon, 
M.D.  'British  Opium  Policy,'  by  Rev.  F.  S.  Turner,  B.A.,  London. 
Sampson  Low,  Marston,  Searle  and  Rivington,  gives  a  good  account  of  the 
opium  question  up  to  about  twenty  years  ago. 

PADDY. — The  Malay  name  for  rice  in  the  ear  or  un- 
husked,  hence  so  styled  by  foreigners  in  China  from  the 
Malay  padi.  A  paddy-field  is  a  rice-field,  and  paddy- 
birds  are  a  certain  species  of  birds,  the  white  egret, 
Egretta  modesta,  that  frequent  these  fields.  (See  Article 
on  Rice.)  Rice-birds  are  a  different  bird  altogether. 

PAGODA. — The  word  Pagoda  is  descended  from  the 
Sanscrit  Chagavati  through  the  Persian  bootkuda  or  the 
Hindustanee pout&hoda  or  bootkhoda,  and  means  'the  house 
of  idols,'  '  the  abode  of  God,'  or  '  Holy  House.'  '  According 
to  the  original  use  of  the  word  in  India,  it  is  a  name  given 
to  the  various  buildings  where  they  worship  idols,'  and  it 
has  been  employed  in  the  same  indiscriminate  way  by 

497  -   f 


Things  Chinese 

some  writers  on  China,  but  the  majority  of  modern 
writers  restrict  the  use  of  the  term  to  the  tower-like 
structure  common  in  China,  described  as  '  a  peculiar  class 
of  buildings  that  rise  several  storeys  high  in  the  form  of  a 
narrow  and  polygonal  obelisk,  whether  tenanted  by  idols 
or  not.' 

These  picturesque  objects  that  crown  a  jutting  eminence 
or  stand  on  a  swelling  hill ;  that  rise  from  the  general  dead 
level  of  the  shanty-like  buildings  forming  a  Chinese  city  ; 
or  again  are  seen  breaking  the  monotony  of  low-lying  lands; 
so  common  that  they  seem  almost  a  natural  feature  in  a 
Chinese  landscape:  these  are  not  native  but  of  foreign  origin, 
and  introduced,  so  it  is  said,  after  the  Christian  era. 

The  great  majority  of  pagodas  in  China  are  ancient,  and 
in  Chinese  scenery  take  the  place  of  the  old  and  ruined 
castles  to  be  met  with  in  the  West.  The  stiffness  of  the 
lines  has  been  toned  down  by  the  kindly  hand  of  time,  in 
the  course  of  the  centuries  which  have  generally  passed 
since  their  erection.  Decay  has  dislodged  a  brick  here  and 
there  in  the  galleries  (placed  often  at  each  storey)  round  the 
tall  shaft-like  structure,  while  sometimes  the  lightning  in  its 
play,  or  the  wild  winds  in  their  sport,  have  robbed  the 
ambitious  tower  of  its  topmost  storeys,  or,  at  least,  of  its 
crowning  glory,  an  imitation  of '  a  big  bottle-gourd.'  Nature, 
in  another  of  her  aspects,  has  dropped  a  seed  in  the  mother 
earth ;  unnoticed  it  has  lain  till,  mixed  with  the  other 
materials,  it  has  been  used  in  the  building,  and  the  fierce 
tropical  sun  has  warmed  it  into  maturity  ;  or,  failing  that, 
the  feathered  songsters  of  the  air  have  plucked  the  ripe 
berries  and  left  the  seeds  on  the  pagoda  ;  in  either  case  the 
result  is  a  growth  of  shrubs  and  bushes  and  young  trees, 
which  add  to  the  beauty  of  the  tower  and  also  accelerate 
its  decay. 

Pagodas  are  usually  of  seven  or  nine  storeys  in  height, 
though  any  odd  numbers  such  as  three,  five,  eleven,  or 
thirteen  storeys  are  known  —  odd  numbers  being  most 
propitious :  those  above  nine  storeys  are  very  rare,  though 
there  have  been  one  or  two,  if  not  more,  constructed  of  that 

498 


Pagoda 

height.  It  has  been  the  intention  to  erect  some  of  thirteen 
storeys,  but  want  of  funds  or  fear  of  destruction  by  the 
elements  (the  Chinese  have  no  lightning  rods)  have  caused 
the  Chinese  to  desist  from  the  attempt.  With  regard  to 
their  dimensions  it  has  been  stated  that  '  the  average  height 
of  the  loftiest  pagodas  is  about  170  feet.'  The  famous 
Nankin  pagoda  was  261  English  feet  high.  The  walls  of 
pagodas  are  of  great  thickness,  especially  at  the  base, 
reminding  one  of  the  old  walls  of  castles  in  England.  They 
decrease  proportionately  in  circumference  and  in  thickness 
as  they  ascend.  One  in  Soochow  (in  which  city  there  are 
five)  is  nearly  300  feet  in  circumference,  or  about  100  feet 
in  diameter  at  the  bottom,  '  and  its  ninth  or  uppermost 
storey  is  about  one-third  in  circumference '  of  the  base. 
They  are  generally  hexagonal  or  octagonal  in  shape 
externally.  The  number  in  China  must  be  enormous, 
Williams  estimates  there  must  be  nearly  2,000  in  the 
empire. 

On  each  storey  are  openings — doorways,  or  windows — 
neither  furnished  with  doors,  nor  glazed,  adding  much  to 
the  picturesque  details  of  these  interesting  buildings.  There 
are  cornices  at  each  storey  on  the  outside,  forming  at  times 
'only  ornamental  details,  while  at  others  they  are  developed 
into  outside  galleries,  or  balconies,  going  round  the  whole 
pagoda.  These  galleries  are  either  unprotected  or  railed, 
and  the  openings  in  the  brickwork  of  the  tower,  already 
mentioned,  give  on  to  these  cornices  or  galleries.  From 
them,  magnificent  bird's-eye  views  of  the  city  at  one's  feet, 
or  of  the  surrounding  country,  are  obtained,  increasing  in 
range  as  the  visitor  ascends  succeeding  storeys  ;  but  it  is 
not  every  pagoda  that  is  open  to  ascent.  Some  are  in  too 
dilapidated  a  condition  to  be  safe,  and  the  officials  prohibit 
visitors  going  up,  and  close  the  entries  ;  others,  though  safe 
enough,  have  proved  too  common  and  easy  a  point  of 
departure  for  giddy  or  weak-brained  mortals  to  essay  a 
flight  into  the  great  unknown.  As  to  the  modes  of  ascent 
they  may  be  divided  into  two  categories  ;  none,  or  some. 
In  the  former  case,  none  being  provided  by  the  builders,  the 

499 


Things  Chinese 

inhabitants  in  the  neighbourhood  appear  with  a  long  plank 
ready  to  assist,  for  a  remuneration  of  course,  the  aspirant 
to  giddy  heights.  This  long  plank  is  thrown  from  the 
windows  of  a  lower  storey  to  those  of  the  next,  and,  once 
crossed,  it  is  pulled  across  and  the  further  end  raised  again 
to  the  next  higher  storey.  Thus  slowly,  stage  by  stage,  the 
traveller  ascends,  crossing  his  improvised  bridge,  while  a 
slip,  or  a  fall  of  brickwork,  would  precipitate  him  to  the 
foot  of  the  hollow  tower.  A  trick  with  the  Chinese  in  the 
olden  days  was,  when  half-way  up,  or  when  the  top  had 
been  reached,  to  take  possession  of  the  plank  and  refuse  to 
place  it  in  position  for  the  descent  until  their  rapacity  had 
been  satisfied  by  the  bestowal  of  some  coin,  thus  cruelly 
extorted  by  them.  A  steady  brain  is  required  in  such  a 
mode  of  ascent,  as  well  as  when  a  staircase  winds  round  the 
interior  of  the  structure  without  any  railing  or  protection 
whatever.  In  some  pagodas,  however,  each  stage  has  a 
floor.  In  one  the  author  ascended  at  the  District  City  of 
Tie-yea,  near  Swatow,  such  was  the  style,  and  there  were 
separate  stairways  round  the  interior  of  the  building  for 
each  storey.  The  lowest  of  all  was  unprotected  for  the 
greater  part  of  its  ascent,  after  which  it  entered  the  wall  of 
the  building  and  landed  one  on  the  first  floor ;  the* 
succeeding  staircases  being  all  within  the  thick  walls.  The 
galleries  were  protected  by  balustrades,  and  were  of  sufficient 
width  to  allow  of  those  going  in  one  direction  to  push  past 
those  going  in  the  opposite. 

Buddhist  temples  are  often  erected  at  the  foot  of  a 
pagoda,  the  primary  object  of  a  pagoda  having  been  to 
preserve  the  relics  of  a  Buddha,  or  saint.  The  Chinese  have 
improved  on  this,  and  firmly  believe  that,  in  order  to 
conserve  or  improve  the  propitious  geomantic  influences  of 
a  place,  it  is  necessary  to  have  pagodas  ;  and  they  conse- 
quently take  a  prominent  position  in  the  curious  medley  of 
superstition  and  glimmerings  of  natural  science  known 
as  Fung  Shui  (See  Article  under  that  heading).  Their 
presence  is  supposed  to  ward  off  evil  influences  and  attract 
those  conditions  which  go  to  make  up  the  Chinese  idea  of 

500 


Pagoda 

a  state  of  prosperity,  so  much  prized  by  them,  and  for  the 
attainment  of  which  they  will  sacrifice  almost  everything. 
As  a  concrete  example  of  the  good  they  produce,  it  may  be 
noted  that  the  presence  of  a  pagoda  in  a  city  will  cause 
numbers  of  its  studious  youths  to  gain  literary  distinctions 
in  the  Civil  Service  examinations. 

The  geomancers  of  Canton  say  that  the  two  pagodas 
inside  that  city  are  like  the  two  masts  of  a  junk,  the  stern 
sheets  being  the  huge,  five-storeyed,  barn-like  structure  on 
the  walls  at  the  north  of  the  city.  To  an  imaginative 
people,  like  the  Chinese,  such  a  comparison  is  highly 
felicitous.  A  large  commercial  centre  is  thus  symbolised, 
and  a  concatenation  (of  pagodas  and  buildings)  producing 
such  a  symbol  is  looked  upon  as  not  only  being  an  emblem 
of  what  the  city  actually  is  at  present,  but  as  a  means  of 
ensuring  (for  such  probably  would  be  the  train  of  thought 
evolved)  a  future  continuance  of  such  commercial  prosperity 
as  long  as  such  emblems  continue  to  exist.  The  prosaic 
Englishman  spends  thousands  on  a  grand  system  of  under- 
ground drainage  to  improve  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the 
city  he  lives  in  :  the  Chinese  knows  nought  of,  and  cares 
less  about,  sanitary  science,  but  he  firmly  believes  in  spend- 
ing money  to  secure  long  life,  health,  and  prosperity,  and  to 
preserve  him  from  all  the  evils  and  dangers  that  surround 
him.  He  as  firmly  believes,  as  the  Englishman  in  his 
system,  and  that  centuries  of  experience  have  proved  that 
the  means  of  obtaining  such  blessings  is  to  erect  new 
pagodas  or  to  repair  those  already  in  existence  in  his 
district.  The  four  winds  may  blow,  but  under  the  benign 
influences  of  the  pagoda  they  are  averted  ;  the  dire  waters 
may  flow,  but  the  pagoda  wards  off  their  evil  results. 

An  illuminated  pagoda  :  such  a  sight  is  worthy  of  fain-- 
land, whether  a  mass  of  Chinese  lanterns  turns  the  slender, 
pointed  tower  into  a  tongue  of  fire  against  the  dark  back- 
ground of  a  moonless  sky,  or  whether  each  coign  and 
vantage  ground  forms  a  resting-place  for  a  glimmer  of  light ; 
but  we  question  whether  the  reality  comes  up  to  the  ideal, 
as  140  lamps  for  the  Nanking  Porcelain  Tower,  when  it  was 

501 


Things  Chinese 

in  existence,  seems  but  a  small  allowance  for  such  a  large 
building.  They  are  hung  at  the  windows  and  from  each 
corner  of  the  different  storeys. 

The  aggregate  sum  of  money  spent  on  the  erection  of 
pagodas  in  China  must  be  something  enormous.  '  The 
entire  building  at  Nanking  cost  the  Imperial  Treasury  no 
less  than  2,485,484  taels  of  silver — $3,300,000';  and  the 
repairs  of  another  cost  826,000.  Sixty  years  were  spent  in 
the  construction  of  one. 

Besides  the  pagodas  already  written  about,  known  as 
fd  fdp,  flowery,  or  ornamented,  pagodas,  there  is  another 
variety,  known  as  mun  t'dp,  or  put  fdp,  literary,  or  pencil, 
pagodas,  which  are  very  numerous  in  the  South  of  China. 
They  are  often  seen  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  and  are  supposed, 
like  the  others,  to  exert  a  good  influence  on  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

Some  people  have  been  misled  into  thinking  pagodas 
were  intended  as  beacon  towers  ;  but  beacon  towers  are 
quite  different  from  them.  The  author  saw  three  of  the 
latter  just  behind  some  foreign  houses  in  Swatow,  in  a  grove 
of  trees.  They  cannot  have  been  used  for  some  scores  of 
years,  and,  hidden  as  they  were,  would  not  serve  any  good 
purpose  now. 

Pagodas  are  occasionally  erected  at  the  present  day, 
but  not  often  ;  the  first  was  probably  built  in  the  third 
century. 


Books  recommended. — An  article  entitled  'Pagodas  in  China,'  in  the 
'Transactions  of  the  C.Br.  of  the  R.  A.S.,' Part  v.,  1855.  Williams's  'Middle 
Kingdom,'  vol.  i.  pp.  102,  743,  745.  Archdeacon  Gray's  'China,'  chapter 
31. 

PARSERS. — A  number  of  Parsees  are  found  engaged 
in  trade  on  their  own  account  and  as  employes  in  Hong- 
kong, as  well  as  at  many  of  the  Treaty  Ports.  They  are 
a  bright,  intelligent  race,  good  business  men,  and  well- 
conducted.  Their  original  country  is  Persia,  from  which 
they  were  driven  by  religious  persecution.  They  are 
worshippers  of  fire.  They  have  cemeteries  in  Hongkong 
and  Macao,  where  they  bury  their  dead. 

502 


Pawnshops 

PAWNSHOPS. — Towering  above  low-lying  dwellings, 
and  pierced  by  numerous  small  windows,  the  massive,  square 
erections  of  the  pawnbrokers'  strongholds,  are  seen  dotted 
here  and  there  throughout  the  Chinese  city  or  town.  They 
are  the  objects  which  first  attract  the  attention  of  the 
stranger,  who  naturally  is  surprised  when  informed  that 
they  are  not  fortifications  but  pawnshops. 

Conspicuous  they  are  in  material  substance,  and  they 
hold  an  equally  prominent  position  in  the  social  economy 
of  the  curious  and  complex  product  of  Eastern  life  and 
prudential  economy,  which  constitute  the  average 
Chinaman's  life.  The  Westerner  must  dismiss  from  his 
mind  all  preconceived  ideas  of  pawnshops  and  pawnshop- 
keepers.  The  position  these  latter  hold  is  a  highly  respect- 
able one,  and  the  business  is  one  in  which  a  moneyed  man 
is  glad  to  invest  his  hard-earned  savings,  or  an  official  his 
surplus  cash,  as  a  share  in  the  joint-stock  concern  which 
many  of  them  are.  Native  banks  would  appear  to  restrict 
their  operations  more  amongst  trade,  or  business  people, 
while  the  pawnshop  comes  in  for  a  share  of  the  business 
which,  in  England,  would  otherwise  be  monopolised  by 
the  banks. 

If  its  shareholders  are  merchants  and  officials — people 
of  respectability  and  position — so  its  clientele  not  only 
embraces,  as  in  England,  the  spendthrift,  those  who  live 
from  hand  to  mouth,  the  hopelessly  impecunious,  who  are 
sunk  in  the  lowest  depths  of  poverty,  the  gambler,  the  thief, 
the  robber,  and  the  burglar,  the  opium-smoker  (who  takes 
the  place  so  ignominously  filled  by  the  drunkard  in  our 
countries  of  the  West,  though  even  the  drunkard  is  found 
in  China  amongst  those  who  frequent  the  pawnshop,  for  has 
not  the  poet  Tu  Fu  sung  : — 

'  From  the  court  every  eve  to  the  pawnshop  I  pass, 
To  come  back  from  the  river  the  drunkest  of  men.1)  ; 

but  they  also  still  further  boast,  in  almost  equal  numbers, 
the  most  respectable  classes  of  society  as  amongst  their 
numerous  clients.  Rumour  now  and  again  whispers  that 
even  in  London  some  of  those  in  good  positions  in  the 

503 


Things  Chinese 

world,  as  far  as  family  and  connections  are  concerned, 
contribute  customers  to  the  sign  of  the  three  gilded  balls, 
but  these  transactions  are  done  sub  rosA  and  most  indignant 
would  these  same  customers  be  if  they  were  taxed  with 
them.  John  Chinaman,  unlike  John  Bull,  has  nothing  to 
be  ashamed  of — in  fact  any  idea  of  such  a  thing  as  shame 
entering  into  his  mind  with  regard  to  such  a  common  and 
honest  business  transaction  would  not  find  a  lodgment  in 
his  brain.  The  pawnshop  is  a  safe  repository  for  the 
gentleman's,  or  lady's,  furs  in  summer,  where  they  will  be 
well  taken  care  of  and  preserved  from  the  destructive 
moth  ;  and,  again,  in  winter,  the  summer  robes  of  thin  and 
diaphanous  material  may  be  carefully  housed  in  the  same 
storehouse. 

There  are  several  classes  of  pawnshops,  but,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  they  may  be  considered  as  separated 
into  two  divisions.  They  have  different  regulations  as  to 
rates  of  interest  and  the  length  of  time  unredeemed  pledges 
are  kept  before  being  sold,  etc.  A  very  common  rate  of 
interest  is  thirty-six  per  cent,  a  year.  A  not  unusual  sight 
is  a  lot  of  pawn-tickets  for  sale  on  a  street  stall.  Those 
who  buy  them  have,  of  course,  the  right  of  redeeming  the 
articles  on  pledge  for  which  they  are  issued. 

Pawnshops  form  a  fine  object  of  attack  for  burglars  or 
robbers ;  and,  notwithstanding  all  the  strength  of  their 
construction,  their  massive  doors,  their  narrow  windows,  and 
the  piles  of  stones  on  the  roof  to  throw  down  on  the  heads 
of  their  assailants,  as  well  as  all  the  precautions  taken  in 
early  closing,  the  attacks  made  on  them  are  sometimes 
successful.  It  is  dangerous  work  to  engage  in,  as,  if  caught, 
the  penalty  is  death. 

Book  recommended. — Gray's  'China,'  vol.  ii.,  chapter  20. 

PEA-NUT. — The  following  account  of  this  common 
and  well-known  ground-nut,  AracJiis  hypogcea,  is  from 
Rein's  '  Industries  of  Japan  ' : — 

'  A  very  considerable  botanico-geographical  interest  attaches  to 
this  remarkable  leguminous  herb.  Numerous  leaves  appear  on  its 

504 


Pheasants 

low-lying  branching  stalk.  These  are  elliptical  or  oval,  inverted,  and 
at  their  axils  grow  short-stemmed,  yellow  blossoms.  When  these 
have  disappeared  their  stems  lengthen  out,  the  joints  sink  into  the 
loose  sandy  soil,  where,  at  a  depth  of  5-8  cm.  below  the  surface, 
they  develop  into  little  pods,  15-30  mm.  long  and  10-15  mm  thick. 
As  a  rule  they  have  a  constriction  in  the  middle,  deep  and  gradual. 
.  .  .  Their  grey-white  earthy'  coloured  'shells  contain  a  seed  on  each 
side  of  the  constriction.  Shorter  ones,  without  constriction,  hold 
only  one.  .  .  .  Externally'  these  seeds  'are  a  brownish  red;  inside 
white.  They  yield  40-60  per  cent,  of  a  fatty  oil,  which  serves  almost 
all  the  purposes  of  olive-oil.  .  .  .  Brazil  was  formerly  considered  to 
be  the  original  home  of  the  ground-nut  ;  but  now  that  it  has  become 
known  how  widely  distributed  it  is  in  Africa,  this  opinion  has  been 
relinquished,  and  it  is  held  more  probable  that  it  was  introduced  into 
the  New  World  by  Portuguese  slave-ships  from  Africa.  In  the  Old 
World  it  is  found  cultivated  in  many  tropical  and  sub-tropical 
countries,  though  never  to  the  same  extent  as  on  the  West  Coast  of 
Africa,  from  Senegambia  and  the  regions  adjacent  down  to  the  Gold 
Coast,  where  it  is  a  prominent  article  of  export.  Marseilles  is  the 
chief  market  for  ground-nuts  and  the  oil  they  yield.  ...  In  Japan 
and  China,  as  well  as  in  North  America,  ground-nuts  are  usually  eaten 
roasted,  and  their  cultivation  is  very  limited.' 

This  last  sentence  may  be  true  of  North  China,  but  in 
the  South  they  are  a  common  crop.  Pea-nut  oil  \vas  the 
common  illuminant  before  the  introduction  of  kerosene 
into  China ;  but  it  is  now  disappearing  fast  before  it,  or  has 
been  completely  given  up,  in  many  places  in  favour  of  the 
brighter  oil. 


PHEASANTS.— Marco  Polo  says  :— '  Pheasants  are 
found  there  twice  as  big  as  ours,  indeed,  nearly  as  big  as  a 
peacock,  and  having  tails  of  seven  to  ten  palms  in  length.' 
To  this  Col.  Yule  has  a  note  on  p.  271  of  vol.  i.  of  his 
2nd  edition  as  follows  : — '  The  China  pheasant  answering 
best  to  the  indications  in  the  text  appears  to  be  Rceves's 
Pheasant.  Mr.  Gould  has  identified  this  bird  with  Marco's 
in  his  magnificent  Birds  of  Asia,  and  has  been  kind  enough 
to  show  me  a  specimen  which,  with  the  body,  measured 
6  feet  8  inches.  The  tail  feathers  alone,  however,  are  said 
to  reach  to  6  and  /  feet,  so  that  Marco's  ten  palms  was 
scarcely  an  exaggeration.  These  tail-feathers  are  often 
seen  on  the  Chinese  stage  in  the  cap  of  the  hero  of  the 
drama,  and  also  decorate  the  hats  of  certain  civil  function- 
aries.' 

505 


Things  Chinese 

The  Chinese  ring-necked  species  of  pheasant  has  been 
successfully  introduced  into  England. 

PHILOSOPHY. — We  do  not  propose  to  enter  on  a 
long  dissertation  on  Chinese  Philosophy,  whether  it  be 
ethical  as  applied  to  everyday  morals,  with  its  five  virtues  ; 
or  cosmogonal,  as  applied  to  the  evolution  of  the  finite  from 
the  infinite,  the  conditioned  from  the  unconditioned,  and  the 
production  of  light  and  darkness.  Here  one  appears  to  be 
on  solid  ground,  but  when  one  follows  out  the  reasonings 
and  statements  of  the  ancient  philosophy,  and  comes  on 
stalks  of  milfoil,  and  the  carapax  of  a  tortoise,  the  eight 
diagrams,  the  eight  trigrams — notwithstanding  the 
assurance  that  '  it  is  very  probable  that  there  is  underlying  ' 
them,  the  trigrams,  '  a  definite  system  of  natural  philosophy  ' 
— it  all  appears  to  the  foreign  reader,  who  has  not  imbibed 
the  true  Chinese  spirit,  which  sees  '  good  in  everything  ' 
Chinese  to  the  uncivilised  barbarians,  that  the  most  of  us 
are  outside  the  pale  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  it  seems  a 
system  of  hocus  pocus  ;  the  feeling  is  but  little  modified 
though  one  is  assured  that  the  Grand  Plan  is  typified  in 
them,  that  the  dual  principles  of  Nature  are  working  in 
their  midst,  and  that  they  '  typify  the  transformation  which 
the  dual  principle  of  Heaven  and  Earth  undergoes  in  the 
phenomenal  changes  of  nature.'  This  is  all  caviare  to  the 
Westerner,  who  has  no  taste  for  Chinese  delicacies  ;  and 
to  the  general  reader  it  all  seems  incomprehensible  and 
unfathomable,  for  the  ancient  philosophical  worthy  who 
devised  these  mystic  combinations  appears  to  the  common 
mind  to  have  lost  himself  in  the  maze  of  his  dreams 
and  speculations.  How  incoherent  the  '  Yik  King'  ('the 
Classic  of  Changes  ')  is,  which  deals  ad  nauseam  with  these 
diagrams  and  their  commutations,  may  be  gathered  from 
the  fact  that  the  late  Professor  Terrien  de  Lacouperie 
asserted  it  to  be  a  word-book  of  Accadian  or  Babylonian 
words  ;  but  the  Chinese,  by  the  aid  of  commentaries,  have 
read  sense  and  meaning  into  what  would  otherwise  baffle 
the  common  intellect  to  fathom. 

506 


Philosophy 

One  turns  with  more  pleasure  to  the  speculations  of  the 
heretical  Micius  (Mih  Tsz),  who,  shunned  by  the  unappre- 
ciative,  orthodox,  Chinese  scholars,  laid  it  down  as  a 
principle  '  to  love  all  equally  '  ;  and  the  brilliant  Chwang 
Tsz's  paradoxes,  his  fables,  his  mysticism,  are  all  more 
congenial  to  the  Western  mind — more  practical  in  their 
bearings,  notwithstanding  all  the  defects  and  errors,  than 
the  dry  sticks  of  the  milfoil  and  the  harder  shell  of  the 
tortoise,  who  withdraws  under  his  testudo  and  resists  all  the 
prying  efforts  of  the  seekers  after  knowledge. 

We  might  wander  amidst  the  speculations  of  different 
writers  subsequent  to  the  Confucian  age,  when  many  were 
'  distinguished  for  the  boldness  of  their  theories  and  the 
freedom  of  their  utterance,'  where,  besides  the  names 
already  mentioned,  may  be  cited  those  of  Licius  (Leih 
Tsz),  Mencius,  Suncius  (Sun  Tsz),  and  others,  but  time  will 
not  permit ;  nor  can  we  follow  the  mazes  of  the  speculative 
philosophy,  which  '  sprang  suddenly  into  existence '  under 
the  Sung  dynasty.  In  fact,  the  whole  subject  is  a  vast 
one,  diverging  into  many  branches,  and  worthy  of  an 
exhaustive  treatise  dealing  with  it  alone.  We  refer  the 
reader  to  our  article  on  Taoism  in  this  book,  for  some 
notice  of  Chancius  (Chwang  Tsz),  with  his  vivacity  and 
delirious  fertility  o£  imagination,  whose  writings  have  been 
described  as  '  a  storm  of  dazzling  effects.' 

Books  recommended. — Articles  entitled  'Fragmentary  Studies  in  Ancient 
Chinese  Philosophy,'  by  Rev.  E.  J.  Eitel,  Ph.D.,  in  China  Review,  vol. 
xv.  p.  338,  and  vol.  xvii.  p.  2b'.  The  prolegomena  to  vol.  ii.  of  Legge's 
'Chinese  Classics,'  and  the  'Classic  of  Changes,'  translated  by  the  same 
author,  published  in  the  '  Sacred  Books  of  the  East '  Series,  vol.  xvi. 
'  The  Doctrine  of  the  Chi,'  a  very  interesting  paper  by  Sir  Chaloner  Alabaster, 
in  the  China  Review,  vol.  xviii.  p.  299.  '  The  Doctrines  of  Confucius  :  A 
Systematic  Digest,  according  to  the  Analects,  Great  Learning,  and  Doctrine 
of  the  Mean,  with  an  Introduction  on  the  Authorities  upon  Confucius  and 
Confucianism,'  by  Rev.  E.  Faber,  Th.D. ,  translated  from  the  German  by  P. 
G.  von  Moellendorlf.  'The  Mind  of  Mencius,  or  Political  Economy  Founded 
upon  Moral  Philosophy :  A  Systematic  Digest  ct  the  Doctrines  of  the 
Chinese  Philosopher,  Mencius.  B.C.  325.  The  Original  Text  classified  and 
translated,  with  notes  and  explanations  by  Rev.  E.  Faber,  Th.D.,  translated 
from  the  German,  with  notes  and  emendations  by  Rev.  A.  P>.  Hutchinson.' 
'  The  Divine  Classic  of  Nan  Hua,  being  the  works  of  Chuang  Tsx,  Taoist 
Philosopher,'  by  F.  H.  Balfour,  F.R.G.S.  '  Chuang  Tzii,  Mystic,  Moralist, 
and  Social  Reformer,'  translated  by  H.  A.  Giles,  contains  an  interesting  note, 
occupying  twenty  pages,  on  the  philosophy  of  chaps.  1-7,  by  Rev.  A.  Moore, 


Things  Chinese 

Oxford,  pointing  out  the  parallelisms  of  thought  and  reasoning  between  the 
Greek  philosophy  and  the  Chinese.  '  Remarks  on  the  Ethical  Philosophy 
of  the  Chinese,'  by  Dr.  Martin,  in  his  '  Han  Lin  Papers.'  A  paper  by  Rev. 
Griffith  John,  in  'Journal  N.  C.  Br.  R.A.iS.,'  Sept.  I860,  and  one  by 
Kev.  J.  Edkins  in  same  Journal  for  AJay  185(J.  '  1  he  Philosophy,  Ethics, 
and  Religion  of  Taoism,  chielly  as  developed  by  Ctnvang  Tsz,'  by  W.  P. 
Mears,  Al.A.,  M.D.,  in  China  Itcvieu;  vol.  xix.  p.  225. 

PIDGIN-ENGLISH.— When  foreigners  settled  in 
China,  finding  the  language  difficult  to  learn,  and  the 
Chinese  finding  English  nearly  equally  difficult  for  them  to 
acquire,  a  middle  course  was  struck,  and  the  outcome  was 
the  mongrel  talk,  called  pidgin-English.  We  say  a  middle 
course  was  struck,  for  the  words  employed  are  generally 
English  modified  to  suit  the  defective  pronunciation  of  the 
Chinese.  For  example,  the  letter  r  is  dropped  and  /  sub- 
stituted, while  the  idiom  is  Chinese,  and,  in  the  absence  of 
inflection  and  declension,  the  Chinese  is  again  copied. 
The  result  has  been  a  most  wonderful  gibberish,  especially 
when  talked  in  its  purity.  It  is,  of  course,  not  at  all  like 
Chinese,  and  so  unlike  English,  that  new-comers  require  to 
learn  it.  The  difference  between  it  and  proper  English  was 
once  unconsciously  and  wittily  expressed  by  a  Cantonese 
shop-keeper,  who,  finding  himself  at  a  loss  to  understand 
the  correct  English  spoken  by  a  new  arrival,  turned  to  his 
friend,  an  American,  and  said  :  '  Moh  bettah  you  flen 
talkee  Englishee  talk,  my  nosabbee  Melican  talk.'  A  very 
few  of  the  words  employed  in  pidgin-English  are  Chinese 
so  distorted  as  to  be  almost  past  recognition,  while 
Portuguese,  Malay,  and  Indian  have  also  added  a  few  words 
to  the  vocabulary.  Some  residents  have  occasionally 
amused  a  leisure  hour  by  putting  a  few  of  the  gems  of 
English  literature  into  this  jargon,  with  the  result  that 
diamonds  of  the  first  water  have  been  changed  into  ashes. 
The  soliloquy  in  Hamlet  commencing,  in  pidgin-English, 
'  Can  do,  no  can  do,  how  fashion,'  as  well  as  '  Excelsior,' 
and  other  poems,  have  shared  this  fate.  We  give  a 
specimen  at  the  end  of  this  article,  but  very  few  of  any  of 
the  pieces  put  into  this  lingo  represent  it  as  it  is  really 
spoken,  as  bs,  gs,  ds,  and  rs,  are  all  left  in,  letters  which,  when 

508 


Pidgin-English 

the  Chinese  speak  it,  are  not  pronounced,  but  ps,  ks,  ts,  and 
Is,  are  used  instead.  The  pidgin-English,  as  usually 
written,  represents  it  as  it  is  pronounced  by  the  foreigner, 
but  not  as  it  is  spoken  by  the  majority  of  Chinese,  and  the 
latter  we  would  maintain  is  the  proper  pidgin-English. 

Fortunately  for  all  concerned,  this  dialect  of  English, 
which  has  had  an  existence  of  more  than  half  a  century, 
seems  doomed  at  last.  The  extended  acquisition  of  some 
knowledge  of  English  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese,  is 
superseding  its  use,  we  are  thankful  to  say.  One  very 
curious  feature  in  the  employment  of  pidgin-English,  is  to 
find  Chinese  from  different  parts  of  the  empire,  who,  on 
account  of  the  difference  in  the  language  spoken  by  them, 
are  unable  to  converse  together,  occasionally  forced  to  use 
it,  in  order  to  be  able  to  hold  any  communication  with  each 
other. 

EXCELSIOR. 

That  nightey  tim  begin  chop-chop, 
One  young  man  walkee — no  can  stop. 
Maskee  snow  !  maskee  ice  ! 
He  cally  flag  with  chop  so  nice — 

Topside  Galow  ! 

He  too  muchey  solly,  one  piecee  eye 
Look-see  sharp — so — all  same  my, 
He  talkey  largey,  talkey  stlong, 
Too  muchee  culio  all-same  gong — 

Topside  Galow  ! 

Inside  that  house  he  look-see  light, 
And  evely  loom  got  fire  all  light, 
He  look-see  plenty  ice  more  high. 
Inside  he  mouth  he  plenty  cly — 

Topside  Galow  ! 

Olo  man  talkee  '  No  can  walk, 
By'mby  lain  come.  .  .  welly  dark, 
Hab  got  water,  welly  wide.' 
'  Maskee  !     My  wantchey  go  topside,' 

Topside  Galow  ! 

'  Man-man,'  one  girley  talkey  he  ; 
'  What  for  you  go  topside  look-see  ! : 
And  one  tim  more  he  plenty  cly, 
But  allo-tim  walkee  plenty  high. 

Topside  Galow  ! 

509 


Things  Chinese 


'  Take  care  t'hat  spoil'uni  tlee,  young  man, 
Take  care  t'hat  ice.     He  want  man-man.' 
T'hat  coolie  chin-chin  he  'Good-night,' 
He  talkee  '  My  can  go  all  light.' 

Topside  Galow  ! 

Joss-pidgin-man  he  soon  begin, 
Morning-tim  t'hat  Joss  chin-chin, 
He  no  man  see — he  plenty  fear, 
Cos  some  man  talkee  he  can  hear. 

Topside  Galow  ! 

T'hat  young  man  die,  one  large  dog  see 
Too  muchee  bobbely  findee  he, 
He  hand  blong  colo — all-same  ice. 
Hab  got  he  flag,  with  chop  so  nice. 

Topside  Galow  ! 

MORAL. 

You  too  muchee  laugh  !  what  for  sing  ! 
I  tink  so  you  no  savvy  what  ting  ! 
Supposey  you  no  blong  clever  inside  ! 
More  bettajy^w  go  walk  topside  ! 

Topside  Galow  ! 

Book  recommended. — Leland's    'Pidgin-English    Sing   Song'   contains  a 
vocabulary,  and  many  pieces  put  into  pidgin-English. 


PIRACY. — It  must  be  difficult  for  those  living  in  our 
Western  lands  to  understand  how  piracy  on  water  and 
highway  robbery  on  land  render  to  a  certain  extent  life  and 
property  insecure  in  China  as  compared  with  countries  like 
England,  where  nowadays  such  hindrances  to  travel  and 
trade  are  rare. 

In  a  land  where  living  is  to  many  a  bare  point  above 
absolute  want,  if  harvests  fail  or  floods  come,  numbers  of 
erstwhile  honest  villagers  may  be  driven  to  beggary,  or, 
emboldened  by  despair,  turn  into  sea  robbers  or  land 
thieves  ;  in  a  land  likewise  where  rebellions  are  common 
occurrences,  bringing  destitution  and  starvation  in  their 
train,  it  needs  but  little  to  drive  some  of  the  desperate 
characters,  robbed  of  all  resources,  to  such  a  pitch  that  the 
life  of  a  gentleman  at  large  preying  on  the  resources  of 
others  seems  a  beneficial  change  to  themselves  at  least  if 
not  to  others  ;  in  a  land  where  the  soldiery  are  kept  at 

510 


Piracy 

starvation  wages  or  not  paid  at  all  for  months  at  a  time,  it  is 
but  little  wonder  that  when  disbanded  such  troops,  accus- 
tomed already  to  loot,  should  turn  to  brigandage  as  only  a 
shade  worse  morally  than  the  life  they  have  been  driven  to 
by  their  corrupt  officers  and  the  effete  government.  The 
following  extracts  will  give  some  idea  of  the  state  of 
things : — 

'  Time  was  .  .  .  when  the  Two  Kwang  were  the  chosen  haunt  of 
pirates  who  were  a  terror  in  all  the  southern  seas  from  Amoy  to  Java, 
including  the*  Philippines,  Borneo,  Malay  Peninsula,  etc.  The  estab- 
lishment of  the  British  sea  power  in  these  waters,  however,  soon  proved 
the  destruction  of  piracy,  British  gunboats  making  it  so  warm  for 
these  freebooters  that  in  the  end  they  practically  disappeared,  or  became 
merged  in  the  population  pursuing  lawful  avocations  afloat.  That  the 
old  free-booting  spirit  still  survives  among  many  who  are  now 
apparently  peaceful  traders  and  fishermen,  we  occasionally  get 
startling  proofs  in  some  unexpected  daring  act  of  piracy  on  the  high 
seas  or  along  the  coast.' 

With  regard  to  piracy,  the  British  Consul  for  Canton 
thus  writes  in  his  report  for  1894  :— 

'While  piracy  on  the  coast  has  nearly  disappeared,  the  inland 
waters  of  the  province  are  still  infested  with  robbers.  Even  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  Canton,  acts  of  piracy  are  committed  every 
day.  The  passage-boats  are  armed  as  if  they  were  going  into  action. 
On  the  roofs  of  the  cabins  where  the  passengers  are  confined  (or  what 
may  be  called  the  upper  deck")  may  be  seen  half-a-dozen  old  fashioned 
muzzle-loading  cannon  well  depressed,  so  as  to  hit  a  boat  close  along- 
side, and  also  racks  full  of  modern  rifles  ready  at  hand  for  the  use  of 
the  crew.  Old  fishing-nets  are  hung  in  folds  on  each  side  ready  to 
be  spread  out  as  a  screen  against  bullets,  and  passenger-boats  are 
now  being  fitted  with  a  grating  to  separate  the  men  who  tread  the 
stern-wheel  from  the  rest  of  the  boat,  for  the  first  act  of  the  robbers, 
whether  they  push  out  from  the  river  bank,  or  rush  out  from  the 
cabin  where  they  have  been  posing  as  honest  passengers,  is  to  disable 
the  wheelmen  and  bring  the  boat  to  a  stop.  On  shore  there  is  not 
much  more  security.  But,  with  all  the  lawlessness,  foreigners  live  in 
perfect  safety.  In  their  excursions  by  land  or  water  they  are  never 
[or  rather,  we  should  say,  scarcely  ever]  molested.  Robbers  know  that 
foreigners  will  make  a  stouter  resistance  than  the  timid  Chinese, 
and  that  the  native  authorities  would  not  be  allowed  to  wink  at  the 
outrage  as  they  do  when  the  victims  are  Chinese.' 

The  steam-launches  which  ply  between  Canton  and 
different  cities  and  villages  in  the  country  are  armed,  and 
some  have  a  grating  of  wire-netting  round  them  to  prevent 
pirates  getting  on  board. 


Things  Chinese 

PLAGUE. — Of  late  years  a  mysterious  disease,  which, 
from  the  reports  received,  appeared  to  be  a  species  of 
malignant  fever,  was  prevalent  in  the  Yunnan  Province, 
and  excited  the  curiosity  of  a  few  of  the  foreign  residents  in 
China,  who  eagerly  scanned  any  accounts  by  travellers  in 
the  hope  of  acquiring  a  fuller  knowledge  of  this  fatal 
malady,  which  seemed  to  have  made  its  home  in  the  mephitic 
valleys  of  that  distant  province.  No  fears  were  ever 
entertained  that  this  unwelcome  guest  of  the  Yunnanese 
would  start  on  its  erratic  rambles  and  visit  with  its  malign 
presence  and  virulent  persistence  the  south-eastern  coasts 
of  the  empire  and  commit  its  ravages  beneath  the  very  eyes 
and,  in  the  British  colony  of  Hongkong,  in  the  actual 
midst  of  those  who  had  wondered  what  it  was,  thus 
throwing  its  defiance  indeed  in  the  teeth  of  Western  medical 
science  ;  but  such  was  the  case,  and  the  unknown  visitant 
proved  to  be  either  the  black  plague  of  mediaeval  days,  or 
closely  akin  to  it.  That  black  plague  which  we  read  of  in 
our  history  books,  in  magazine  articles,  and  in  Defoe,  and 
whose  dread  presence  caused  a  stagnation  of  civic  life  and 
commerce,  spreading  a  dark  pall  of  misery  and  distress 
over  merry  England,  making  our  centres  of  life  veritable 
cities  of  the  dead,  and  finally  reducing  the  population  of 
the  country  to  one-half  of  what  it  had  been  before  it 
expired,  according  to  general  opinion,  amid  the  lurid  glare 
of  London  in  flames. 

'  Though  not  necessarily  confined  to  such,  in  modern  times  plague, 
like  leprosy,  had  become  practically  a  disease  of  warm  climates.  The 
hygienic  conditions  which  advancing  civilisation  has  brought  in  its 
train  have  forced  back  these  two  diseases  from  Europe,  where,  at  one 
time,  they  were  even  more  prevalent  than  they  are  in  their  tropical  and 
subtropical  haunts  at  the  present  day.  They  are  typical  examples  of 
that  large  group  of  acute  and  chronic  germ  diseases  whose  spread 
depends  on  social  and  hygienic,  rather  than  on  climatic,  conditions, 
and  more  especially  on  filth  and  overcrowding  ;  conditions  which 
nowadays  are  found,  to  an  extent  and  an  intensity  sufficient  to  ensure 
the  endemic  prevalence  or  epidemic  extension  of  these  diseases,  only 
in  warm  countries.' 

'The  most  potent  circumstances  which  predispose  to  the  epidemic 
outbreak  of  plague  are  extreme  filth  and  overcrowding.  In  such 
circumstances,  the  virus,  once  introduced,  tends  to  spread.  These 
conditions,  however,  are  not  all  sufficient ;  for  even  in  the  filthiest  and 

512 


Plague 

most  crowded  Oriental  towns  and  without  any  apparent  alteration  in 
the  habits  or  circumstances  of  the  population,  the  disease,  after  having 
become  epidemic,  dies  out  spontaneously.  It  may  be  difficult  to 
indicate  the  exact  way  or  ways  in  which  filth  and  overcrowding 
operate,  but  certain  it  is,  as  experience  has  shown,  that  in  sanitary 
hygienic  conditions  plague  does  not  spread,  even  if  introduced,  and 
that  in  opposite  conditions  it  may  for  a  time  spread  like  wildfire.' 

'  Filth  and  overcrowding  imply  close  proximity  of  the  sick  and  the 
healthy  ;  an  atmosphere  saturated  with  the  emanations  of  the  sick  ;  a 
lowered  tone  of  the  general  health  ;  abundant  saturation  of  soil  and 
surrounding  media  with  animal  refuse,  fitting  them  as  a  nidus  for  what 
might  be  termed  natural  culture  of  the  germ  ;  abundance  of  bodily 
vermin  of  all  kinds  [See  Article  on  Insects] ;  abundance  of  other 
vermin,  such  as  rats  and  mice,  which  serve  as  multipliers  of  the  virus  ; 
carelessness  about  personal  cleanliness,  about  wounds  of  the  hands  and 
feet,  about  clothing,  and  about  food,  dishes,  and  water.  One  can 
understand  how  in  such  circumstances  the  germ  has  opportunities  to 
multiply  and  spread.' 

'  Plague,  though  "  catching,"  is  not  nearly  so  infectious  as  are 
scarlet  fever,  measles,  small-pox,  or  even  typhus.  Medical  men,  and 
even  nurses,  in  clean  airy  hospitals  rarely  acquire  the  disease,  provided 
they  have  no  open  wounds  and  do  not  remain  too  long  in  close 
proximity  to  their  patients.  In  cities,  the  cleanly  districts  are  generally 
spared.  This  was  well  exemplified  in  the  late  epidemics  at  Canton 
and  Hongkong,  where  the  airy,  cleanly  European  quarters  and  the 
relatively  clean,  well-ventilated  boat  population  were  practically 
exempt  ;  whilst  the  disease  ran  riot  in  the  adjoining  filthy,  overcrowded 
native  houses  only  a  few  yards  away.' 

It  is  thought  that  the  disease  may  be  conveyed  to  man 
in  food  and  drink. 

'As  far  as  present  knowledge  extends,  it  seems  certain  that  plague 
is  also  communicated  by  the  breath,  inasmuch  as  the  special  bacilli 
were  found  in  the  saliva  of  the  Vienna  victims.'  '  The  most  hopeful 
branch  of  the  inquiry,  as  far  as  we  can  see  at  present,  is  that  which 
relates  to  the  preparation  and  administration  of  preventive  or  curative 
serums.' 

'  The  study  of  the  bubonic  plague  in  India  has  thrown  light  upon  a 
bit  of  Biblical  history  hitherto  not  understood.  When  the  Philistines 
restored  the  sacred  ark  to  Israel,  they  sent  with  it,  as  an  atonement 
to  JAHVE,  "five  golden  tumours  and  five  golden  mice"  (i  Samuel  vi. 
4,  R.V.).  What  the  mice  had  to  do  with  it  has  been  the  mystery. 
The  Montreal  Medical  Journal  elucidates  it  in  an  article  by  Dr.  J.  G. 
Adami.  A  peculiar  thing  about  the  plague  in  India  is,  that  it  attacks 
rats  and  mice.  This  was  noticed  at  Hongkong  in  1894.  These 
vermin,  when  infected,  desert  their  holes  without  fear  of  man,  a 
phenomenon  noticed  by  an  old  chronicler  in  England  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  What  is  said  in  i  Samuel  v.  12,  "the  men  that  died 
not  were  smitten  with  the  tumours,"  exactly  corresponds  to  the  fact 
that  the  swellings  characteristic  of  the  disease  (called  "bubonic,"  from 

513  2    K 


Things  Chinese 

Latin  bubo,  a  tumour)  are  more  noticeable  in  cases  that  are  not  fatal. 
The  breaking  out  of  the  disease  in  one  Philistine  city  after  another,  as 
the  ark  was  carried  from  place  to  place,  marks  the  infectiousncss  of 
the  plague,  and  so  does  the  fact  that  those  who  carried  the  ark  back 
to  Israel  carried  the  plague  with  them.  This  is  described  in  I  Samuel 
vi.  19  as  a  Divine  judgment :  "  Because  they  had  looked  into  the  ark 
of  the  Lord,  He  smote  of  the  people  seventy  men  and  fifty  thousand 
men."  The  Authorised  Version  in  this  passage  translates  the  Hebrew 
for  swelling  by  "emerods"  (haemorrhoids,  or  piles),  which  renders  the 
account  of  a  great  mortality  incredible ;  the  Revised  Version  "  tumours  " 
is  correct  enough,  but  unintelligible.  The  mouse,  which  in  the  fable 
gnawed  the  cord  that  fastened  the  lion,  has  once  more  done  service  in 
freeing  this  story  of  mystery,  and  given  an  unmistakable  realism  to 
what  many  have  regarded  as  merely  a  legend  from  three  thousand 
years  ago.' 

'  The  first  bubonic  plague  of  which  we  have  authentic  record  is 
placed  by  two  physicians  of  N.S.W.  in  the  year  1141  B.C.,  or  more  than 
eight  centuries  earlier  than  the  date  usually  assigned.  It  is  concluded 
that  the  epidemic  described  in  the  ist  Book  of  Samuel  was  true 
bubonic  plague.' 

Before  proceeding  to  an  account  of  its  manifestations 
in  China  in  recent  times,  it  may  be  interesting  to  give  a 
short  summary  of  the  known  history  of  the  plague. 

'  Plague  is  perhaps  the  one  disease  of  which  we  have  an  authentic 
description  at  periods  of  time  coming  down  from  430  RC.  to  mediaeval 
times  (1348)  and  so  through  the  Great  Plague  of  London  (1665-66)  to 
this  last  epidemic  in  1894  [in  Hongkong  and  adjacent  country].  The 
character  of  the  disease  seems  not  to  have  altered  in  any  way  since 
the  time  of  Thucydides.  The  sudden  invasion  and  the  other 
symptoms,  the  buboes  and  haemorrhages,  are  all  as  plainly  marked  in 
the  Hongkong  epidemic  as  they  were  in  Athens  2,500  years  ago. 
There  is  one  similarity  between  the  epidemic  at  Athens  and  the 
plague  of  1665  which  we  do  not  find  mentioned  in  Dr.  Lowson's  report 
of  the  Hongkong  epidemic,  so  perhaps  the  same  conditions  did  not 
obtain — t.e.,  the  absence  of  other  diseases.'  The  Emperor  Julian's 
physician  mentions  the  plague.  We  learn  from  him  that  it  was 
'  endemic  in  Egypt  and  Syria  from  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century  before  Christ.'  It  appeared  in  Europe  in  the  sixth  century. 
This,  it  is  said,  was  the  first  time  in  history  when  'this  formidable 
disease  assumed  the  character  of  a  great  epidemic.  Breaking  out  in 
Justinian's  reign  (A.D.  542)  the  disease  quickly  occupied  the  whole  of 
the  known  earth,  and  began  a  tragic  course  which  has  continued  even 
to  our  own  time.'  The  black  death  which  swept  over  the  continent  of 
Europe  in  the  fourteenth  century  had  several  of  the  symptoms  of 
bubonic  plague,  but  it  differed  essentially  from  it  (but  see  Dr.  Manson's 
opinion  below),  so  one  writer  informs  us,  and  he  proceeds  to  tell  us 
that  Egypt  seems  to  have  been  the  seat  of  origin  of  bubonic  plague,  and 
Cathay  some  centuries  later  of  the  black  death.  The  ravages  of  the 
latter  in  London  in  1665,  u'hen  70,000  died  of  it,  are  well  known,  as  well 
as  the  outbreak  in  1720  in  Marseilles,  after  which  it  appeared  in  neither 

514 


Plague 

England  nor  France,  retiring  to  the  easternmost  part  of  the  Turkish 
Kmpire  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  disappearing 
altogether  from  the  continent  of  Europe  in  1841.  'Prior  to  1661, 
there  are  almost  continuous  records  from  year  to  year  of  the  presence 
of  the  disease  in  Northern  Africa,  Asia,  and  Europe  generally,  and  it 
is  worthy  of  note  that  as  first  one  country  and  then  another  in  Europe 
adopted  some  systematic  form  of  drainage  and  improved  habits  of 
life,  so  soon  did  the  plague  disappear  from  these  countries.'  To 
epitomise: — 'For  1,200  years  it  was  pre-eminent  among  pestilential 
maladies.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  when  quarantine  was  established, 
69  outbreaks  were  recorded  in  Europe  ;  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
56  ;  in  the  eighteenth,  28  ;  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth,  15.  In 
1844  it  apparently  became  extinct.  But  about  ten  years  afterwards 
it  again  showed  itself  in  the  Levant,  and  has  since  occurred  in  various 
parts  of  Asia  and  North  Africa  and  even  in  Europe.' 

A  most  interesting  account  is  also  contained  in  '  Tropical 
Diseases,'  pp.  144-146,  of  the  history  of  the  plague,  which 
does  not  quite  agree  with  the  extract  given  above,  and  is 
fuller,  in  fact  too  long  to  be  inserted  here. 

After  the  foregoing,  especially  after  the  last  sentences, 
a  few  notes  by  Dr.  Manson  in  1878,  prefatory  to  a  transla- 
tion of  M.  Rocher's  account  of  the  plague  in  Yunnan  are 
very  interesting.  Speaking  of  M.  Rocher's  statement,  he 
says  : — 

'They  prove  unmistakably  the  existence  of  bubonic  plague  in 
China,  and  that  this  dread  disease  has  spread  over  a  larger  area  of 
late  years  than  is  generally  known.  They  are  of  great  value  as 
showing  that  the  disease  did  not  entirely  disappear  between  the  years 
1844  and  1873  as  some  epidemiologists  believe,  and  thus  do  away 
with  the  supposition  that  in  the  latter  year  there  was  a  re-creation  of 
the  plague  virus. 

'  In  1844,  the  plague  disappeared  completely  from  Egypt  and 
Turkey  in  Asia,  and  we  were  told  to  congratulate  ourselves  on  being 
finally  rid  of  the  most  terrible  of  all  epidemic  diseases.  For  years 
there  was  no  sign  of  it  in  its  favourite  haunts,  and  there  seemed  good 
reason  for  the  belief  that  it  had  become  a  thing  of  the  past.  But  in 
1873,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  thirty  years,  it  once  more  broke  out 
in  Mesopotamia,  and  ever  since  has  been  steadily  extending  its  area, 
till  last  year  it  reached  the  shores  of  the  Caspian.  To  account  for 
this  reappearance  after  so  long  a  period  of  complete  absence,  some 
epidemiologists  have  propounded  their  belief  in  the  spontaneous 
generation  of  the  plague  virus,  as  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  parasites 
could  retain  their  infective  powers  for  nearly  thirty  years.  But  in  the 
light  of  M.  Rocher's  notes  such  a  thing  is  unnecessary,  as  his  dates 
bridge  over  twenty  years  at  least  of  the  thirty  during  which  the 
disease  was  supposed  to  be  dead,  and  show  that  an  extensive 
epidemic  may  rage  in  Mid-Asia,  and  Europe  be  in  complete  ignorance 

515 


Things  Chinese 

of  the  fact.  In  such  a  country  as  Central  Asia,  where  the  distances 
are  great  and  travelling  very  slow,  we  can  understand  that  such  a 
disease  as  plague  would  take  a  long  time  to  pass  from  west  to  east 
and  back  again  from  east  to  west,  and  that  an  interval  of  thirty  years 
might  elapse  before  the  disease  returned  again  to  the  place  whence  it 
started.  Our  knowledge  of  the  countries  to  the  north  of  the  Hima- 
layas is  so  meagre,  and  communication  with  them  so  difficult,  that  the 
plague  might  pass  through  them  without  our  hearing  about  it  at  all, 
and  one  can  readily  suppose  that  it  did  actually  pass  thus  from 
Yunnan  to  Mesopotamia  or  Persia  to  originate  the  epidemic  at  present 
raging  in  these  countries.  M.  Rocher's  description  of  the  disease  is 
sufficiently  clear  to  justify  us  in  calling  it  plague.' 

The  first  time  we  are  aware  of  it  in  China  was  in  1844, 
but  it  did  not  work  so  much  havoc  as  in  1894.  One  of  the 
first  authentic  accounts,  as  far  at  all  events  as  is  known  at 
present,  of  it  in  this  land  is  contained  in  the  following 
paragraph  from  the  Overland  Friend  of  China,  of  23rd 
May  1850:— 

'  The  city  of  Canton  and  the  neighbour-towns  and  villages  are 
afflicted  by  a  malignant  fever.  It  is  commonly  called  typhus  ;  some 
European  physicians  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  akin  to  the  yellow  fever 
of  the  West  Indies  ;  others  think  that  it  resembles  t lie  plague  which  de- 
solated London  two  centuries  ago.  The  disease  is  said  to  be  fatal 
invariably,  its  victims  linger  three  or  four  days,  though  in  some 
instances  they  have  died  in  twelve  hours.  More  than  one  European 
doctor  cheerfully  tender  their  services, — but  the  Chinese  are  obstinate 
in  their  adherence  to  old  custom — old  ignorant  quackery.  The 
distemper  has  not  made  its  appearance  at  the  Factories,  and  as  it 
may  arise  from  a  want  of  cleanliness  among  the  people,  we  are  in 
hopes  that  it  will  not  extend  to  Europeans.' 

We  are  unable  to  say  what  the  death  rate  was  during 
this  visitation,  though  hundreds  are  said  to  have  died,  nor 
can  we  tell  whether  there  had  been  previous  epidemics  of 
it  in  Canton.  Chinese  accounts,  with  their  utter  ignorance 
of  all  medical  knowledge,  are  so  meagre  and  untrustworthy 
when  dealing  with  historic  invasions  of  sickness  that  they 
are  extremely  unsatisfactory,  and  the  diseases  they  mention 
are  difficult  of  identification,  especially  would  such  be  the 
case  were  the  plague  the  subject-matter  of  a  terse,  short  para- 
graph by  a  Chinese  historian.  We  should  almost  suppose 
that  had  it  approached  anything  to  the  horrors  of  the 
epidemic  at  Canton  in  1894,  more  extended  notice  of  it 
would  have  been  taken  by  the  foreign  papers  published  in 

516 


Plague 

the  South  of  China.  For  even  before  the  end  of  its  duration 
in  Hongkong  in  the  epidemic  of  1894, tne  deaths  in  the  city 
of  Canton  alone  were  estimated,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
outbreak  until  the  iSth  of  June,  at  35,000,  while  the 
number  of  deaths  in  the  villages  around  could  not  be 
ascertained. 

We  learn  from  a  missionary  lady,  resident  for  some 
time  in  the  Pok-lo  District,  in  the  Canton  Province,  that  in 
that  district  or  in  the  Hakka  country  near  there,  the 
Chinese  say  they  have  had  the  plague  several  times  ;  but 
it  had  never  been  so  fatal  as  in  1894,  ninety  per  cent,  dying 
in  that  year,  whereas  only  sixty  or  eighty  per  cent,  of  those 
who  took  it  died  previously.  We  have  endeavoured  to 
learn  from  inquiry  amongst  natives  of  different  districts  of 
country  whether  there  were  local  traditions  of  visitations  of 
the  plague  in  their  respective  districts ;  but  all  the  evidence 
we  were  able  to  gather,  and  it  was  but  small  in  quantity, 
was  of  a  negative  character.  There  would  appear  to  be 
'  very  little  literature  on  the  subject.'  One  would  fancy 
there  would  be  not  a  few  notices  of  such  a  dreadful  disease  ; 
some  may  yet  be  discovered  ;  but  we  have  examined  book 
after  book  to  try  and  find  some  little  mention  of  it.  They 
almost  all  display  a  most  wonderful  unanimity  in  keeping 
a  discreet  and  profound  silence  on  the  subject.  We 
carefully  looked  through  a  standard  Chinese  work,  on  the 
Canton  Province,  only  to  be  disappointed.  Authorities 
appear  in  their  voluminous  tomes  to  flee  all  references 
to  epidemics  almost  even  as  their  authors  would  fly  from 
the  plague  itself. 

Before  proceeding  to  an  account  of  this  1894  epidemic, 
which  brought  the  plague  under  the  immediate  purview  of 
European  medical  science  and  knowledge,  it  would  be  more 
historically  correct  to  call  attention  to  its  ravages  in  the 
province  of  Yunnan.  We  are  indebted  for  accounts  of  it  in 
that  province  to  the  narratives  of  travellers,  and  notices 
by  one  or  two  of  the  few  residents  in  that  distant  portion 
of  China.  From  the  notes  on  the  route  followed  by  Mr. 
Grosvenor's  Mission  through  Western  Yunnan,  from 

517 


Things  Chinese 

Tali-fu  to  T'eng-yueh,  reprinted  from  the  Parliamentary 
Report,  China,  No.  3  (1878),  we  extract  the  following: — 

'Another  strange  disease  which  haunts  this  and  some  other  of 
the  valleys  of  Yiinnan  bears,  in  some  respects,  a  resemblance  to  the 
plague  of  London  described  by  Defoe. 

'  Its  approach  is  indicated  by  the  eruption  of  one  or  more  minute 
red  pustules,  generally  in  the  arm-pits,  but  occasionally  in  other 
glandular  regions.  If  several  pustules  appear,  the  disease  is  not 
considered  so  hopeless  as  when  there  are  few.  The  sufferer  is 
soon  seized  with  extreme  weakness,  followed  in  a  few  hours  by 
agonising  aches  in  every  part  of  the  body  ;  delirium  shortly  ensues, 
and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  result  is  fatal. 

'It  often  happens  that  the  patient  suddenly,  to  all  appearance, 
recovers,  leaves  his  bed,  and  affirms  that,  beyond  a  slight  sensation 
of  weakness,  he  feels  thoroughly  convalescent.  This  is  invariably  a 
fatal  sign  ;  in  about  two  hours  the  aches  return,  and  the  sufferer  dies. 

'  True  recovery  is  always  very  gradual.  This  is  the  account 
given  us  by  a  French  missionary,  who  has  spent  half  a  lifetime  in 
Yunnan.  The  native  version  includes  all  the  above  facts,  but 
involves  them  in  a  cloud  of  superstitious  accessories  ;  for  instance,  all 
parts  of  the  sick-room  are  occupied  by  devils  ;  even  the  tables  and 
mattresses  writhe  about  and  utter  voices,  and  offer  intelligible  replies 
to  any  one  who  questions  them. 

'  Few,  however,  venture  into  the  chamber.  The  missionary 
assured  me  that  the  patient  is,  in  most  cases,  deserted  like  a  leper, 
for  fear  of  contagion.  If  an  elder  member  of  the  family  is  attacked, 
the  best  attention  he  receives  is  to  be  placed  in  a  solitary  room,  with 
a  vessel  of  water  by  his  side.  The  door  is  secured,  and  a  pole  laid 
near  it,  with  which  twice  a  day  the  anxious  relatives,  cautiously 
peering  in,  poke  and  prod  the  sick  person  to  discover  if  he  retains 
any  symptoms  of  life. 

'  Pere  Fenouil  ....  had  himself  witnessed  many  cases  of  the 
disease,  and  lived  in  infected  towns.  He  attributes  his  own  safety  to 
the  precautions  he  took  of  fumigating  his  premises  and  keeping 
charcoal  braziers  constantly  burning,  to  such  an  extent,  indeed,  that 
his  house  on  one  occasion  actually  took  fire.  He  states  that  not 
only  human  beings,  but  domestic  animals  and  even  rats  are  attacked 
by  the  pestilence. 

'  Its  approach  may  often  be  known  from  the  extraordinary  move- 
ments of  the  rats,  who  leave  their  holes  and  crevices  and  issue  on  to 
the  floors  without  a  trace  of  their  accustomed  timidity,  springing 
continually  upwards  from  their  hind  legs,  as  if  they  were  trying  to 
jump  out  of  something.  The  rats  fall  dead,  and  then  comes  the  turn 
of  the  poultry  ;  after  the  poultry  have  succumbed,  pigs,  goats,  ponies, 
and  oxen  successively  die  off. 

'  The  good  father  has  a  theory  of  his  own  that  the  plague  is  really 
a  pestilential  emanation  slowly  rising  in  an  equable  stratum  from  the 
ground,  and  as  it  increases  in  depth  all  animals  are,  as  it  were, 

5I8 


Plague 

drowned  in   its   poisonous   flood — the   smaller  creatures   being    first 
engulfed,  and  man,  the  tallest  of  Yunnan  animals,  suffering  last. 

'The  Christian  converts  suffer  less  than  their  pagan  countrymen 
from  the  superior  cleanliness  which,  as  we  were  informed,  their  faith 
inculcates. 

'  We  ourselves  never  saw  any  cases  of  the  plague  ;  but  we  met 
one  native  of  South-western  China,  no  less  a  personage  than  the 
Governor  of  the  Yiinnan  province,  Ts'en,  a  quiet,  sober-spoken 
veteran  of  a  hundred  battles,  deeply  marked  between  the  eyes  with  a 
scar  inflicted  by  a  rebel  bullet.  He  had  undergone  two  attacks  ;  the 
second  was  less  violent  than  the  first.  He  remembered  nothing  of 
the  acute  period  of  the  illness,  but  in  both  cases  his  recovery  was 
gradual  and  protracted. 

'  He  attributed  it  to  the  influence  of  demons  ;  and  we  afterwards 
heard  a  characteristic  instance  of  his  faith  in  his  own  diagnosis. 
The  headquarters  of  his  division  during  the  Mohammedan  rebellion 
were  situated  in  a  plague-stricken  town,  and  when  the  infection  began 
to  attack  his  troops,  Ts'en  had  all  the  gates  closed  except  that  in  the 
southern  wall,  and  then  sent  in  his  soldiers  with  orders  to  slash 
and  pierce  the  air  in  every  corner  that  could  possibly  harbour  a  demon. 
After  this  preliminary  slaughter  the  men  were  formed  in  line  against 
the  inside  of  the  north  walls,  and  gradually  advanced  upon  the  south 
gate,  hemming  in  the  invisible  fiends,  and  ultimately  driving  them 
with  a  final  rush  through  the  gate,  which  was  immediately  closed  and 
a  strong  guard  placed  outside.  But  somehow  or  other  the  goblins 
contrived  to  regain  the  interior  of  the  city  ;  by  what  means  has 
not  been  ascertained  ;  but  it  is  surmised  that  they  climbed  over  the 
wall.' 

The  following  summary  of  M.  Rocher's  account  of  the 
Plague  was  prepared  by  the  author,  and  appeared  in  one  of 
the  Hongkong  local  papers  in  1894  : — 

Some  interesting  notes  on  the  plague  are  appended  to 
M.  Rocher's  '  La  Province  Chinoise  Yiinnan,'  as  well  as 
some  observations  on  it  in  the  body  of  the  work  itself. 

Any  information  about  this  disease  at  the  present  time 
being  desirable,  we  have  embodied  what  was  to  be  gathered 
from  the  above  work  in  the  following  paragraphs,  so  that 
others  who  may  not  have  the  book  in  their  libraries  may 
have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  what  has  been  said  about 
it 

M.  Rocher  informs  us  that  the  plague  is  known  in  that 
part  of  the  country  by  the  name  of  yang-tzu.  In  Hong- 
kong, however,  we  find  the  Chinese  speak  of  it  as  wan-yik, 
the  epidemic.  Not  only  does  it  claim  numerous  victims 
each  year  in  Yunnan,  but  it  also  commits  its  ravages 

519 


Things  Chinese 

amongst  the  Laos,  as  well  as  on  the  frontier  of  the  neigh- 
bouring province  of  Kweichou. 

From  the  information  given  to  M.  Rocher,  he  was  led  to 
believe  that  this  disease  came  from  Burmah  by  means  of 
the  caravans  passing  between  that  country  and  China. 
The  time  of  its  first  advent  seems  uncertain,  some  being  of 
the  opinion  that  it  first  showed  itself  in  the  centre  and  east 
of  the  province  at  the  time  of  the  great  Mohammedan 
rebellion  ;  while  a  few  hold  that  it  was  known  in  the  west 
of  the  province  at  Ta-li-fu  some  years  before  that  event 

A  very  curious  feature  noticed  in  Yunnan  is  the  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  lower  animals  to  what  is  believed 
to  be  the  malignant  miasma  which  causes  the  disease. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  sewers  or  the  dwellers  underground 
are  the  first  that  are  attacked  by  this  fell  plague.  The 
rats,  driven  from  their  holes,  rush  into  the  houses, 
maddened  by  the  mephitic  vapours  which  they  have 
inhaled,  and  shortly  give  up  the  ghost ;  but  more  often  the 
foul  odours  from  their  dead  bodies  under  the  flooring  is  a 
proof  of  the  deadly  work  which  is  going  on.  All  animals, 
large  and  small,  are  subject  to  the  same  infection  :  buffaloes, 
cows,  sheep  and  goats,  and  the  poultry  to  a  lesser  extent. 
Some,  at  all  events,  of  the  animals  seem  to  suffer  less  than 
man  from  it. 

On  his  arrival  in  these  parts,  M.  Rocher  refused 
credence  to  the  stories  of  the  natives,  believing  them  to  be 
due  to  the  effect  of  imagination  or  to  superstitious  fears  ; 
but  on  the  pest  bursting  forth  in  the  very  district  in  which 
he  was,  and  having  then  ocular  demonstration  of  the  truth 
of  the  reports  he  had  heard,  his  unbelief  was  changed  to 
faith. 

The  precautions  taken  nearly  everywhere  were  to  light 
fires  in  all  the  rooms  in  order  to  purify  the  houses  ;  and  the 
people  in  certain  cities  and  districts  abstained  from  the 
meat  par  excellence  of  the  Chinese — pork. 

M.  Rocher  describes  this  bubonic  plague  as  commencing 
with  a  high  fever  (we  can  scarcely  do  better  than  give  what 
immediately  follows  in  his  own  words)  '  accompanied  by  an 

520 


Plague 

intense  thirst ;  some  hours  after  a  deep  red  tumour  appears 
in  the  armpits,  the  groin,  or  the  neck ;  the  fever  increases 
and  the  patient  soon  loses  consciousness ;  the  tumour 
usually  increases  in  size  until  the  second  day,  after  which 
it  remains  stationary.  The  patient  then  appears  to  recover 
his  senses,  but  he  is  still  in  great  danger;  for,  if  the  tumour 
which  up  to  that  time  has  been  very  hard  becomes  soft  and 
if  the  fever  does  not  diminish  he  is  considered  as  lost ;  on 
the  contrary,  if  the-tumour  is  pierced  on  the  outside,  which 
rarely  happens,  there  is  hope  of  saving  him  ;  but  at  this 
stage  the  patient  is  so  weakened  that  although  the  tumour 
may  have  broken  he  dies  of  exhaustion.' 

Strange  to  say,  notwithstanding  the  extreme  repug- 
nance the  Chinese  have  to  the  surgeon's  knife,  M.  Rocher 
tells  us  that  some  of  the  Chinese  doctors  have  tried  the 
effect  of  cutting  or  excising  these  tumours  ;  but  whether  it 
be  that  the  operation  is  put  off  too  long  or  unskilfully  per- 
formed, very  few  of  the  patients  have  survived  the  amateur 
efforts  of  their  physicians.  The  strongest  remedy  that 
they  employ  under  these  circumstances  is  musk,  which  is 
prescribed  in  strong  doses  as  a  last  resource.  Dr.  Porter 
Smith  informs  us  that  musk  is  '  believed  by  Chinese 
authors  to  be  a  rousing,  stimulating,  anti-spasmodic,  de- 
obstruent,  expectorant,  diaphoretic,  ecbolic,  anthelmintic, 
and  vulnerary  remedy,  .  .  .  and  enters  into  the  composi- 
tion of  ointments  for  dressing  ulcers  and  sores.' 

M.  Rocher  saw  a  great  many  cases  of  the  plague  in 
Yunnan,  and  most  of  them  had  a  fatal  result  The  pro- 
portion of  the  inhabitants  affected  by  it  differs  in  different 
places  ;  in  some  spots,  where  it  may  be  described  as  simply 
passing,  from  4  to  6  per  cent,  were  attacked  by  it ;  while 
in  other  localities  the  population  was  completely  decimated 
by  this  awful  scourge,  whole  families  even  being  swept 
away  by  it.  The  inhabitants  in  such  districts,  driven  from 
hearth  and  home,  even  leave  their  crops,  and  flee  from  the 
fell  foe  to  the  heights.  Nor  does  flight  ensure  their  safety 
at  all  times,  for  we  are  told  that  even  to  these  upper  regions 
the  plague  very  often  follows  them,  invading  the  mountains 

521 


Things  Chinese 

after  having  ravaged  the  plains,  and  on  these  higher  levels 
likewise  claiming  numerous  victims,  the  neighbouring 
heights  near  the  cities  also  suffering  from  it. 

The  insanitary  habits  of  the  Chinese  with  regard  to  the 
disposal  of  those  who  succumb  to  the  disease — so  much  in 
accord  with  similar  methods  prevalent  in  many  parts  of 
the  Celestial  Empire,  where  the  dead  are  often  of  more 
importance  than  the  living — contributes  greatly  to  aggra- 
vate the  situation,  so  M.  Rocher  informs  us  is  his  opinion ; 
and  we  can  readily  believe  it  when  we  are  told  by  him  that 
instead  of  burying  the  bodies  of  those  who  have  died  from 
the  pest,  the  natives  are  content  to  place  the  coffins  in  the 
open  air,  either  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills  or  on  the  plains, 
exposed  to  the  fierce  rays  of  the  tropical  sun,  with  what 
results  it  does  not  need  even  the  help  of  a  lively  imagination 
to  picture. 

In  the  years  1871,  1872,  and  1873,  the  plague  began  in 
May  and  June,  the  time  of  the  planting  of  the  rice  ;  the 
summer  season,  which  is  the  rainy  season,  seemed  to  check 
its  activity  ;  but  it  redoubled  its  energies  and  claimed  the 
most  of  its  victims  during  the  period  extending  from 
harvest  till  the  end  of  the  year. 

A  strange  circumstance  noted  by  M.  Rocher  is  that  the 
epidemic  at  several  places  in  the  middle  and  north  of  the 
province  overleapt  certain  spots  in  its  course,  or  passed 
them  by,  and  left  them  untouched  until  several  months 
after  or  even  until  the  following  year,  when  it  returned 
to  the  places  thus  apparently  forgotten.  Having  attacked 
nearly  all  the  villages  in  the  plains,  the  plague  sought 
new  fields  for  its  devastations  by  ascending  to  the  moun- 
tains and  committing  numerous  ravages  amongst  the 
aborigines.  M.  Rocher  gathered,  from  what  he  had  seen 
and  from  the  irregular  manner  in  which  the  disease 
appeared,  that  it  must  have  been  imported  into  these 
higher  localities  by  the  men  and  women  who  go  at  certain 
times  of  the  year  to  work  in  the  plains.  More  colour 
appears  to  be  given  to  this  view  from  the  fact  that  it  is 
after  the  rice  has  been  planted  or  when  the  harvest  is 

122 


Plague 

ended  that  this  scourge  leaves  the  low-lying  country  for 
the  heights. 

An  interesting  sketch-map  is  given  in  the  book  to 
illustrate  the  course  of  the  plague  in  1871  and  1872  and  in 
1872  and  1873,  showing  the  places  where  the  most  victims 
succumbed  and  the  spots  where  the  visitation  simply 
passed  with  slight  mortality.  This  map  was  prepared  from 
official  sources  of  information  and  from  other  knowledge  of 
the  matter  obtained  by  M.  Rocher.  It  appears  to  have 
followed  a  most  curious  zigzag  route  on  both  occasions  in 
its  erratic  course.  M.  Rocher  also  informs  us  in  a  note 
on  the  map  that  certain  cities  and  principal  towns  of  the 
west  of  the  province  have  been  successively  visited  by  the 
pest,  and  in  some  districts  it  has  remained  during  several 
years  permanent  amongst  the  troops  which  were  carrying 
on  operations  against  the  rebels. 

The  late  Mr.  Happer,  Commissioner  of  Customs  at 
Mengtzu  for  some  years,  thus  writes  about  it  in  1889  : — 

'  In  spite  of  such  a  favourable  climate,  Mengtzu,  in  common  with 
other  parts  of  Yiinnan,  has  suffered  annually,  for  a  period  of  years, 
from  the  plague  .  .  .  which  has  carried  off  a  number  of  its  inhabitants. 
Indeed  the  presence  of  fallow  land  in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the 
city  is  attributed  to  the  decimation  of  the  farming  population  by  the 
pest.  ...  A  curious  fact  about  the  disease  [in  Yiinnan]  is,  that  it 
never  descends  to  places  under  12,000  of  altitude  above  the  sea,  and 
it  rarely  scales  heights  over  7,200  feet  high.  Strangely  enough  also, 
it  seldom  attacks  people  sojourning  in  Yunnan  from  other  provinces, 
its  victims  being  confined  to  the  aborigines,  and  to  native-born 
Chinese.' 

With  regard  to  it  in  1895,  it  is  stated  : — 

The  season  in  Mengtszu  in  1895  'up  to  July  had  been  very  dry, 
but  the  first  few  days  of  that  month  were  wet,  and  shortly  afterwards 
the  plague  began  with  its  wonted  virulence.  The  disease  was  pre- 
valent and  fatal  during  July  and  August,  and  remained  till  towards 
the  end  of  September.  Various  estimates  of  the  number  of  victims, 
are  given,  from  800  to  1,500.  The  neighbouring  towns  suffered 
severely,  the  malady  even  raging  in  Lo-lo  villages  considerably  over 
6,000  feet  above  the  sea  level.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
epidemic  the  Chinese  thought  it  would  disappear  with  the  arrival  of 
the  autumn  (8th  August),  but  the  disease  prevailed  till  it  had  run  its 
course,  which  requires  about  three  months'  time,  as  shown  by  the 
records  kept  since  the  establishment  of  the  Mengtszu  Customs  in 
1889.' 

523 


Things  Chinese 

'The  plague  appeared  in  Mengtszu  as  usual  [in  1897],  but  it  was 
not,  apparently,  as  virulent  as  in  former  years,  and  ran  a  shorter  course. 
The  first  death  was  reported  on  3 1st  May,  and  no  deaths  were  reported 
after  6th  August.  The  estimated  mortality  from  plague  in  the  city 
was  from  250  to  300.' 

It  still  continues  at  Mengtzu.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
worse  in  1896  than  it  had  ever  been  before.  The  deaths 
were  then  estimated  to  number  thirty  per  day  out  of  a 
population  of  30,000.  '  Every  evening  the  Taotai  has  his 
troops  drawn  up  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Yamen  to  fire 
their  rifles  in  all  directions  to  frighten  the  plague  demons.' 

A  more  recent  report  ( 1 899)  says  that  it  appears  to  be 
dying  out  in  that  neighbourhood,  though  this  has  been 
denied. 

The  plague  has  been  endemic  for  many  years  at  Pakhoi, 
a  small  treaty  port  situated  in  the  Kwongtung  Province 
and  on  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin  ;  but  takes  an  epidemic  form 
there  at   intervals  of  five  or  ten  years  or  even  more  fre- 
quently.      It   first   occurred    there    in    1867,   recurring   at 
certain  intervals  ;  severe  outbreaks  took  place  in  1877,  1882, 
and  1 894.     In  the  last  year  it  began  in  '  March,  continuing 
with   lessening  severity  till  the  end  of  June,  but  at  Lien 
Chow  city,  twelve  miles  distant,  it  lasted  till  August.'     The 
mortality  was  estimated  at  Pakhoi  in  1882  to  be  400  or  500 
out  of  a  population  of  25,000,  the  average  a  day,  when  at 
its    height,   being   ten.     The   people   were    almost    panic- 
stricken  at  its  commencement  and  fled  the  town.     Rats 
were   attacked,  but  no  other  animals.     There  were  three 
groups  of  symptoms  of  the  disease  as  it  manifested  itself 
respectively  in    Pakhoi,  Yunnan,   and   India.     In    1894  it 
was  worse  in  point  of  mortality  than  ever  before — 300  or 
400  having  died  at  Pakhoi  by  the  middle  of  May  when  it 
was   abating.     From    Chinese   sources    it    is    learned   that 
before  1875  only  about  100  people  had  died  in  any  year  of 
plague  at  Pakhoi  ;  in  1884,  50  or  60  ;  in  1891,  about  40  or 
50.     We  have   already  mentioned  the  mortality  in   1882 
and    1894.     'Native   doctors    in    Pakhoi    prescribed    what 
they  call  "cooling  remedies"  such  as  rhubarb.     It  appears 
they  do  not  treat  the  bubo  locally.'     The  natives  at  Pakhoi 

524 


Plague 

1  burn  joss-stick  and  a  plant,  the  sweet  flag,  which  are 
supposed  to  have  prophylactic  power  as  disinfectants.'  In 
1894  they  bought  a  great  deal  of  foreign  disinfecting  fluid. 
Dr.  Deane  of  Pakhoi  says  of  it : — 

'The  disease  appears  in  one  locality  and  seems  as  restricted  as 
though  it  were  in  a  bottle.  One  house  may  be  so  bad  that  anyone 
entering  it  will  be  seized,  but  the  next  house  quite  free  from  all 
danger.'  '  Many  perfectly  healthy  men  take  the  disease  and  die  next 
day.'  '  It  is  endemic  to  a  particular  locality.'  '  In  Pakhoi  it  does  not 
appear  as  an  epidemic  generally,  but  only  in  the  most  evil-smelling 
quarters.' 

Pakhoi  escaped  the  epidemic  in  1895,  being  practically 
free  from  it,  though  Kotak,  a  village  near  the  port,  had  a 
slight  visitation. 

It  is  curable  in  Pakhoi  when  brought  to  the  missionary 
hospital  as  soon  as  the  symptoms  appear,  but  '  nothing  can 
be  done  in  the  advanced  stages.' 

The  plague  is  essentially  a  disease  that  delights  in  '  filth 
and  insanitary  surroundings.'  The  simple  drainage  systems 
in  vogue  in  Chinese  cities  are  periodically  flushed  by  nature 
at  the  season  of  the  year  when  they  would  prove  most 
dangerous  to  the  inhabitants,  viz.,  during  the  hot  and  sultry 
summer  which  is  the  rainy  season  in  the  South  of  China. 
So  effectively  do  the  torrential  rains  sweep  away  the 
accumulation  of  weeks  and  months  that  it  would  be 
extremely  difficult  for  man  to  compete  with  them.  But 
their  work  is  stultified  to  a  large  extent  by  the  crass 
ignorance  of  all  sanitary  matters  by  the  Chinese  and  by 
their  utter  indifference  to  the  offensive  odours  which  give 
warning  of  the  dangers  to  life  and  health  around  them. 
No,  or  but  very  little,  supplementary  aid  is  given  to  the 
cleansing  rains,  so  when  a  period  of  draught  ensues,  the 
inhabitants  naturally  suffer  from  their  neglect  of  the  filth 
which  surrounds  them  and  the  effluvia  therefrom,  whose 
subtle  essence  permeates  the  whole  atmosphere  which  they 
breathe.  Given  such  conditions,  the  plague,  if  once  intro- 
duced, runs  a  wild  riot  in  its  congenial  surroundings, 
resisting  and  defying  all  the  puny  efforts  put  forth  by  the 
natives  for  its  extermination.  It  revels  in  its  filthy  haunts  ; 

525 


Things  Chinese 

it  ensconces  itself  in  the  malodorous   districts  and  fetid 
precincts  of  a  Chinese  city,  town,  or  village,  where  filth  is 
never  wanting,  where  the  soil  is  saturated  with  the  escaped 
drainage  of  centuries,  where  every  street  corner  is  a  dust- 
bin,  where   every  vacant    lot    is   a    dirt-heap,   where   the 
frontage  of  the  houses  on  the  rivers  is  a  rubbish-shoot,  and 
the  banks  are  a  dumpage-ground  for  all  refuse,  where  every 
house  is  an  omnium  gatherum  of  dust,  dirt,  and  cobwebs  ; 
where  in  some  cases  the  kitchen  is  a  urinal  and  the  market 
gardens  are  fertilised   with  night  soil,  and   where  in  the 
midst   of    houses    the   public     latrines    scent    the   whole 
neighbourhood  with  their  filthy  odour,  where  in  the  early 
hours  of  the  forenoon  the  scavengers  almost  render  the 
family  streets  impassable  to  a  foreigner  by  their  necessary 
offices  for  the  houses  in  which  the  modern  conveniences  of 
Western     civilisation     are    unknown ;     where    the     most 
elementary  sanitary  laws  are  never  dreamt  of  and  utterly 
ignored  by  the  inhabitants,  where  even  the  well-to-do  are 
often  unclean  and  filthy  in  their  habits,  in  their  clothing,  in 
their  surroundings ;  where  the  poorest  wear  their  scanty 
clothes  in  rags  and  alive  with  vermin  till  it  almost  drops  in 
pieces  from  them  ;  and  where  overcrowding  prevails  to  the 
utter  disregard  of  ventilation  and  fresh  air.     What  wonder 
then  that  with  such  a  welcome  reception  ready  for  it,  the 
plague,  like  the  evil  spirit  in  the  parable,  returns  again,  not 
often,  however,  like  the  evil  spirit,  to  find  the  place  swept 
and  garnished,  but  with  the  same  filthy  conditions  ever 
present,  inviting  its  return.     What  wonder  also  that  year 
after  year  the  visit  is  repeated. 

'  Plague  is  developed  under  three  sets  of  conditions,  (a)  local  con- 
ditions affecting  communities,  (b}  certain  relations  between  persons 
sick  of  the  disease  and  healthy  persons,  (c)  particular  seasonal  in- 
fluences, (a)  .  .  .  The  conditions  "which  determined  and  favoured  " 
the  disease  among  communities  were  dwelling  upon  alluvial  and 
marshy  soils,  notably  those  found  near  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  on  the  banks  of  certain  great  rivers,  such  as  the  Nile,  Euphrates, 
Danube,  and  Yangtsz,  a  warm  and  humid  atmosphere  ;  low,  badly 
ventilated  and  crowded  houses  ;  great  accumulation  of  putrefying 
animal  and  vegetable  matter  in  the  vicinity  of  dwellings,  unwhole- 
some and  insufficient  food,  excessive  physical  and  moral  misery  and 
neglect  of  the  laws  of  health  as  well  public  as  private.  Although  out- 

526 


Plague 

breaks  of  plague  occur  in  marshy  soils,  it  is  not  confined  to  them,  as 
evidenced  by  its  persistence  in  Kumaun  on  the  Himalayan  mountains 
and  the  .  .  .  outbreak  in  Hongkong.  Colvill  and  Cabiadio  ascribe 
poverty  as  the  influential  condition  in  promoting  plague,  (b)  Persons 
living  in  the  same  house  arc  peculiarly  liable  to  suffer,  while  those 
who  are  only  brought  into  occasional  contact  (as  the  physician)  are 
rarely  affected.  ...  (c)  Seasonal  changes.  In  Mesopotamia,  it  was 
noticed  that  the  disease  became  dormant  with  the  setting  in  of  the 
hot  weather,  reawakening  in  the  winter  and  gathering  force  with  the 
advancing  spring.  In  Constantinople,  on  the  contrary,  the  disease 
was  dormant  in  the  colder  months  and  active  during  the  hotter.  The 
same  was  true  of  the  great  plague  of  London,  the  records  showing 
that  September  was  the  month  of  greatest  prevalence,  the  disease 
rising  through  July  and  August.' 

The  plague  would  appear  to  be  one  of  Nature's  scourges 
for  the  punishment  of  those  who  disobey  her  laws  and  for 
instruction  in  the  elementary  rules  of  sanitary  science. 
Unfortunately,  Orientals  find  the  lesson  a  difficult  one  to 
learn,  and  the  innocent  dwellers  amongst  them  also  suffer 
with  the  guilty. 

We  now  come  to  the  terrible  visitation  of  the  plague  in 
Hongkong  in  1894.  It  was  probably  introduced  into  this 
British  Colony  from  the  city  of  Canton,  only  distant  90 
miles,  between  which  places  there  is  constant  daily  com- 
munication by  native  boats  and  foreign  steamers,  there 
being  11,090  passengers  every  week  from  Canton;  many 
patients  were  fleeing  from  the  plague  in  that  city  where  it 
had  began  in  the  February  of  that  year.  The  deaths  in 
Canton  from  it  during  the  first  four  months  of  1894  were  to 
be  numbered  amongst  the  tens  of  thousands. 

The  first  official  knowledge  of  the  plague  in  Hongkong 
was  in  May  1894,  though  it  is  suspected  that  it  had  been 
present  in  the  Colony  for  some  weeks  at  least  before  that, 
though  unknown  to  the  authorities,  any  cases  of  death  from 
it  having  probably  been  registered  as  due  to  fever  or  other 
causes,  no  medical  certificate  of  death  being  required  from 
the  Chinese.  The  native  quarters  of  the  city  presented  an 
exceptionally  favourable  field  of  operations  for  it,  and  it 
spread  with  great  rapidity  through  the  narrow  streets,  in 
the  blind  alleys,  amid  the  crowded  tenements,  claiming  its 
victims  from  young  and  old  alike  whether  at  home  or 

527 


Things  Chinese 

abroad,  for  several  cases  occurred  of  men  dropping  down 
dead  in  the  streets. 

No  rain  had  fallen  for  a  considerable  time  and  there  was 
a  scarcity  of  water  in  the  Colony,  an  intermittent  supply 
being  furnished  to  the  inhabitants ;  the  drainage  system, 
which  had  been  begun  without  any  system  in  the  early 
days  of  Hongkong  and  had  not  kept  pace  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  population,  was  in  a  transition  state  towards  a 
complete  renovation.  T'dip'ingshan,  which  formed  the  head- 
quarters of  the  epidemic,  was  built  at  the  foot  of  a  steep 
mountain  side  and  facing  the  north,  the  breezes  being  kept 
off,  as  in  a  great  part  of  the  city,  to  a  considerable  extent 
by  the  Peak.  The  filth  which  had  accumulated  in  the 
dwellings  is  almost  indescribable,  and  would  scarcely  be 
credited  by  those  who  do  not  know  how  the  Chinese  live'; 
the  soil  was  saturated  and  reeking  with  half  a  century's 
sullage  water  and  leakages  from  sewers  ;  while  the  ground 
floors,  really  no  misnomer  in  many  cases,  as  whatever 
flooring  tiles  there  might  originally  have  been,  were  often 
covered  by  inches  of  dirt  and  hardened  mud,  a  compost 
teeming  with  germs  of  disease ;  underground  basements 
were  occupied  not  only  by  workmen  during  the  day  as 
workshops,  but  were  used  as  sleeping  dens  at  nights  ;  the 
rooms,  small  and  ill-ventilated  enough  already,  were  in  the 
majority  of  cases  further  diminished  in  size  and  the  atmos- 
phere rendered  more  foul  by  being  subdivided  by  low  board 
partitions  into  cubicles,  and,  not  content  with  this,  a 
horizontal  division  of  the  apartments  was  effected  by  cock- 
lofts, or  mezzanine  floors,  and  these  latter  were  in  some 
cases  even  partitioned  off  into  little  tiny  rooms,  and  in  some 
rooms,  a  second  cockloft  would  even  be  found ;  the  streets 
and  lanes  were  narrow  and  intricate  ;  the  houses  which  had 
originally  been  built  low  and  of  only  one  or  two  storeys,  of 
late  years  had  in  many  cases  been  replaced  by  higher 
dwellings,  and  every  available  piece  of  ground  in  the  city 
was  being  rapidly  built  over,  so  that  what  was  once  a 
sparsely  populated  district  was  soon  converted  into  a 
congested  mass  of  buildings  with  but  little  means  of 

528 


Plague 

ventilation ;  where  even  in  some  houses  an  open  verandah 
would  offer  some  chance  of  fresh  air,  the  Chinese  would, 
unless  under  constant  supervision,  quickly  economise  the 
space  by  either  enclosing  the  verandah  or  putting  up  bed- 
rooms in  it. 

The  enhanced  price  of  land,  the  raising  of  rents,  the 
attempts  to  solve  the  problem  of  how  to  live  upon  next  to 
nothing — all  tended  in  the  one  direction,  that  of  rendering 
the  native  quarters  a  hotbed  of  disease,  by  favouring  the 
overcrowding  of  houses  on  the  land,  and  the  overcrowding 
of  the  inhabitants  in  those  houses.  Every  facility  was 
thus  offered  for  the  spread  of  the  disease,  and  once  fairly 
started  it  continued  to  hold  its  ground  all  through  the 
summer,  the  number  of  cases  rapidly  increasing,  the  deaths 
keeping  almost  equal  pace  with  it,  until  the  latter  reached 
the  number  of  70  or  80  per  diem  ;  but  by  this  time  half  the 
Chinese  population  had  fled  the  Colony  in  terror,  ill  and 
well,  all  attempting  to  get  away  from  the  plague-infected 
city  ;  the  streets  presented  a  very  different  aspect  from  the 
period  when  a  full  tide  of  life  flowed  through  them,  business 
was  seriously  affected,  the  foreign  trade  of  the  Colony 
greatly  hampered,  the  outlook  was  dismal  in  the  extreme, 
many  steamers  were  afraid  of  calling  at  the  port,  the  law 
courts  were  nearly  deserted,  the  schools  were  almost  for- 
saken ;  in  the  foreign  offices,  pots  of  chloride  of  lime  stood 
at  every  desk,  or  disinfectants  were  freely  used  about  the 
premises.  The  plague  proclamation  was  in  force  in 
Hongkong  for  nearly  four  months,  from  the  loth  May 
until  the  3rd  September  1894,  and  during  that  time  there 
were  2,547  deaths  in  the  Colony  from  it.  How  many 
really  died  of  it  will,  however,  never  really  be  known, 
as  many  fled  the  Colony,  going  up  to  Canton  and  the 
neighbouring  country  while  ill. 

As  soon  as  the  Government  and  the  foreign  residents 
realised  what  this  dreadful  disease  that  had  come  amongst 
them  was,  energetic  measures  were  taken  to  cope  with  it. 
A  committee  was  formed  to  advise  and  direct  operations, 
bodies  of  the  troops,  residents,  police,  and  officials  formed 

529  -  L 


Things  Chinese 

'  whitewash  brigades,'  which  went  to  the  infected  houses, 
tore  down  the  cocklofts  and  partitions,  cleared  out  the 
rubbish,  and  burnt  the  dtbris  ;  a  burial  party  was  formed,  in 
which  sailors  under  the  leadership  of  an  official  did  gallant 
service.  The  greatest  praise  is  due  to  all  we  have 
mentioned  and  to  many  whom  we  cannot  mention,  for  with 
the  greatest  bravery  they  ran  unknown  risks  for  the  benefit 
of  their  fellowmen.  Several  of  the  soldiers  and  one 
officer  succumbed  to  the  infection — if  there  be  any  glory 
in  death  itself  at  all,  theirs  was  a  more  glorious  death  than 
on  a  field  of  battle.  Doctors  came  from  different  places  to 
assist,  and  much  was  added  to  our  knowledge  of  the  plague 
during  this  visitation  in  Hongkong.  A  Japanese  doctor, 
Dr.  Kitasato,  a  student  of  Koch's  in  Berlin,  first  discovered 
the  plague  bacillus  in  Hongkong  in  1894,  and  Yersin,  a 
French  doctor  afterwards,  while  another  of  the  Japanese 
who  came  to  the  Colony  to  investigate  the  disease  died 
from  it. 

The  efforts  of  the  Europeans  were  often  misunderstood 
by  the  ignorant  Chinese,  and  the  strong  hand  of  the  law 
was  required  to  enforce  obedience  ;  in  fact,  many  of  the 
natives  had  fled  from  the  Colony  in  consequence  of  the 
measures  taken  to  cope  with  and  overcome  the  plague. 

Concerning  infection  from  this  much  dreaded  disease, 
Dr.  Lowson  says  that  it  is  stated  that  '  skin  to  skin  infection 
is  impossible  unless  the  one  to  be  infected  has  some  wound 
and  the  infecter's  skin  has  been  soiled  by  feces,  blood,  or 
the  contents  of  buboes,'  but  there  are  sufficient  other 
methods  of  infection  known,  or  suspected,  to  render  the 
horrible  dread  the  Chinese  had  of  it  well  founded  The 
period  of  incubation  may  extend  to  nine  days,  or  even  less, 
though  in  the  case  of  rats  it  is  two  or  three. 

In  the  first  commencement  of  the  plague,  the  symptoms 
may  be  varied,  an  anxious  terrified  expression  is  common, 
and  fever  and  buboes  are  also  signs,  but  not  of  course 
infallible,  the  temperature  as  a  rule  rises  gradually,  '  and  in 
most  severe  cases  the  tendency  is  for  the  temperature  to 
keep  about  the  same  level  for  some  time ' ;  but  we  cannot 

530 


Plague 

go  into  a  full  report  of  the  symptoms.  Those  who  are 
interested  in  them  will  find  them  fully  described  in  Dr. 
Lowson's  valuable  paper.  The  death  rate  amongst  those 
attacked  in  Hongkong  in  1894  was  as  follows  : — 

Chinese 93'4  per  cent. 

Indians 77          „ 

Japanese 60          „ 

Eurasians 100          „ 

Europeans i8'2       „ 

The  Chinese  lacked  efficient  medical  attendance — in 
many  cases  they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  foreign 
doctors,  while  Europeans  called  in  properly  trained 
physicians,  and  that,  in  most  cases,  right  early.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  European  constitution 
was  better  able  to  withstand  this  fearful  disease.  Judged 
by  the  percentage  of  deaths  in  those  attacked,  the  Eurasians 
would  appear  to  have  the  worse  constitutions  of  all. 

'  About  ten  acres  of  the  most  densely  populated  part  of 
the  city  was  closed  by  the  Government  at  the  height  of  the 
epidemic,  and  the  inhabitants  turned  out  of  their  dwellings 
and  housed  elsewhere.  The  streets  were  walled  up,  and 
constables  were  stationed  to  prevent  egress  to  the  "  for- 
bidden city."'  In  this  quarter  of  the  city,  T'aip'ingshan, 
nearly  every  house  had  plague  in  it,  and  most  of  the  houses 
were  unfit  for  habitation.  The  Government  resumed  all 
the  land  and  houses  in  this  portion  of  the  city,  giving  com- 
pensation to  the  owners  ;  the  wretched  dwellings  were 
eventually  pulled  down,  and  the  streets  are  now  laid  out  on 
an  improved  plan. 

During  the  next  two  years  the  plague  played  havoc  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Canton,  Hongkong  and  Macao,  now 
visiting,  during  the  hot  months  of  the  year,  one  part  of  the 
country  and  now  another.  Hongkong  escaped  in  1895, 
except  for  a  few  sporadic  cases,  amounting  to  some  44  in 
number,  but  Macao  was  visited  by  a  severe  epidemic  of  it 
in  April  and  May  1895.  The  city  of  Canton  was  reported 
to  be  practically  free  in  1895. 

In  Canton,  when  the  plague  was  raging  in  1894,  a 

531 


Things  Chinese 

reward  was  offered  for  the  bodies  of  rats  that  had  died  from 
it,  and  in  consequence  21,000  were  collected.  The  plague 
during  these  last  few  years  also  visited  Amoy,  Swatow,  and 
other  places  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  China,  reaching  as 
far  north  even  as  Shanghai,  where  a  few  cases  occurred. 

A  recurrence  of  the  bubonic  plague  took  place  in 
Hongkong  in  1896.  It  commenced  early  in  the  year:— 

'  The  disease  was  at  its  worst  stage  in  April  and  May,  and  was  not 
finally  stamped  out  till  the  end  of  September.  The  total  number 
of  cases  brought  to  notice  was  1,204,  of  which  1,097  ended  fatally. 
Europeans  attacked  numbered  fifteen,  of  whom  seven,  including  two 
soldiers  and  one  Inspector  of  Nuisances,  succumbed  to  the  disease. 
.  .  .  One  of  the  two  sisters  who  were  engaged  in  nursing  at  the 
Plague  Hospital  was  also  attacked  by  the  disease,  but  fortunately 
recovered.  The  largest  number  of  fresh  cases  in  one  week  was  too, 
from  the  23rd  to  3oth  May,  and  the  greatest  number  of  deaths  was 
87,  for  the  week  ending  Qth  May.' 

But  it  has  spread  so  over  different  places  in  China  that 
to  give  an  accurate  and  full  account  of  its  visitations  would 
require  more  space  than  we  have  at  our  disposal.  Several 
hundreds  are  said  to  have  died  of  it  in  Kaiilung  City  in 
1898.  Visitations  occurred  in  Hongkong  in  subsequent 
years  (see  below),  several  Europeans  dying  of  it  in  1901. 

The  plague  also  visited  Formosa  in  1896;  and  con- 
siderable alarm  was  caused  in  1896  and  1897  by  a  serious 
outbreak  of  it  in  Bombay  and  elsewhere  in  India.  A  new 
phase  of  it  in  Bombay  was  that  pigeons  were  attacked  by 
a  disease  which  presented  points  of  resemblance  to  the 
plague,  and  died  in  large  numbers.  In  this  connection  the 
following  extract  from  the  Bombay  Gazette  as  published 
in  the  London  Daily  Chronicle  of  the  I4th  January  1897, 
proves  of  more  than  passing  interest : — 

'  Mr.  Hankin  has  set  himself  to  investigate  an  important  branch 
of  the  subject — the  means  by  which  the  pest  becomes  diffused,  and 
is  brought  in  contact  with  the  population  which  becomes  subject  to 
its  ravages.  The  time  has  not  come  to  enter  into  details,  but  it  is 
permissible  to  state  that  there  is  evidence  proving  beyond  all  doubt 
that  rats,  living  and  dead,  and  ants  play  a  large  part  in  diffusing  the 
disease  and  establishing  it  in  buildings  which  become  in  their  turn 
centres  of  infection.  Rats  which  have  the  plague,  deposit  the  germ 
of  the  disease  on  the  floors  over  which  they  pass.  When  they  die 
their  bodies  are  eaten  by  ants,  which  absorb  the  germs  and  deposit 

532 


Plague 

them  in  cracks  and  crevices,  especially  when  there  is  any  lurking 
moisture.  Ants  require  water,  and  consequently  they  frequent  the 
neighbourhood  of  taps  and  sinks.  The  bacilli  have  been  found  in 
ants  a  fortnight  after  they  received  them  from  preying  on  dead  rats. 
A  house  near  Dhobie  Talao,  in  which  two  deaths  took  place,  was 
searched  for  dead  rats.  Their  bodies  were  dug  out  and  the  holes 
closed  up.  The  man  employed  on  that  work  took  the  plague.  Some 
days  afterwards  Mr.  Hankin  succeeded  in  picking  out  from  crevices 
ants  which  were  found  to  have  the  bacilli.  Some  of  the  surface  of 
the  ground  near  the  sink  had  bacilli,  though  it  had  been  flushed  with 
phenyle  the  day  before.  The  bacilli  were  doubtless  deposited  by  the 
ants  after  the  phenyle  had  become  dry.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  ants  have  any  monopoly  in  the  diffusion  of  bacilli.  Insects  which 
have  never  been  held  in  such  general  esteem  for  industry  and  self- 
help  have  unquestionably  their  share  in  that  deadly  work.  Hut 
keeping  in  view  the  proved  fact  that  rats  get  the  plague  and  die  of 
it  in  large  numbers,  that  their  dead  bodies  under  the  floors  and 
among  the  rafters  of  old  buildings  are  sources  of  infection,  intensified 
by  the  action  of  myriads  of  ants,  Mr.  Hankin  has  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  segregation  of  human  beings  who  get  the  disease 
can  have  but  a  very  small  effect  in  preventing  the  spread  of  the 
disease.  The  danger  lurks  in  the  house,  and  he  recommends  that 
the  other  inmates  should  be  removed  whether  the  patient  elects  to 
stay  there  or  not.  In  the  Himalayas  and  in  all  countries  the  segrega- 
tion of  the  healthy  has  been  the  one  effective  means  of  stopping  the 
spread  of  the  plague.' 

'The  bacillus  pestis,  discovered  by  Dr.  Kitasato,'  is  'now 
universally  recognised  as  the  essential  cause  of  the  plague.  It 
belongs  to  the  group  of  parasite  or  disease-producing  bacteria  which 
find  a  home  in  the  bodies  of  certain  animals.  It  is  so  minute  that 
Dr.  Woodhead  has  estimated  that  it  would  take  about  500,000,000  of 
such  organisms,  laid  side  by  side,  to  cover  a  postage  stamp.  They 
multiply  by  fission,  and  each  divided  portion  is  a  new  plant  ;  re- 
production thus  proceeds  in  a  rapid  geometrical  progression.  The 
greatest  enemy  of  the  bacillus'  is  'sunlight.' 

Monkeys  and  squirrels  and  snakes,  especially  the  rat- 
catching  snakes,  are  also  affected  by  plague. 

With  regard  to  the  plague  amongst  the  lower  animals, 
Dr.  Manson  says  : — 

'  It  seems  to  me  that  they  have  to  be  reckoned  with  in  the  future, 
more  than  they  have  been  in  the  past,  in  devising  schemes  of 
quarantine,  and  in  attempts  at  stamping  out  the  disease  in  already 
infected  localities.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  wholesale  destruction  of 
domestic  vermin  should  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  isolation  of 
plague-stricken  patients.' 

'  In  an  article  on  the  plague  in  the  Annales  dc  {'Institute  Pasteur, 
Dr.  Simond  says  that  both  amongst  rats  and  men  the  infection  is 
carried  by  fleas,  which  are  the  chief  instrument  in  the  propagation  of 
the  disease.' 

533 


Things  Chinese 

Dr.  Yersin,  a  French  physician  who  went  to  Hongkong 
in  1894  to  study  the  plague,  has  since  made  a  series  of  ex- 
periments with  the  plague  bacillus  which  has  resulted  in 
his  discovering  what  he  believes  to  be  a  cure  for  the  plague. 
By  the  injection  of  the  serum  he  prepared,  he  cured  one 
case  in  Canton  ;  of  twenty-three  cases  in  Amoy,  fifteen 
were  cured,  two  died,  and  of  the  remaining  six  cases  he 
unfortunately  left  before  a  cure  was  effected,  though  he  had 
every  hope  that  it  was  in  progress.  It  takes  twenty-four 
hours  to  effect  a  cure,  and  it  must  be  taken  at  once  as  soon 
as  the  symptoms  develop.  '  HafTkine  practised  during  the 
Bombay  epidemic  a  system  of  prophylactic  inoculation,' 
the  figures  were  encouraging  in  1897  ;  in  1899  the  accounts 
wrere  very  encouraging  :— 

'  Inoculation  against  plague  bids  fair  to  become  universal  in  India  ; 
one  town  of  a  population  of  about  40,000  having  only  about  5,000 
uninoculated,  while  many  have  been  inoculated  twice.  The  results 
justify  the  practice,  a  report  for  one  week  in  September  [1898]  showing 
only  69  attacks  among  32,000  inoculated  persons,  and  417  attacks 
among  8,500  uninoculated.' 

The  bubonic  plague  is  'known  in  India  by  various 
names.  In  the  Bombay  Presidency  it  is  called  "  Pali 
plague "  because  it  was  very  rife  in  Pali  in  1836.'  As  a 
general  rule  the  following  may  be  said  to  be  fairly  demon- 
strated by  experience,  namely,  '  that  the  attacks  of  the 
plague  fail  upon  subjects  living  wholesome  lives  under 
good  sanitary  conditions,  and  succeed  .  .  .  upon  those  living 
in  unhealthy  surroundings  or  whose  system  has  been 
weakened  by  other  disease.'  As  a  rule,  doctors  seem  to 
escape,  though  not  always.  It  is  those  who  are  constantly 
with  patients  that  are  more  liable,  though  the  immunity 
that  nurses  and  others  usually  enjoy  seems  wonderful,  a 
few  cases  have  occurred  of  even  these  taking  it. 

'The  German  Commission  sent  out  to  India  in  1897  to  study 
bubonic  plague,  attribute  the  comparative  exemption  from  plague  of 
Europeans  and  of  the  wealthier  population  generally,  not  only  to 
better  general  conditions  of  life,  but  more  especially  to  the  greater 
protection  afforded  by  their  clothing.  The  evidence  seems  to  show 
that  it  is  usually  abrasions  or  perforations  of  the  skin,  even  of  the 
most  insignificant  character,  that  afford  the  plague  bacillus  an  entry 

534 


Plague 

into  the  body,  whereas  the  poison  is  much  less  rarely  absorbed 
through  the  lungs  or  the  digestive  apparatus.  The  Commission  also 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  plague  had  long  been  endemic  in  certain 
districts  of  Northern  India.' 

In  some  epidemics  of  plague  it  is  said  that  patches  are 
seen  on  the  surface  of  the  body  after  death,  hence  one  name 
it  formerly  got  was  that  of  the  Black  Death. 

In  the  epidemic  of  1898,  in  Hongkong  there  were  1315 
cases,  75  of  which  were  non-Chinese  ;  26  of  these  latter 
being  Europeans,  two  of  the  nurses  at  the  hospital  being 
victims  of  this  frightful  disease.  Though  a  less  severe 
epidemic  than  that  of  1894,  the  cases  in  some  instances 
were  more  severe.  65'3  per  cent,  of  non-Chinese  who  took 
it  died  ;  whereas  amongst  the  Chinese  the  mortality  reached 
the  high  figure  of  89^6  per  cent.  Dr.  Clarke,  the  Medical 
Officer  of  Health  in  Hongkong,  in  his  report  makes  the 
following  interesting  statement : — 

'  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  apply  tentatively  Sanarelli's  theory 
concerning  the  bacillus  of  Yellow  Fever,  to  the  infective  material  of 
this  disease  also,  namely,  that  the  vitality  of  the  bacillus,  outside  the 
living  bodies  of  men  and  animals,  depends  largely  upon  the  co- 
existence of  vegetable  moulds  by  which  it  is  nourished.  It  is  already 
well  known  that  a  moist  atmosphere,  defective  ventilation,  a  moderate 
amount  of  heat,  and  the  absence  of  sunlight  are  the  most  favourable 
conditions  for  the  development  of  the  Bubonic  Fever  bacillus,  while 
they  are  the  conditions  which  encourage  the  free  growth  of  the 
vegetable  moulds,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable,  therefore,  to  surmise  that 
this  property  of  symbiosis,  which  has  been  observed  by  Metchinkoff 
in  connection  with  the  bacillus  of  cholera,  may  have  not  a  little  to 
do  with  the  persistence  of  the  bacillus  of  Bubonic  Fever  in  damp  and 
ill-ventilated  dwellings.' 

Dr.  Atkinson,  the  Principal  Civil  Medical  Officer  of 
Hongkong,  thus  writes  : — 

'  The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  our  experience  of  plague  in 
1896  and  1898  are  that  the  occurrence  of  plague  is  favoured  by  (i) 
long  prevalence  of  drought  or  of  abnormally  low  rainfall  ;  (2)  atmos- 
pheric temperature  below  82  F.,  as  the  months  of  maximum  mean 
temperature  were  in  each  year  followed  by  a  material  reduction  in  the 
number  of  cases  ;  (3)  the  absence  of  sunshine  ;  (4)  the  dampness  of 
the  atmosphere,  during  the  months  in  which  there  were  most  cases 
the  mean  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  was  high.' 

Professor  Simpson  thus  writes  of  the  plague  : — 

'  Plague  is  in  fact  primarily  a  disease  among  rats,  the  infection  of 
which  can  be  conveyed  to  human  beings,  but  once  established  in 

535 


Things  Chinese 

human  beings,  the  infection  is  communicable  to  others  by  means  of 
the  expectorations,  by  the  discharges  from  the  bowels  and  by  the 
urine,  and  by  discharges  from  the  buboes  or  glandular  swellings 
which  form  in  this  disease.  The  clothes,  the  food,  and  surroundings 
of  a  plague  patient  are  likely  to  be  infective  and  also  spread  the 
disease.  Accordingly  no  measures  are  complete  which  do  not  include 
the  prevention  of  the  disease  in  rats  as  well  as  men.' 

'  M.  E.  Uuclaux,  Director  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  speaking  (in  the 
Revue  de  Paris)  of  the  means  of  protection  against  plague  afforded 
by  bacteriology,  insists  strongly  on  the  necessity  of  destroying  rats, 
fleas,  and  bugs  as  an  essential  preliminary.  The  extermination  of 
rats  and  their  parasites  is,  he  says,  a  more  effectual  barrier  than  is 
generally  believed  against  the  invasion  of  the  disease.' 

The  plague  recurred  again  in  Hongkong  in  1899,  tne 
mortality  gradually  rising  to  some  forty  or  fifty  deaths  in 
the  course  of  a  week  in  the  beginning  of  May,  one 
European  being  attacked  by  it,  while  the  following  account 
of  it  at  about  the  same  period  of  the  year  shows  the 
ravages  it  was  committing  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Canton  : — 

'  The  plague  is  more  than  recrudescent  in  many  of  the  towns  and 
villages  of  the  delta.  In  Canton  and  Fatshan,  it  is  reported  as  "bad" 
but  not  so  bad  as  in  some  of  the  inland  cities. 

'  The  city  of  San  Ning  might  correctly  be  named,  at  present,  "  The 
City  of  Death."  The  plague  is  ravaging  with  special  virulence,  and 
carrying  off  its  victims  in  large  numbers.  Shops  and  dwelling  houses 
are  closed,  and  their  inhabitants  have  fled  into  the  country,  carrying 
the  infection  with  them.  Business  is,  for  the  present,  paralysed. 
The  streets,  meanwhile,  are  reeking  in  filth  and  all  drains  choked 
with  rubbish.  Behold  the  remedy  employed  !  In  one  street,  I 
observed  no  less  than  three  matsheds  erected,  in  which  were  seated, 
in  calm  complaisancy  many  idols  which  are  implored  to  exert  their 
power  to  stem  and  turn  back  the  tide  of  death.  Moreover,  over  almost 
every  door  are  hung  branches  of  cactus,  or  other  thorny  shrubs,  also 
a  piece  of  fine  netting,  and  a  bag  of  small  cockle  shells.  It  is  believed 
that  the  malignant  devils  cannot  well  avoid  all  these  obstacles  and 
enter  the  house  !  They  may  be  frightened  by  the  rattling  of  the  shells, 
as  boys  used  to  frighten  birds  from  the  cornfields  by  the  rattle  of  a 
tin  pan.  If  the  devils  yet  attempt  to  enter,  they  must  pass  through 
the  mass  of  thorns,  but  can  scarcely  avoid  the  small  netting. 

'  It  is  almost  past  belief  that  men's  minds  are  so  dark,  minds,  too, 
that  have  spent  years  in  America  or  Australia.  Yet,  there  it  is.  It 
is  altogether  tragic  to  see  such  things,  and  to  look  behind  and  con- 
template the  sorrow,  bereavement,  and  blank  despair  that  hover  over 
the  houses  and  paralyse  the  hearts  of  those  who  crouch  in  terror 
within.  One  may  well  ask  oneself  the  question,  can  such  things 
exist?  Furthermore,  can  it  be  possible  that  those  enshrouded  in  such 

536 


Plague 

mental  darkness  can  dare  to  assert,  and  venture  to  dream,  that  they 
stand  on  an  equality  with  the  people  of  the  West?  In  the  interests 
of  humanity,  there  is  every  reason  why  all  agencies,  religious, 
educational,  and  commercial,  should  continue  their  propaganda,  and 
endeavour  to  penetrate  and  dissipate  this  terrible  gloom.' 

The  plague  was  also  at  Kwangchowwan,  the  new 
French  port  in  the  Kwangtung  province,  in  April  or  May 
1899:  it  was  prevalent  among  the  natives;  one  European 
soldier  died  of  it,  and  another  who  was  attacked  with  it,  was 
cured  by  the  Yersin  serum. 

4  Speaking  of  the  persistence  of  the  contagion  of  the  plague 
microbe,  which  is  causing  so  much  anxiety  in  Austria  and  Germany, 
the  journal  IM  Suisse,  Geneva,  cites  a  characteristic  case.  "In  1660 
the  Dutch  city  of  Haarlem  was  devastated  by  the  plague.  Whole 
families  perished,  among  them  a  family  by  the  name  of  Cloux,  whose 
various  members  were  buried  in  the  Haarlem  Church.  Thirty  or  forty 
years  ago  it  was  found  that  the  masonry  of  the  tomb  was  out  of 
repair,  and  the  vault  was  entirely  rebuilt.  The  masons  in  charge  of 
the  work  descended  into  the  vault  and  remained  there  during  more 
than  a  day.  Now  although  more  than  two  centuries  had  passed  since 
the  epidemic,  all  these  workmen  were  attacked  with  the  infectious 
bubo  [characteristic  glandular  swelling]  of  the  plague,  and  had  to 
undergo  long  treatment  at  the  hospital.  Nevertheless,  there  were  no 
symptoms  of  the  plague  proper,  and  all  recovered."' 

The  plague  seems  to  have  spread  fairly  over  the  world 
of  late  years,  being  conveyed  even  to  the  cities  of  Europe 
by  commerce,  though,  thanks  to  the  comparative  cleanliness 
of  European  cities,  its  attacks  have  always  been  repelled. 
(It  has  reached  even  such  an  apparently  out-of-the-way 
place  as  Uganda.) 

The  following  extract  will  show  what  dense  crowding 
in  the  East  means  : — 

'  The  most  densely  populated  metropolitan  districts  of  the  city  of 
London  are  St.  James',  Westminster,  Whitechapel,  and  St.  George's, 
in  the  East,  but  none  of  these  have  a  population  of  more  than  200 
persons  to  the  acre.  Yet  here  in  Hongkong,  in  No.  5  District,  which 
is  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  we  have  almost  1000  persons  to 
the  acre,  and  the  adjoining  Districts,  Nos.  6,  7,  and  4  are  in  nearly  as 
bad  a  state.' 

This  was  in   1899. 

'  In  a  public  lecture  in  the  Sassoon  Institute,  Bombay, 
Dr.  G.  Waters  disposed  of  the  theory  that  the  bubonic 
plague  had  been  imported  into  Bombay  from  Hongkong  by 

537 


Things  Chinese 

rats  in  ships.  He  inclined  to  the  belief  that  it  was  not 
introduced  from  other  ports,  but  had  its  origin  in  the  large 
granaries  of  the  Mandvie  quarter  of  the  town.  The  first 
outbreak  was  among  the  granary  employes,  and  rat  murrain 
was  first  discovered  there.  Surgeon-Colonel  C leghorn, 
who  has  made  a  special  investigation  for  the  India 
authorities,  holds  the  same  opinion.  It  is  stated  as  a 
curious  fact  by  both  doctors  that  wheat  and  rice  eaters  have 
enjoyed  almost  complete  immunity  from  the  disease,  which 
has  been  most  prevalent  amongst  the  millet  eaters  (the 
Hindoos) — millet  being  a  generic  term  for  various  kinds  of 
inferior  grain.  Limewashing  is  advocated  as  the  absolutely 
best  preventive  of  the  spread  of  the  plague. 

Books  recommended. — The  local  papers  published  in  Hongkong  contained, 
during  the  prevalence  of  the  plague,  many  interesting  particulars  about  il. 
Trever's  '  Diseases  of  India.'  Article  on  Plague  in  'Encyclopaedia  Britannica.' 
Davidson's  '  Tropical  Medicine.'  An  article  in  the  London  and  China 
Express,  as  quoted  in  the  Hongkong  Telegraph  of  9th  July  1895.  Dr. 
Malison's  'Report  on  the  Health  of  Amoy'  for  the  half-year  ending  31st 
March  1878,  in  the  '  Medical  Reports  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,' 
15th  issue.  '  Notes  of  an  Epidemic  Disease  observed  in  Pakhoi,'  by  J.  H. 
Lovvry,  L.R.C.P.,  Ed.,  L.R.C.S.,  Ed.,  in  '  Medical  Reports  of  the  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs,'  24th  issue,  for  the  half-year  ending  30th  September 
1882.  '  The  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  Decennial  Reports,'  pp.  654  and  67] . 
M.  Rocher's  'Yunnan.'  Dr.  James  Lowson's  Report  on  'The  Epidemic  of 
Bubonic  Plague  in  Hongkong,  1894,'  published  in  the  Hongkong  Govern- 
ment Gazette.  '  Report  on  the  Outbreak  of  Bubonic  Plague  in  Hongkong  to 
the  International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demography  held  at  Buda-Pest, 
1894,'  by  Dr.  P.  B.  C.  Ayres,  C.M.G.,  Colonial  Surgeon",  Hongkong,  and  Dr. 
James  Lowson,  M.B.,  Acting  Superintendent,  Government  Civil  Hospital. 
His  Ex.  Sir  Win.  Robinson's  speech  reported  in  the  Hongkong  Weekly  Press, 
9th  Dec.  1896.  'Tropical  Diseases:  A  Manual  of  the  Diseases  of  Warm 
Climates,'  by  Sir  P.  Manson,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  from  which  we  have  made  large 
extracts.  Also  see  '  Annual  Reports  by  the  Medical  Officer  of  Health  for 
Hongkong' for  years  1897  and  1898  and  subsequent  years.  'A  Treatise  on 
Plague  :  the  Conditions  for  its  Causation,  Prevalence,  Incidence,  Immunity, 
Prevention,  and  Treatment,'  by  Major  Geo.  S.  Thomson,  M.B.,  I. M.S., 
and  Dr.  John  Thomson,  M. R. C.S.I.,  etc.,  Special  Plague  Officer  under  the 
Government  of  Bombay.  London:  Swan  Sonneuschein  &  Co.,  1901.  7s.  6d. 
'  Plague  :  How  to  Recognise,  Prevent,  and  Treat  Plague,'  by  James  Causlie, 
M.A.,  M.B.,  F.R.C.S.,  D.P.H.  London  :  Cassell  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  1901.  Is.  6d. 

PLANTAIN.  —  'Botanists  declare  the  banana  and 
plantain  to  be  the  same  plant.'  In  the  Straits  the 
distinction  is  said  to  be  as  follows:  —  'The  plantain 
.  .  .  never  becomes  sufficiently  ripe  to  eat  without  cook- 
ing.' This  fruit  is  too  well  known  to  require  descrip- 

538 


Poetry 

tion.     There  are  many  varieties   in    China.     (See  Article 
on   Fruit.) 

1'OETRY. — The  whole  subject  of  Chinese  poetry  is  one 
that  is  worthy  of  a  more  thorough  treatment  than  it  has  yet 
received.  One  peculiar  element  is  the  tones  which  in  the 
Chinese  language  give  an  element  unknown  in  foreign 
languages,  which  has  to  be  paid  attention  to  by  the  Chinese 
poet  apart  from  the  identity  of  sound  required  for  rhyme. 

The  Chinese  are  passionately  fond  of  poetry.  The 
East  is  the  land  of  poetry.  Here  Nature  is  found  in 
her  happiest  moods  :  she  lavishes  all  the  tints  of  her 
wonderful  palette  on  her  gorgeous  sunrises  and  sunsets  ; 
she  instals  her  electric  lights — the  bright  stars  in  the  blue 
depths  of  the  unfathomable  sky — and  so  pure  is  the 
atmosphere,  that  one  can  see  beyond  their  clear  shining 
into  the  illimitable  space  ;  her  full-orbed  moon  floods  the 
whole  landscape  with  a  silvery  light  but  seldom  seen  in  the 
West ;  the  sun  glows  with  such  an  intense  heat,  that 
aided  by  the  tropical  showers,  the  earth  is  clad  with  a  hot- 
house growth  of  plants  and  shrubs  ;  nor  are  her  grander 
moods  unrevealed  to  man,  for  towering  crag  and  rugged 
mountain  hem  in  the  meandering  river,  and  the  soft  lights 
of  sunset  play  amidst  their  gloomy  rocks  and  sheltered 
ravines,  while  the  noonday  clouds  cast  passing  shadows 
on  the  lovely  scene  ;  anon,  amidst  the  thunder  of  the  storm 
and  the  vivid  flashes  of  the  lightning,  the  God  of  Nature 
reveals  Himself,  while  all  the  latent  forces  of  destruction 
seem  let  loose  in  the  howling,  whistling  wind,  the 
dashing  wave,  and  the  fierce  battling  of  the  elements  of 
the  dreaded  typhoon. 

The  Chinese  have  been  the  worshippers  of  Nature  for 
centuries  and  millenniums,  both  in  the  literal  and  figurative 
sense  of  the  term  :  long  before  we  in  the  West  awoke  to 
her  wild  charms  and  sylvan  beauties ;  ages  before  the 
ponderous  Dr.  Johnson  saw  nothing  to  admire  in  the  wild 
Hebrides  and  the  rugged  mountains  of  Scotia,  the  Chinese 
had  sung  the  praises  of  similar  scenes  in  their  native  land  ; 

539 


Things  Chinese 

'  Chinese  poets  manifest  a  passionate  love  of  nature 
thousands  of  years  before  Scott  or  Wordsworth.'  A 
suggestion,  a  reference,  a  line,  or  a  word  points  to  some 
aspect  of  nature,  such  as— 

'  The  white  clouds  fly  across  the  scene,' 
to  find  its  response  in  the  next  line  of— 

'The  distant  hills  are  clothed  in  green,' 

while  others  will  revel  in  some  descriptive  piece  of  solitary 
scenes. 

But,  unfortunately,  much  Chinese  poetry  is  incapable  of 
translation  :  it  loses  its  essence  in  the  transfer  into  another 
and  barbarian  speech,  and  becomes  tame  prose  and  prosy  at 
the  best.  As  the  wild  flowers  which  adorn  the  hill- sides  in 
this  land,  with  their  bright  pinks  and  rich  crimsons,  soberer 
mauves  and  clear  pure  whites,  when  gathered  by  the 
enthusiastic  botanist  and  treated  by  his  careful  hands  with 
the  greatest  tenderness,  fade  and  wither,  lose  their  fresh 
bloom  and  bright  tints,  turn  to  a  uniform  brown  and  black, 
and  smell  musty  and  dry ;  so  the  flowers  of  Chinese  poetry 
lose  their  freshness  and  beauty — the  sparkle  of  wit  and  the 
point  of  allusion  are  lost  to  unappreciative  Western  ears,  the 
rhyme  and  rhythm  are  gone,  and  they  are  interesting  alone 
to  the  sinologue's  ear.  Occasionally,  however,  by  a  happy 
chance,  the  brightness  and  sparkle  of  a  ballad  or  song  are 
retained,  or  even  improved  upon,  as  in  Stent's  or  Giles's 
translations. 

The  Chinese  language  lends  itself  readily  to  the  poetic 
art — harsh  consonantal  sounds  are  wanting,  and  the  com- 
bination of  consonants  and  vowels  is  often  musical.  Though 
largely  monosyllabic,  the  diphthongs  give  a  somewhat 
dissyllabic  character  to  many  of  the  words.  The  cadence 
and  modulation  required  are  to  be  found  in  the  tones  of  the 
Chinese  language,  and  every  word  takes  the  place  occupied 
by  a  metrical  foot  in  our  Western  poetry. 

'  In  the  hands  of  an  accomplished  writer,  the  Chinese  language 
is  capable  of  a  condensed  picturesqueness  and  vigour  such  as  can  be 
rendered  into  no  foreign  language  less  ideographic  in  its  mode  of 

540 


Poetry 

writing,  unless  by  means  of  wordy  paraphrases.  Each  character  in 
its  (often  numerous)  component  parts  carries  a  wealth  of  imagery  to 
the  sense,  and  whole  series  of  metaphors  are  embodied  in  a  single 
epithet.  A  language  of  this  kind  lends  itself  especially  to  the 
description  of  the  scenery,  and  the  most  superficial  analysis  of  Chinese 
poetry  reveals  the  fact  that  the  productions  which  are  most  applauded 
in  this  branch  of  literature  consist  simply  of  elaborate  word-painting 
whose  beauty  resides  rather  in  the  medium  of  expression  than  in  the 
author's  thought.  Hence  it  happens  that  when  odes,  renowned  for 
centuries  among  Chinese  readers,  are  transposed  into  the  naked 
languages  of  Europe,  it  is  found  that  their  charm  has  vanished,  as 
the  petals  of  a  flower  are  dropped  from  the  insignificant  and  sober 
coloured  fruit.' 

As  Giles  puts  it  they  are : — 

'Strains  that  to  alien  harps  can  ne'er  belong, 
Thy  gems  shine  purer  in  their  native  bed.' 

One  of  the  classical  works  of  the  Chinese,  the  Shi  King, 
(B.C.  500)  is  a  collection  of  ancient  songs,  etc.  '  The  bulk 
of  these  curious  vestiges  of  antiquity  ...  do  not  rise 
beyond  the  most  primitive  simplicity,  and  their  style  and 
language,  without  the  minute  commentary,  would  often  be 
unintelligible.' 

Here  is  one  translated  by  Dr.  Martin  : — 

A  speck  upon  your  ivory  fan 

You  soon  may  wipe  away  ; 
But  stains  upon  the  heart  or  tongue 

Remain,  alas  !  for  aye. 

Another  put  into  English  verse  by  Mr.  Jennings  : — 

BRIDAL  SONG. 

Ho,  graceful  little  peach  tree 

Brightly  thy  blossoms  bloom  ! 
Go,  maiden,  to  thy  husband  ; 

Adorn  his  hall,  his  room. 

Ho,  graceful  little  peach  tree 

Thy  fruit  abundant  fall  ! 
Go,  maiden,  to  thy  husband  ; 

Adorn  his  room,  his  hall. 

Ho,  graceful  little  peach  tree, 

With  foliage  far  and  wide  ! 
Go,  maiden,  to  thy  husband 

His  household  well  to  guide. 

The  reader  is  referred   for  further  specimens  of  these 


Things  Chinese 

300  Odes  to  the  Shi  King,  or  Book  of  Odes,  itself.  It  has 
been  well  said  by  Professor  von  der  Gabelentz, '  that  in  this 
whole  collection  of  Odes  .  .  .  there  is  not  a  line  to  be 
found  which  may  not  be  read  aloud  without  any  hesitation 
in  the  most  prudish  society.' 

Epics  and  pastorals  are  not  found  in  Chinese  poetry  ; 
but  almost  every  other  description  is  to  be  seen,  as  well  as 
poetic  effusions  of  a  character  unknown  in  the  West,  such 
as  proclamations  by  the  magistrates  in  rhyme. 

It  is  very  extraordinary  to  find  an  Edward  Allan  Poe 
in  Chinese  literature,  B.C.  200.  The  Chinese  prototype 
was  an  eminent  statesman,  Kia  Yi  by  name,  who  was  also 
'  no  mean  poet.' 

A   CHINESE   'RAVEN.' 

THE  FU-NIAO,  OR  BIRD  OF  FATE. 

'Twas  in  the  month  of  chill  November, 
As  I  can  very  well  remember, 
In  dismal,  gloomy,  crumbling  halls, 
Betwixt  moss-covered,  reeking  walls, 
An  exiled  poet  lay — 

On  his  bed  of  straw  reclining, 
Half  despairing,  half  repining  ; 
When  athwart  the  window  sill, 
Flew  in  a  bird  of  omen  ill, 
And  seemed  inclined  to  stay. 

To  my  book  of  occult  learning, 
Suddenly  I  thought  of  turning, 
All  the  mystery  to  know, 
Of  that  shameless  owl  or  crow, 
That  would  not  go  away. 

'  Wherever  such  a  bird  shall  enter, 
'Tis  sure  some  power  above  has  sent  her, 
(So  said  the  mystic  book),  to  show 
The  human  dweller  forth  must  go,'— 
But  where  it  did  not  say. 

Then  anxiously  the  bird  addressing, 
And  my  ignorance  confessing, 
'  Gentle  bird,  in  mercy  deign 
The  will  of  fate  to  me  explain, 
Where  is  my  future  way?' 

54? 


Poetry 

It  raised  its  head  as  if 'twere  seeking 
To  answer  me  by  simply  speaking, 
Then  folded  up  its  sable  wing, 
Nor  did  it  utter  anything, 
But  breathed  a  '  Well-a.-day  ! ' 

More  eloquent  than  any  diction, 
That  simple  sigh  produced  conviction, 
Furnishing  to  me  the  key 
Of  the  awful  mystery 
That  on  my  spirit  lay. 

'  Fortune's  wheel  is  ever  turning, 
To  human  eye  there's  no  discerning 
Weal  or  woe  in  any  state  ; 
Wisdom  is  to  bide  your  fate  ;' 
This  is  what  it  seemed  to  say, 
By  that  simple  '  Well-a-day.' 

A  poem  of  great  repute  among  native  scholars  is  '  The 
Dissipation  of  Sorrows,'  written  by  Yuh  Yuen  (B.C.  450), 
whose  untimely  end  is  commemorated  by  the  annual  Dragon 
Boat  Festival  (See  Article  under  that  heading). 

Here  is  a  husbandman's  song  as  rendered  by  Prof. 
Giles  : — 

Work,  work — from  the  rising  sun 

Till  sunset  comes  and  the  day  is  done  : 

I  plough  the  sod 

And  harrow  the  clod, 
And  meat  and  drink  both  come  to  me, 
So  what  care  I  for  the  powers  that  be. 

Here  is  a  little  ode  addressed  by  '  Su  Wu  to  his  wife 
on  setting  out  on  an  embassy  to  the  Court  of  the  Grand 
Khan  of  Tartary,'  100  B.C.  The  English  is  from  the 
rendering  by  Dr.  Martin  : — 

Twin  trees  whose  boughs  together  twine, 

Two  birds  that  guard  one  nest, 
We'll  soon  be  far  asunder  torn, 

As  sunrise  from  the  West. 

Hearts  knit  in  childhood's  innocence, 

Long  bound  in  Hymen's  ties  ; 
One  goes  to  distant  battle-fields, 

One  sits  at  home  and  sighs. 

Like  carrier  bird,  though  seas  divide 

I'll  seek  my  lonely  mate  ; 
But  if  afar  I  find  a  grave, 

You'll  mourn  my  hapless  fate. 

543 


Things  Chinese 

To  us  the  future's  all  unknown, 

In  memory  seek  relief ; 
Come,  touch  the  cords  you  know  so  well, 

And  let  them  soothe  our  grief. 

Poetry  flourished  most  in  the  T'ang  dynasty  A.D  620- 
907)  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  which  have  been 
described  as  the  Augustan  age  in  China  of  poetry  and 
letters.  '  The  collected  poems  of  the  .  .  .  T'ang  dynasty 
have  been  published  by  Imperial  authority  in  nine  hundred 
volumes.'  Among  the  most  celebrated  poets  of  this  time 
is  Li  Tai-po  (A.D.  720),  an  anacreontic  poet  whose  adven- 
tures are  famous,  as  well  as  his  sonnets.  His  works  were 
published  in  thirty  volumes.  He  attained  high  government 
distinction,  but  was  drowned,  falling  overboard  from  a  boat 
when  under  the  influence  of  his  favourite  wines.  He  is 
thus  described  by  one  writer :  '  the  best  known  of  China's 
countless  host  of  lyric  poets,  famous  for  his  exquisite 
imagery,  his  wealth  of  words,  his  telling  allusions  to  the 
past,  and  for  the  musical  cadence  of  his  verse.' 

Dr.  Edkins  describes  Li  Tai-po's  characteristics  as  a 
poet,  as  follows  : — 

'This  poet  is  fond  of  deep  passion,  fear  and  pathos.  All  his  power 
is  devoted  to  the  production  of  these  sentiments  in  the  reader's  mind. 
He  loves  quick  transitions,  and  one  touch  is  enough  for  one  thought. 
Another  thought  crowds  after  it,  and  then  a  third  .  .  .  Burns  col- 
lected old  songs,  and  infused  them  with  the  fire  of  his  genius.  That 
class  of  Western  poets,  of  whom  Burns  is  a  shining  example,  would 
be  the  fit  companions  of  Li  Tai-po,  whose  poems  are  often  filled  up 
with  lines  gathered  from  the  wide  range  of  early-song  literature.  .  .  . 
Li  Tai-po  had  a  consciousness  of  power,  and  this  made  him  careless 
in  regard  to  rules.  He  uses  short  lines  whenever  he  pleases,  and  it  is 
often  hard  to  punctuate  his  lines.  His  nation  admires  him  so  much, 
that  when  he  is  irregular  in  the  choice  of  his  words  and  the  length  of 
his  lines,  they  still  praise  him.  His  genius  was  intuitive.  No  one 
took  less  time  than  he  to  write.  No  one  made  such  leaps  from  one 
subject  to  another  as  he  did.  This  recklessness  was  a  great  aid  to 
him,  because  he  did  not  need  to  take  time  to  polish  his  style  and 
smooth  down  his  roughnesses.  He  vaulted  over  difficulties  and 
expected  his  reader  to  follow  him,  without  asking  :  Why  this  leap  ? 
or,  Where  is  my  master  intending  to  go  ?  He  left  the  reader  to  fill 
the  gap,  and  he  himself  always  wrote  brilliant  sentences,  and  dealt  in 
the  pathetic  and  the  sublime.  All  faults  are  readily  forgiven  if  a  writer 
can  do  this,  for  there  is  nothing  that  readers  so  much  delight  in  as  in 
having  the  tender  sentiments  of  the  heart  stirred  from  their  depths. 
Our  poet  wrote  verses  as  he  travelled,  and  his  poems  are  a  running 

544 


Poetry 

comment  on  his  visits  to  various  localities  in  his  native  country.'  The 
manner  in  which  he  was  able  '  to  find  in  the  rounds  of  nature  the 
interpreter  of  his  thoughts,  and  to  throw  himself  into  nature  ...  is 
proof  of  his  high  character  as  a  poet.  Here  he  seems  to  resemble 
Wordsworth,  who,  with  Coleridge,  passionately  loved  every  wild  and 
sublime  scene  in  nature,  but  was  not  less  moved  by  quiet  landscapes. 
His  heart  was  open  to  every  suggestion  that  could  be  made  to  spring 
from  wheat-field,  grove,  or  sunset  glory.  .  .  .  But  he  greatly  exceeds 
Wordsworth  in  popularity,  having  a  whole  nation  at  his  feet,  and 
there  is  to  the  present  time  no  diminution  of  his  fame.' 

Of  him,  it  has  been  said  that  he  was  '  without  doubt 
the  greatest  of  Chinese  lyric  poets.'  One  of  the  emperors 
said  of  him  that  'a  god  had  become  incarnate  in  his 
person.' 

We  give  a  few  specimens  of  Li  Tai-po  put  into  English, 
first  an  impromptu  which  shows  his  early  genius,  being 
produced  at  the  age  of  ten  : — 

TO   A   FIREFLY. 

Rain  cannot  quench  thy  lantern's  light, 
Wind  makes  it  shine  more  brightly  bright ; 
Oh  why  not  fly  to  heaven  afar, 
And  twinkle  near  the  moon — a  star  ! 

A   VISIT   TO   THE   CLEAR   COLD    FOUNTAIN. 

Alas,  that  day  should  lose  itself  in  night ! 
I  love  this  fount  so  clear,  so  passing  cool  ; 
The  western  glow  pursues  its  waters'  flow  : 
The  wavelets  symbolise  my  silent  thoughts, 
And  murmur  forth  a  wordless  hymn  of  praise. 
I  watch  the  moon  among  the  clouds  so  grand, 
The  waving  pines,  athwart  the  sky  so  tall 
Anon  do  blend  their  rustling  with  my  song. 

A   VISIT  TO   THE   RAPIDS   OF   THE   WHITE    RIVER. 

I   cross  the  stream  just  as  it  starts  to  life, 
From  man  and  all  his  deeds  afar  I  roam. 
The  isles  are  clad  in  nature's  living  hues, 
And  set  in  scenes  of  sweetest  beauty  rare. 
The  deep-blue  sky  is  mirrored  in  the  stream, 
Whose  broad  expanse  reflects  the  passing  clouds. 
I  watch  them  as  they  sail  away  to  sea, 
My  leisured  mind  next  wanders  where  the  stream 
Is  full  offish  that  dart  adown  its  course, 
The  setting  sun  doth  end  my  day-long  songs, 
By  silv'ry  moon-lit  rays  I  hie  me  home 
To  where  my  humble  cot  a-field  doth  lie. 

545 


Things  Chinese 


THE    POET. 


You  ask  what  my  soul  does  away  in  the  sky, 

I  inwardly  smile,  but  I  cannot  reply  ; 

Like  the  peach-blossom  carried  away  by  the  stream, 

I  soar  to  a  world  of  which  you  cannot  dream. 

Here  is  a  short  lyric  translated  by  Dr.  Martin  which 
he  describes  as  '  characterised  by  simplicity  of  expression 
and  naturalness  of  sentiment,  rather  than  by  strength  and 
elevation.' : — 

A   SOLDIER'S    WIFE    TO    HER    HUSBAND. 

'Twas  many  a  year  ago, 

How  I  recall  the  day  ! 
When  you,  my  own  true  love, 

Came  first  with  me  to  play. 

A  little  child  was  I  ; 

My  head  a  mass  of  curls  ; 
I  gathered  daisies  sweet, 

Along  with  other  girls. 

You  rode  a  bamboo  horse, 
And  deemed  yourself  a  knight, 

With  paper  helm  and  shield 
And  wooden  sword  bedight. 

Thus  we  together  grew, 

And  we  together  played — 
Yourself  a  giddy  boy, 

And  I  a  thoughtless  maid. 

At  fourteen  I  was  wed  ; 

And,  if  one  called  my  name, 
As  quick  as  lightning  flash 

The  crimson  blushes  came. 

'Twas  not  till  we  had  passed 

A  year  of  married  life 
My  heart  was  knit  to  yours, 

In  joy  to  be  your  wife. 

Another  year,  alas  ! 

And  you  had  joined  your  chief; 
While  I  was  left  at  home, 

In  solitary  grief. 

When  victory  crowns  your  arms, 

And  I  your  triumph  learn, 
What  bliss  for  me  to  fly 

To  welcome  your  return. 

Tu  Fu  (A.D.  712-770)  was  another  poet  of  the  T'ang, 

546 


Poetry 

and  one  of  some  distinction,  who  has  been  described  as  '  one 
of  China's  greatest  men  in  poetic  genius.'  The  Chinese  rank 
him  '  as  second  only  to  Li  Tai-po.'  '  He  lived  in  the  eighth 
century,  dying  of  hunger  in  A.D.  768  ...  in  a  temple  in 
which  he  had  been  compelled  to  take  refuge.'  We  give 
some  specimens  of  Tu  Fu's  poetry  :— 

IN   ABSENCE. 

White  gleam  the  gulls  across  the  darkling  tide, 
On  the  green  hills  the  red  flowers  seem  to  burn  ; 

Alas  !  I  see  another  spring  has  died 

When  will  it  come — the  day  of  my  return  ? 

The  Chinaman's  ardent  desire  to  return  to  his  native 
land,  dead  or  alive,  though  due  to  a  very  great  extent  to 
the  cult  of  ancestral  worship  and  all  the  customs  that  group 
themselves  round  this  central  idea,  setting  and  crystallising 
into  a  rigid  system  through  the  course  of  long  ages — 
though  his  wish  to  return  is  apparently  almost  entirely  based 
on  this  ;  may  it  not  be  that  underneath  the  frost  of  ice- 
bound custom,  frozen  stiff  in  the  bonds  of  conventional 
expression,  there  yet  flows  the  natural  love  of  home  which 
the  ordinary  Celestial  is  unable  to  give  utterance  to,  but 
which  wells  up  from  the  heart  of  the  poet  ?  Other  selections 
might  be  made  which  express  this  longing  in  stronger 
language  than  the  above. 

THE    DESERTED   WIFE. 

Once  fair  beyond  the  fairest  dame  on  earth, 

Within  the  mountain  dell  I  live  perdue  ; 

And  scion  of  a  virtuous  house  I  am, 

Though  shrubs  and  trees  are  now  my  sole  support. 

Our  troubles  came  within  the  walls  amain  : 

Not  long  ago  my  brothers  met  their  end. 

Their  rank  was  high.     Alas  !  it  mattered  not ; 

For  e'en  their  stiff,  cold  clay  was  lost  to  us. 

I  care  not  for  the  present  age,  no  charms 

It  hath  for  me.     Life  flickers  like  a  wick  : 

A  passing  breath  blows  all  our  joys  away. 

A  new  fair  wife,  as  fair  as  clearest  jade, 

Is  now  my  husband's  love  in  place  of  me. 

The  libertine  hath  turned  away  from  me. 

Th'  acacia  knows  the  hour  to  close  its  leaves, 

547 


Things  Chinese 

The  turtle-dove  without  its  mate  doth  pine  ; 
He  only  sees  the  new  wife's  witching  smile, 
He  heeds  not  how  his  former  love  doth  weep. 
Upon  the  mountain  top  the  rill  is  clear  ; 
But  at  its  foot  the  stream  is  muddy,  thick. 
My  maids  go  out  to  sell  my  lustrous  pearls  ; 
And  with  a  wisp  they  mend  the  patched  roof. 
I  pluck  the  wayside  flowers,  but  wear  them  not ; 
And  then  I  gather  cones  from  off  the  firs. 
My  broidered  sleeve  is  thin  for  gusty  winds, 
As  morn  and  eve  I  lean  my  pensive  form 
Against  the  tall  bamboos  with  drooping  sprays. 

Another  name  to  be  mentioned  is  that  of  Han  Yu 
(A.D.  768-824)  '  foremost  among  the  statesmen,  philosphers, 
and  poets  of  the  T'ang  dynasty,  and  one  of  the  most 
venerated  names  in  Chinese  literature.'  From  his  pen  are 
the  following  : — 

THE   WOUNDED    FALCON. 

Within  a  ditch  beyond  my  wall 

I  saw  a  falcon  headlong  fall. 

Bedaubed  with  mud  and  racked  with  pain, 

It  beat  its  wings  to  rise,  in  vain  ; 

While  little  boys  threw  tiles  and  stones, 

Eager  to  break  the  wretch's  bones. 

O  bird,  methinks  thy  life  of  late 
Hath  amply  justified  this  fate  ! 
Thy  sole  delight  to  kill  and  steal, 
And  then  exultingly  to  wheel, 
Now  sailing  in  the  clear  blue  sky, 
Now  on  the  wild  gale  sweeping  by, 
Scorning  thy  kind  of  less  degree 
As  all  unfit  to  mate  with  thee. 

But  mark  how  fortune's  wheel  goes  round  ; 
A  pellet  lays  thee  on  the  ground, 
Sore  stricken  at  some  vital  part, — 
And  where  is  then  thy  pride  of  heart  ? 

What's  this  to  me? — I  could  not  bear 
To  see  the  fallen  one  lying  there. 
I  begged  its  life,  and  from  the  brook 
Water  to  wash  its  wounds  I  took. 
Fed  it  with  bits  offish  by  day, 
At  night  from  foxes  kept  away. 
My  care  I  knew  would  naught  avail 
For  gratitude,  that  empty  tale. 
And  so  this  bird  would  crouch  and  hide 
Till  want  its  stimulus  applied  ; 
And  I,  with  no  reward  to  hope, 
Allowed  its  callousness  full  scope. 

548 


Poetry 

Last  eve  the  bird  showed  signs  of  rage, 
With  health  renewed,  and  beat  its  cage. 
To-day  it  forced  a  passage  through, 
And  took  its  leave,  without  adieu. 

Good  luck  hath  saved  thee,  not  desert  ; 
Beware,  O  bird,  of  further  hurt ; 
Beware  the  archer's  deadly  tools  ! — 
'Tis  hard  to  escape  the  shafts  of  fools — 
Nor  e'er  forget  the  chastening  ditch 
That  found  thee  poor,  and  left  thee  rich. 

HUMANITY. 

Oh  spare  the  busy  morning  fly  ! 

Spare  the  mosquitoes  of  the  night ! 
And  if  their  wicked  trade  they  ply 

Let  a  partition  stop  their  flight. 

Their  span  is  brief  from  birth  to  death  ; 

Like  you  they  bite  their  little  day  ; 
And  then  with  autumn's  earliest  breath, 

Like  you  too  they  are  swept  away. 

The  poetic  taste  is  present  in  what  seems  to  many  a 
Westerner  the  unpoetic  Chinese,  and  the  English  poet's 
love  for  May,  or  for  Springtime,  as  especially  in  the  case 
of  Chaucer,  Langland,  and  other  poets  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
was  not  wanting  in  their  Chinese  brethren. 

TASTE. 

The  landscape  which  the  poet  loves  is  that  of  early  May, 

When  budding  greenness  half  concealed  enwraps  each  willow  spray. 

That  beautiful  embroidery  the  days  of  summer  yield, 

Appeals  to  every  bumpkin  who  may  take  his  walk  afield. 

YANG  CHU  YUAN  (8th  &  gth  Cent.  A.D.). 
Another  famous  poet  was  Su  Tung-po  (A.D.  1036- 
1101),  of  the  Sung  dynasty,  which  has  been  described  as 
the  Elizabethan  age  of  Chinese  letters.  His  poems  are 
contained  in  one  hundred  and  fifteen  volumes.  He  was  '  an 
official  of  remarkable  talents,  a  statesman,  poet,  essayist, 
and  man  of  letters,'  who  spent  many  of  his  latter  years 
under  a  cloud,  being  banished  to  the  south  of  the  empire,  a 
punishment  he  partly  brought  on  himself,  owing  to  his 
satire.  Of  him  it  has  been  written  that,  '  under  his  hands, 
the  language  of  which  China  is  so  proud,  may  be  said  to 
have  reached  perfection  of  finish,  of  art  concealed.  In 
subtlety  of  reasoning,  in  the  lucid  expressions  of  abstractions, 

549 


Things  Chinese 

such  as  in  English  too  often  elude  the  faculty  of  the  tongue, 
Su  Tung-po  is  an  unrivalled  master.'  We  give  also  a  few 
specimens  of  Su  Tung-po's  poetry.  The  first  we  extract 
from  '  Gems  of  Chinese  Literature.' 

THE  SONG  OF  THE  CRANES. 

Away  !  away  !     My  birds,  fly  westwards  now, 
To  wheel  on  high  and  gaze  on  all  below  ; 
To  swoop  together,  pinions  closed,  to  earth  ; 
To  soar  aloft  once  more  among  the  clouds  ; 
To  wander  all  day  long  in  sedgy  vale  ; 
To  gather  duckweed  in  the  stony  marsh. 

Come  back  !     Come  back  !     Beneath  the  lengthening  shades, 
Your  serge-clad  master  stands,  guitar  in  hand. 
Tis  he  that  feeds  you  from  his  slender  store  : 
Come  back  !     Come  back  !     Nor  linger  in  the  west. 

Su  Tung-po's  eulogies  of  departed  worthies  are  fine 
specimens  of  writing.  He  '  never  failed  to  clothe  his 
thoughts  in  beautiful  language,'  'with  great  facility  he 
collects  all  the  meritorious  deeds  of  his  heroes,  and  places 
them  in  a  very  strong  light ;  he  then  makes  some  allusion 
to  the  ages  long  gone  by,  and  traces  their  resemblances  to 
celebrated  personages,  concluding  with  his  own  panegyrics. 
These  eloquent  pieces  were  not  only  printed  but  also 
engraved  on  solid  stone.'  We  give  one  of  these  eulogistic 
inscriptions. 

IN  MEMORIAM  :  HAN  WENG  KUNG.1 

High  mounted  on  the  dragon's  back  he  rode 
Aloft  to  where  the  dazzling  cloudlands  lie  ; 
The  glory  of  the  sky  he  grasped  amain  ; 
The  splendour  of  the  stars,  his  sparkling  robe. 
The  zephyrs'  breath  him  gently  wafted  on 
From  earth's  domain  up  to  the  throne  of  God. 
On  earth  his  practised  hand  swept  off  the  chaff, 
The  husks  which  hid  the  grains  of  truth  from  sight. 
He  roamed  the  wide  world  o'er  from  pole  to  pole, 
From  east  to  west  his  rays  so  bright  were  shed, 
And  nature's  darkness  clothed  upon  with  light. 
The  third  amidst  the  three  of  genius  great,- 
His  rivals  strove  in  vain  to  reach  his  height, 
And  panted,  dazzled  by  his  glory's  glare. 
Buddha  was  cursed  by  him  ;  his  priests  denounced. 
His  sovereign's  wrath  was  poured  upon  his  head. 

1  The  same  as  Han  Yii.        2  The  other  two  were  Tu  Fu  and  Li  Tai-po. 

550 


Poetry 

He  journeyed  to  the  distant  South  afar  ; 
And  passed  upon  his  way  the  grave  of  Shun  ; 
And  wept,  wept  o'er  the  daughters  of  ancient  Yao. 
The  spirit  of  the  deep  before  him  went, 
And  stilled  the  noisy  waves'  tumultuous  roar, 
As  'twere  a  lamb  the  monster  fierce  he  drove.1 
In  heaven  above  the  golden  harps  were  still, 
And  God  was  sad,  and  called  him  to  his  place 
Beside  His  throne.     1  now  salute  him  there, 
And  now  present  to  him  my  off  rings  poor  ; 
The  red  lichee,  the  yellow  plantain  fruit. 
Alas!  Why  lingered  he  not  then  on  earth  ; 
But  passed  so  soon  away  with  flowing  locks 
Into  the  future  world— the  great  unknown? 

Here  are  two  other  pieces  from  Su  Tung-po,  translated 
by  ourselves. 

THE    STORK. 

In  my  garden  dwells  a  stork, 

Docile,  coming  at  a  word. 
'  Hark  !   I  call  thee  ;  come  my  stork,' 

But  the  proud  and  lofty  bird 
Stood  stock  still  with  look  askance 

Though  he  heard  me,  heeding  not, 
Head  aslant  with  sidelong  glance. 

'  Is  it  true  thou  knowest  a  lot?' 
Said  I  then,  '  Like  Ka  Yi's  owl, 

Dost  thou  wish  to  talk  with  me  ? 
Art  thou  then  no  earth-born  fowl  ? 

Heaven  thou'st  left  this  world  to  see  ? 
Canst  thy  soul  with  mine  commune  ? 

Tell  me,  tell  me,  now  I  pray.' 
Soon  his  thoughts  with  mine  attune, 

And  I  heard  him  slowly  say  : 
'  Lone  I  stand  above  the  throng 

(Not  for  long  below  I  stay). 
Perched  on  legs  so  tall  and  long, — 

Listen  as  you  will  or  nay, — 
Spare  my  frame  and  spare  my  need  ; 

Am  I  then  a  toy  for  thee  ? 
Yield  I  not  though  thus  you  plead.' 

Solemn,  silent,  still  stood  he. 
'  Wilt  thou  baulk  me  thus  ? '  I  cried, 

'  Drive  him  up  to  where  I  sit.' 
Stately  stood  he  then,  nor  sighed 

Gesture  none,  nor  spake,  as  fit 
Sovereign  man  be  served  by  brute. 

Flung  I  then  some  grains  of  corn, 
Guerdon  fit  for  birds,  and  fruit  ; 

But  he  moved  not,  as  one  born 


1  Referring  to  the  crocodile  which  he  is  said  to  have  driven  away. 
551 


Things  Chinese 


Thrones  to  fill,  not  meekly  stand 

At  my  whim,  and  at  my  call 
Pick  up  food  from  my  right  hand. 

'  Oaf,'  he  cried,  and  off  he  went. 
'  Bird,  Oh  !  Bird,  Oh  ! '  then  I  thought 

'Why?  Oh  !  why,  thus  am  I  sent— 
Sent  to  office,  it  not  sought? 

Yet  I  stay,  nor  try  to  go, 
As  thou  goest  when  thou  would'st. 

Always  to  myself  a  foe. 
Would  I  could  as,  oh  !  thou  could'st 

Leave  my  master's  side  and  fly  ; 
Hie  me  from  my  office  cares. 

By  the  brooklet  then  I'd  lie, 
Catch  the  finny  tribes  with  snares. 

In  my  cottage  in  the  wood, 
Read  my  books  and  dream  and  think, 

Love  o'er  all  the  past  to  brood 
And  the  present  with  it  link.' 

KWOK   LUN:   A   FORGOTTEN    KNIGHT   OF   OLD. 

A  warrior  bold, 

In  Ho  Sai  old  ; 
Alas  !  but  no  one  knows  him  now. 

Athwart  the  stream 

Where  waters  gleam, 
He  sees  the  boats  through  billows  plough. 

His  piebald  steed 

Has  run  to  weed  ; 
Nor  bears  his  master  to  the  fray. 

His  lance  so  long, 

In  arm  so  strong, 
A  beam,  nor  man,  nor  elf  could  stay. 

And  now  the  toll, 

This  noble  soul, 
Must  count  the  livelong  summer's  day. 

And  fret  himself, 

With  hoarded  pelf; 
And  wear  his  wasted  life  away. 

From  Western  lands 

Our  beaten  bands 
Return  ;  but  he  our  land  could  save  ; 

He'd  mount  his  steed, 

And  take  the  lead 
Before  ten  thousand  troopers  brave. 

And  foemen  die, 
As  arrows  fly, 

And  sheath  themselves  in  quiv'ring  flesh. 
Then  from  my  car 
I'll  watch  afar 
My  hero's  valour  rise  afresh. 

552 


Poetry 

The  sentimental  is  not  wanting  in  the  Chinese,  though 
kept  down  to  a  great  extent  by  their  customs  and  manners  :— 

MY  NEIGHBOUR. 

When  the  Bear  athwart  was  lying, 
And  the  night  was  just  on  dying, 
And  the  moon  was  all  but  gone, 
How  my  thoughts  did  ramble  on  ! 

Then  a  sound  of  music  breaks 
From  a  lute  that  some  one  wakes, 
And  I  know  that  it  is  she, 
The  sweet  maid  next  door  to  me. 

And  as  the  strains  steal  o'er  me 
Her  moth-eyebrows  rise  before  me 
And  I  feel  a  gentle  thrill 
That  her  fingers  must  be  chill. 

But  doors  and  locks  between  us 
So  effectually  screen  us 
That  I  hasten  from  the  street 
And  in  dreamland  pray  to  meet. 

Poetry  is  held  in  high  estimation  by  the  Chinese. 
Capping  verses  is  a  pastime  of  scholars  ;  and  at  the  com- 
petitive examinations  the  candidates  have  to  try  their  hands 
at  the  composition  of  verse.  This  mechanical  art  they  have 
first  to  learn  at  school,  as,  with  us,  boys  waste  their  time  at 
public  schools  and  colleges  in  composing  Latin  verse.  The 
consequence  is,  that  all  the  educated  men  are  verse-makers 
—we  cannot  call  such  poets.  To  this  cause  is  partly  due 
the  mechanical  structure  of  much  of  Chinese  poetry,  but  it 
is  also  due  to  the  peculiarities  of  its  construction.  Nor  is 
the  art  of  poetry  confined  to  men.  China  has  had  her 
burning  Sapphos  who  loved  and  sang,  and  her  lyric 
Corinnas.  The  lower  classes  are  passionately  fond  of  the 
recitations  of  ballads  by  men  who  go  from  house  to  house 
for  the  purpose. 

We  append  a  piece  translated  by  the  late  G.  C.  Stent  :— 

CHANG  LIANG'S  FLUTE. 

'Twas  night — the  tired  soldiers  were  peacefully  sleeping, 
The  low  hum  of  voices  was  hushed  in  repose  ; 

The  sentries  in  silence  a  strict  watch  were  keeping, 
'Gainst  surprise,  or  a  sudden  attack  of  their  foes. 

553 


Things  Chinese 

When  a  mellow  note  on  the  night  air  came  stealing, 

So  soothingly  over  the  senses  it  fell — 
So  touchingly  sweet — so  soft  and  appealing, 

Like  the  musical  tones  of  an  aerial  bell. 

Now  rising,  now  falling— now  fuller  and  clearer — 

Now  liquidly  soft — now  a  low  wailing  cry — 
Now  the  cadences  seem  floating  nearer  and  nearer — 

Now  dying  away  in  a  whispering  sigh. 

Then  a  burst  of  sweet  music  so  plaintively  thrilling, 
Was  caught  up  by  the  echoes  who  sang  the  refrains 

In  their  many-toned  voices— the  atmosphere  filling 
With  a  chorus  of  dulcet  mysterious  strains. 

The  sleepers  arouse  and  with  beating  hearts  listen, 

In  their  dreams  they  had  heard  that  weird  music  before  ; 

It  touches  each  heart — with  tears  their  eyes  glisten, 
For  it  tells  them  of  those  they  may  never  see  more. 

In  fancy  those  notes  to  their  childhood's  days  brought  them, 
To  those  far-away  scenes  they  had  not  seen  for  years  ; 

To  those  who  had  loved  them,  had  reared  them  and  taught  them, 
And  the  eyes  of  those  stern  men  became  wet  with  tears. 

Bright  visions  of  home  through  their  mem'ries  come  thronging, 

Panorama-like  passing  in  front  of  their  view  ; 
They  were  home-sick,  no  power  could  withstand  that  strange  longing, 

The  longer  they  listened,  the  more  home-sick  they  grew. 

Whence  came  those  sweet  sounds  ?    Who  the  unseen  musician 
That  breathes  out  his  soul  which  floats  on  the  night-breeze 

In  melodious  sighs — in  strains  so  elysian — 
As  to  soften  the  hearts  of  rude  soldiers  like  these  ? 

Each  looked  at  the  other,  but  no  word  was  spoken, 

The  music  insensibly  tempting  them  on  : 
They  must  return  home  : — ere  the  daylight  had  broken, 

The  enemy  looked,  and  behold,  they  were  gone  ! 

There's  a  magic  in  music — a  witchery  in  it, 

Indescribable  either  with  tongue  or  with  pen  ; 
The  flute  of  Chang-Liang,  in  that  one  little  minute, 

Had  stolen  the  courage  of  eight  thousand  men. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Poetry  of  the  Chinese,'  by  Sir  J.  F.  Davis, 
Bart,  K.C.  B.,  F.R.S.,  etc.  This  book  gives  an  account  of  the  structure  of 
Chinese  poetry  and  a  number  of  specimens.  An  article  on  '  Chinese  Poetry,' 
by  the  late  Sir  Walter  Medhurst,  in  The  China  Review,  vol.  iv.  p.  46. 
'The  Jade  Chaplet,'  by  G.  C.  Stent  ;  'Entombed  Alive,  and  other  Verses,' 
from  the  same  author's  facile  pen.  For  accounts  of  Su  Tung-po,  see  China 
Ji'eview,  vol.  i.  p.  32,  where  two  or  three  further  specimens  of  his  poetry  are 
given,  and  vol.  xii.  p.  31.  'The  Works  of  Su  Tung-po,'  an  article  in  The 
Chinese  Repository,  vol.  xi.  p.  132.  'Li-tai-po  as  a  Poet,'  a  short  account 
of  Li-tai-po's  -poetry  in  The  China  Review,  vol.  xvii.  p.  35.  '  Chinese 
Legends  and  other  Poems,'  by  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  D.D.,  LL.D.  'Chinese 
Poetry  in  English  Verse,'  by  Prof.  H.  A.  Giles,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  from  which  we 
have  culled  a  number  of  our  specimens  given  above. 

554 


Population 

POPULATION.— Much  has  been  written  on  the  popu- 
lation of  China,  and  various  surmises  and  estimates  have 
been  made  of  the  number  of  the  inhabitants. 

If  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  find  the  exact  number  of 
any  one  people  in  our  Western  lands,  much  more  difficult 
is  it  in  the  East.  There  are  several  things  that  militate 
against  an  exact  return  being  made  of  the  population  in  a 
country  like  China.  To  begin  with,  the  object  of  taking  a 
census  in  this  land  has  often  been  simply  for  the  purposes 
of  revenue,  and  infants  and  young  children  as  well  as  very 
aged  men  were  not  included,  though,  at  the  present  day,  a 
fuller  method  of  taking  the  census  is  in  vogue.  Then  again, 
people  who  do  not  have  the  fullest  confidence  in  their 
rulers  are  not  willing  to  give  the  fullest  returns  to  these 
rulers.  And,  again,  anyone  who  knows  anything  about 
Orientals  can  readily  understand  how  difficult  it  is  for 
them,  brought  up  with  such  a  want  of  precision  in  their 
habits  of  thought  and  expression,  to  realise  the  importance 
of  contributing  their  quota  of  statistics  with  the  care  and 
exactitude  they  demand.  Notwithstanding  all  these  things, 
the  different  censuses  taken  by  the  Chinese  in  the  past  are 
worthy,  on  the  whole,  in  many  instances,  of  a  considerable 
amount  of  credence ;  and,  in  fact,  form  the  only  returns 
available  for  the  entire  empire.  Compared  with  estimates 
made  by  foreigners,  they  are  tolerably  trustworthy. 

There  have  been  considerable  fluctuations  in  the  number 
of  people  in  China  at  different  periods  :  wars,  rebellions, 
famines,  and  floods  have  exerted  a  most  depopulating  effect 
on  large  tracts  of  country,  and  have  acted  as  a  drag  on  the 
continual  tendency  to  increase. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  minimising  effects,  during  the 
centuries  and  millenniums  the  empire  has  been  in  existence, 
the  inhabitants  have  increased  from  some  21,000,000  to  the 
380,000,000  which  some  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  ago 
formed  what  was  considered  on  the  best  native  data  to  be 
the  present  population  of  this  immense  country. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  gigantic  T'ai'-p'ing  rebellion  its 
population  might  now  have  been  reckoned  at  450,000,000. 

555 


Things  Chinese 

To  this  figure  of  380,0x30,000  must  be  added  the  population 
of  Manchuria,  and  of  the  vast  regions  of  Hi  and  Tibet, 
which  may  be  anything  from  15,000,000  to  27,000,000 
more  :  so  that,  perhaps,  all  things  considered,  the  round 
sum  of  400,000,000  may  be  taken  as  that  of  the  whole  of 
the  dominions  ruled  over  by  the  Emperor  of  China ;  it  is, 
probably,  not  much  less,  and  by  latest  figures  seems  to  be 
considerably  more  than  that — some  420,000,000. 

As  to  the  population  to  the  square  mile,  it  is  said  the 
Eighteen  Provinces  have  an  average  of  1,348,870  square 
miles,  though  this  statement  is  not  supposed  to  be 
accurate.  With  a  population  of  say  380,000,000,  and 
the  total  of  square  miles  given  above,  there  would  be 
nearly  282  Chinese  to  a  square  mile  of  their  territory. 
But  the  density  of  the  population  differs  greatly  in 
different  parts  of  the  country :  '  that  of  the  nine  eastern 
provinces  in  and  near  the  Great  Plain,  comprising 
502,192  square  miles,  or  two-fifths  of  the  whole'  is 
nearly  three  times  that  of  'the  nine  southern  and 
western  provinces  constituting  the  other  three-fifths ' 
of  the  Eighteen  Provinces  of  China.  '  The  surface 
and  fertility  of  the  country  in  these  two  portions 
differ  so  greatly  as  to  lead  one  to  look  for  results 
like  these.'  Taking  the  countries  of  France,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  Italy,  Holland,  Spain,  Japan,  and  Bengal 
for  comparison  with  China,  we  find  that  only  two 
of  them — Great  Britain  and  Bengal — exceed  the  density 
of  the  average  population  of  China  '  taken  as  a  whole, 
while  none  of  them  come  up  to  the  average  of  the 
eastern  provinces,'  but  fall  far  short  of  it.  From  an 
estimate  of  one  district  in  Shantung,  it  was  calculated  that 
in  that  spot  the  population  to  the  square  mile  was  531, 
'or  considerably  above  the  average  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Belgium  (the  most  densely  populated  country  in  Europe), 
which  had  in  A.D.  1873  an  average  of  only  462  to  the 
square  mile.'  In  another  spot  the  actual  number  of 
families  in  each  village  was  taken,  so  far  as  the  number 
was  known  to  the  natives,  the  number  of  individuals  to  the 

556 


Population 

family  being  reckoned  as  five,  though  it  is  often  far  larger 
than  that.  This  other  spot  gave  a  result  of  2,129  to  tne 
square  mile. 

'  So  far  as  appearances  go,  there  are  thousands  of  square  miles  in 
Southern  and  Central  Chili,  Western  and  South-Western  Shantung 
and  Northern  Honan,  where  the  villages  are  as  thick  as  in  this  one 
tract,  the  contents  of  which  we  are  thus  able  approximately  to  com- 
pute. But  for  the  plain  of  North  China  as  a  whole,  it  is  probable  that 
it  would  be  found  more  reasonable  to  estimate  300  persons  to  the 
square  mile  for  the  more  sparsely  settled  districts,  and  from  1,000  to 
1,500  for  the  more  thickly  settled  regions.  In  any  case,  a  vivid 
impression  is  thus  gained  of  the  enormous  number  of  human  beings 
crowded  into  these  fertile  and  historic  plains,  and  also  of  the  almost 
insuperable  difficulties  in  the  way  of  an  exact  knowledge  of  the  facts 
of  the  true  "  census." ' 

The  province  boasting  the  largest  population  is  Kiang- 
su  ;  the  inhabitants  are  37,800,000  in  number ;  from  this 
they  dwindle  down  to  between  five  or  six  millions  in  each 
of  the  two  provinces  of  Kweichau  and  Yunnan. 

'  Living  as  the  Chinese,  Hindus,  Japanese,  and  other  Asiatics  dp, 
chiefly  upon  vegetables,  the  country  can  hardly  be  said  to  maintain 
more  than  one-half  or  one-third  as  many  people  on  a  square  mile  as  it 
might  do,  if  their  energies  were  developed  to  the  same  extent  with 
those  of  the  English  or  Belgians.'  '  The  social  and  political  causes 
which  tend  to  multiply  the  inhabitants  are  numerous  and  powerful. 
The  failure  of  male  posterity  to  continue  the  succession  of  the  family, 
and  worship  at  the  tombs  of  parents,  is  considered  by  all  classes 
as  one  of  the  most  afflictive  misfortunes  of  life  ;  the  laws  allow  un- 
limited facilities  of  adoption,  and  secure  the  rights  of  those  taken 
into  the  family  in  this  way.  The  custom  of  betrothing  children,  and 
the  obligation  society  imposes,  when  arrived  at  maturity,  to  fulfil 
the  contracts  entered  into  by  their  parents,  acts  favourably  to  the 
establishment  of  families  and  the  nurture  of  children,  and  restricts 
polygamy.  Parents  desire  children  for  a  support  in  old  age,  as  there 
is  no  legal  or  benevolent  provision  for  aged  poverty,  and  public 
opinion  stigmatises  the  man  who  allows  his  aged  or  infirm  parents 
to  suffer  when  he  can  help  them.  The  law  requires  the  owners  of 
domestic  slaves  to  provide  husbands  for  their  females,  and  prohibits 
the  involuntary  or  forcible  separation  of  husband  and  wife,  or  parents 
and  children,  when  the  latter  are  of  tender  age.  All  these  causes  and 
influences  tend  to  increase  population,  and  equalise  the  consumption 
and  use  of  property  more,  perhaps,  than  in  any  other  land.  The 
custom  of  families  remaining  together  tends  to  the  same  result.' 
'  The  reasons  just  given  why  the  Chinese  desire  posterity  are  not  all 
those  which  have  favoured  national  increase.  The  uninterrupted 
peace  which  the  country  enjoyed  between  the  years  1700  and  1850 
operated  to  greatly  develop  its  resources.  Every  encouragement 
has  been  given  to  all  classes  to  multiply  and  to  fill  the  land. 

557 


Things  Chinese 

Polygamy,  slavery,  and  prostitution,  three  social  evils  which  check 
increase,  have  been  circumscribed  in  their  effects.  Early  betrothment 
and  poverty  do  much  to  prevent  the  first ;  the  female  slaves  can  be 
and  are  usually  married  ;  while  public  prostitution  is  reduced  by  a 
separation  of  the  sexes  and  early  marriages.  No  fear  of  overpassing 
the  supply  of  food  restrains  the  people  from  rearing  families,  though 
the  Emperor  Ch'ien  Lung  issued  a  proclamation,  in  1793,  calling  upon 
all  ranks  of  his  subjects  to  economise  the  gifts  of  heaven,  lest,  erelong, 
the  people  exceed  the  means  of  subsistence.' 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  remark  that  '  recent 
statistics  (1901)  give  the  population  of  the  British  Empire 
as  400,000,000.' 

To  give  some  idea  that  the  brain  can  easily  grasp  of 
what  a  population  like  that  of  China  means,  it  may  be 
stated  that  '  it  would  take  over  twelve  years  for  the 
population  of  China  to  walk  by  a  given  spot,  one  person 
passing  each  second.' 

Books  recommended. — Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom,' vol.  i.  pp.  258-288, 
where  the  whole  subject  is  gone  into  most  exhaustively.  An  article  by  Rev. 
Arthur  Smith,  in  The  Chinese  Recorder  arid  Missionary  Journal  for  January 
1893,  entitled  '  Estimating  the  Population  of  China.'  Other  articles  on  the 
same  subject  have  appeared  in  the  same  journal.  See  also  Parker's  '  China,' 
chapter  9. 

PORCELAIN  AND  POTTERY.— The  word  porce- 
lain, it  is  said,  was  introduced  by  the  Portuguese  (in  the 
sixteenth  century),  who  first  brought  such  ware  in  any 
quantity  to  Europe  from  China.  The  name  '  refers  to  the 
exterior  appearance  resembling  the  shining  white  of  the 
Cyprcza  or  porcelain  shell  ( Portuguese porcellana) '  '  so  called 
from  its  carved  upper  surface  being  supposed  to  resemble 
the  rounded  back  of  a  porcella,  or  little  hog.' 

Marco  Polo  saw  the  manufacture  of  it  in  China  in  A.D. 
1280,  and  informs  us  that  it  was  sent  all  over  the  world,  and 
evidences  of  this  early  trade  in  it  are  found  in  India,  Persia, 
Egypt,  Malayia,  and  Zanzibar. 

'The  Chinese  from  the  most  ancient  times  have  cultivated 
the  art  of  welding  clay,  and  they  claim  the  invention  of  the 
potter's  wheel,  like  most  of  the  great  nations  of  antiquity.' 
Like  the  origin  of  many  Chinese  things,  the  invention  of 
porcelain  is  shrouded  in  mists  of  antiquity,  and  no  certain 

558 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

date  can  be  assigned  to  it.  '  It  is  generally  ascribed  by 
them  to  the  ancient  Emperor  Shun,  who  is  supposed  to 
have  reigned  during  the  third  millennium  B.C.  ;  but  some 
attribute  it  to  his  more  famous  predecessor,  Huang  Ti,  who 
is  given  a  Director  of  Pottery,'  among  the  officers  of  his 
court. 

In  a  book  published  in  the  Chou  dynasty,  'there  is  a  short  section 
on  pottery,  in  which  the  processes  of  fashioning  on  the  wheel  and 
moulding  are  distinguished.  Among  the  productions  we  read  of 
coffins,  sacrificial  wine-jars,  and  altar  dishes,  cooking  utensils  and 
measures,  all  made  no  doubt  of  simple  pottery,  and  it  is  doubted 
whether  this  was  ever  covered  by  a  vitreous  glaze — the  employment  of 
which  is  so  ancient  in  Egypt.  Different  potteries  are  mentioned  in 
the  Wei  and  following  dynasties.'  '  The  manufacture  of  articles  of 
pottery  for  domestic  use  then  was  known  to  the  Chinese  as  early  as 
B.C.  1700.' 

This  is  one  view,  but,  unfortunately,  the  term  used  for 
porcelain  in  Chinese  is  one  of  those  words  which  every 
language  possesses,  namely,  words  which  have  changed 
from  their  original  significance — this  word,  having  first 
been  applied  to  all  pottery,  affords  no  sure  clue  for  fixing 
dates  as  to  the  original  production  of  porcelain.  St.  Julien 
places  the  invention  as  early  as  between  B.C.  185  and  A.D. 
83.  'It  has  been  objected  to  this,  with  justice,  that  the 
Chinese  statements  on  which  he  bases  his  theory,  are,  like 
those  of  Marco  Polo,  very  superficial  and  indefinite,  and 
most  probably  relate  to  quite  other  clay-wares.'  Therefore, 
the  statement  that  porcelain  was  produced  in  the  Han 
dynasty  (B.C.  206  to  A.D.  220)  is  unfortunately  incapable  of 
proof.  Were  it  possible  to  discover  any  indubitable  pro- 
ductions of  that  epoch,  all  doubt  might  be  set  at  rest,  but 
at  present  it  is  not  known  that  any  exist.  Were  archaeology 
more  of  a  science  among  the  Chinese  than  it  is,  some  hope 
might  be  entertained  that  such  would  be  the  case.  Some 
have  been  sceptical  enough  to  suppose  that  it  was  not 
known  '  long,  if  at  all,  before  the  Ming  dynasty  (A.D.  1368),' 
while  again,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  asserted  that  porcelain 
was  invented  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century, 
certain  pieces  were  produced  of  a  white  colour,  like  ivory, 
and  giving  a  clear  sound  when  struck. 

559 


Things  Chinese 

It  is  supposed  that  the  Chinese  endeavoured  to  imitate 
ivory  in  their  whole  porcelain,  which  is  known  in  France  as 
blanc  de  Chine. 

The  cups,  produced  at  Ta-i,  of  this  ware,  have  had  their 
praises  sung  by  Tu  Fu,  a  poet  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  (See 
Article  on  Poetry.).  The  decorations  were  effected  before 
the  baking,  and  were  not  elaborate,  being  confined  to  such 
subjects  as  fish,  flowers,  etc. 

'  This  was  the  time  when  the  cobalt  decorations  under  glaze  were 
first  employed,  which  from  then  till  now  have  played  such  an 
important  part  in  the  ornamentation  of  Chinese  porcelain,  especially 
for  domestic  use  among  the  Chinese  themselves.' 

'At  whatever  period  or  by  whatever  happy  chain  of  circumstances 
porcelain  was  invented,  we  have  tangible  evidence  that  the  Chinese 
potters  produced  wonderful  works  at  a  very  early  period  of  our  era, 
and  have  gone  on  producing  them  up  to  our  own  day.  Speaking  on 
this  subject,  M.  Phillippe  Burty  remarks  : — "  The  Chinese  ceramists 
succeeded  to  a  marvellous  degree  in  their  manipulation  of  porcelain  ; 
in  their  hands  it  became  a  truly  magical  substitute,  receiving  every 
form  and  gradation  of  colour  that  caprice  could  dictate.  In  their 
porcelain  productions  we  have  proof  that  the  decorative  taste  and 
imitative  skill  of  the  Chinese  artists  are  almost  faultless.  You  see, 
for  instance,  .  .  a  carp  and  carplings  with  descended  gills  slipping 
amongst  a  clump  of  reeds  ;  a  garden  rat  devouring  a  peach  ;  a  toad 
crawling  up  the  involuted  root  of  a  bamboo  ;  or  a  beautiful  water- 
lily  in  full  bloom,  forming  a  cup,  of  which  the  tea-pot  is  so  constructed 
that  not  only  have  its  concentric,  movable  rings  been  carved  out  of  a 
solid  mass,  but  they  revolve  upon  each  other,  causing  us  to  wonder 
how  adherence  could  have  been  prevented  in  the  firing.  The  origin 
of  the  great  superiority  of  the  Oriental  potters  is,  that  they  start,  in 
nearly  all  instances,  with  a  more  or  less  free  or  capricious  imitation  of 
some  natural  production  ;  and  the  article,  peculiar  in  outline  and 
treatment,  will,  however,  readily  suggest  to  the  mind  some  affinity 
with  the  real  object.  All  the  productions  of  the  natural  world,  and, 
indeed,  the  beings  and  monsters  with  which  they  crowd  the  super- 
natural world,  are  alike  resorted  to  for  fresh  inspiration  ;  and  their 
habits  of  careful  observation  of  nature  supply  them  with  countless 
delicate  subtleties." ' 

'  It  is  unquestionably  to  this  great  appreciation  for,  and  unre- 
mitting study  of  the  works  of  nature  that  we  are  indebted  for  the 
marvellous  variety  of  works  produced  by  the  artists  of  China  and 
Japan.  No  one  can  review  a  collection  of  Oriental  porcelain  without 
being  struck  with  the  masterly  handling  of  form  and  colour  it  displays. 
In  flower  vases,  perfume  burners,  and  water  vessels,  every  shape  that 
the  mineral,  animal,  and  vegetable  kingdoms  could  suggest  has  been 
adopted,  and  the  colouring  studiously  imitated.'  '  The  early  porcelain 
of  the  Chinese  appears  to  have  been  remarkable  for  its  form,  and  the 
beauty  of  its  material.  At  one  time,  it  is  probable,  white  porcelain 

560 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

only  was  made  ;  but  it  is  evident  that  at  a  very  early  date  the  art  of 
covering  the  pieces  with  a  rich  coloured  enamel  had  been  invented, 
and  also  the  mode  of  producing  the  crackled  appearance  in  the 
enamel  discovered.  Many  varieties  of  white  porcelain  have  been 
produced  by  the  Chinese  potters,  and  some  are  of  great  beauty,  not 
only  on  account  of  the  perfection  of  their  paste,  but  likewise  from  the 
tasteful  manner  in  which  they  are  decorated.  Some  have  flowers 
or  conventional  designs,  carefully  modelled  in  relief,  while  others 
have  designs  so  engraved  that  they  are  visible  only  when  held  up  to 
the  light.' 

'  The  old  Chinese  potters  do  not  appear  to  have  worked  in  grooves, 
or  styles,  beyond  what  a  limited  demand  on  the  part  of  their  patrons 
rendered  necessary.  No  sooner  had  some  experiment  or  accident 
introduced  a  new  colour,  combination  of  colours,  or  some  peculiar 
surface  decorations,  than  articles  were  produced  suitable  for  the 
display  of  the  same  ;  and  we  are  of  opinion  that  in  many  cases  such 
essays  were  never  repeated,  until  attempted  in  the  recent  periods  of 
imitation  to  meet  the  demand  of  European  collectors.  There  are,  no 
doubt,  such  things  as  unique  Chinese  porcelain  in  the  cabinets  of 
collectors  in  China  and  Europe,  and  it  is  highly  probable  that  they 
have  been  unique  from  the  day  of  their  fabrication.  Many  specimens, 
now  so  much  prized,  may  have  been  spoiled  pieces  in  the  eyes  of 
their  makers,  and,  not  turning  out  to  be  what  was  desired  or  expected 
at  the  time,  were  never  repeated.  This  argument  applies  to  the 
highly  curious,  and  at  times  extravagant  specimens  of  the  splashed  or 
enamelled  ware  which  are  met  with,  and  which  carry  with  them 
evidences,  in  their  distorted  shapes  and  slag-vitrification,  of  their 
accidental  decoration.' 

The  paste  of  porcelain-ware  is  prepared  usually  from 
two  ingredients  ;  these  are  finely  mixed  and  pulverised  ; 
the  one  is  known  as  kaolin,  so  called,  it  is  said,  from  a  hill 
to  the  east  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Porcelain  manufactory, 
King-teh-chin,  kao  meaning  high  in  Chinese,  and  tin 
(properly  ling),  a  ridge,  or  high  peak,  '  which  hill,  however, 
does  not  yield  the  product  of  decomposition  which  we  in 
Europe  call  kaolin  ("  porcelain  or  pipe-clay  "),  but  a  phyllite, 
whose  chemical  composition  resembles  that  of  the  Swedish 
Halleflinta  (?) ' ;  the  other  ingredient  consists  of  some 
mineral  'rich  in  silicic  acid,  the  so-called  flux  —  usually 
felspar  or  pegmatite,  porcelain  stone  (.  .  .  these  porcelain 
stones,  which  are  wanting  in  our  porcelain  industry,  con- 
tribute greatly  to  that  of  China  and  Japan),  or  some  other 
white-burning  form  of  quartz  is  used  in  the  finer  ceramics.' 
The  proportion  of  the  two  and  the  degree  of  heat  in  firing 
depend  upon  whether  porcelain  or  faience  is  to  be  pro- 

561  2  N 


Things  Chinese 

duced.  Some  of  the  colours  which  were  used  by  the 
Chinese  six  hundred  years  ago  to  decorate  their  porcelain 
'  we  are  not  yet  able  to  imitate." 

The  white  Ting  porcelain  would  appear  to  have  been 
in  existence  during  the  seventh  century.  The  Ting-Yao 
was  made  at  Ting  Chau  in  Chihli,  whence  its  name.  It 
was  also  known  as  white  Ting  porcelain  from  its  colour 
being  mostly  of  a  brilliant  white.  It  is  probably  one  of 
the  oldest  kinds.  There  were  three  varieties  of  it — plain, 
smooth,  and  that  having  ornaments  in  relief.  The  sign  of 
its  being  genuine  is  that  of  having  marks  like  tears  on  it. 
It  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  creamy  white  of  another 
species  of  porcelain,  the  kien-yiu  made  in  Fuhkien. 
Commencing  with  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century, 
it  seems  probable  that  the  manufacture  of  porcelain 
'  began  to  flourish  in  various  parts  of  the  Empire.'  Of 
the  different  kinds  produced  during  the  T'ang  dynasty, 
no  specimens,  as  far  as  is  known,  are  extant,  but 
those  of  the  Sung  period  are  to  be  found  in  the 
market ;  these,  from  their  age,  command  a  good  price. 
Unfortunately,  however,  many  of  this  period  were  of 
such  a  delicate  make  as  to  be  unfitted  for  survival 
during  the  centuries  that  have  intervened.  Some, 
especially  those  of  an  indestructible  nature,  have  been 
handed  down ;  the  others  are  only  known  from  the 
descriptions  given  of  them  in  books.  Amongst  the  best 
of  them  were  the  Ch'en  and  Ju  kinds.  The  Ju  was  of  a 
pale  '  bluish-green.' 

At  the  same  time  as  the  Ta-i  cups,  mentioned  above, 
were  produced  at  Yueh-chow  for  the  Emperor's  use,  the 
class  of  porcelain  styled  Pi-se  was  made,  the  colour 
described  as  '  a  hidden  colour '  has  given  rise  to  some 
discussion  as  to  the  precise  meaning.  So  fine  was  certain 
porcelain  made  here  that  it  was  described  '  as  transparent 
as  jade  and  so  resonant  as  to  be  used  in  sets  of  twelve  to 
play  tunes  upon.'  But  few,  if  any,  specimens  of  these 
ancient  examples  of  ceramic  art  are  in  existence.  No 
kind  of  painted  decoration  appears  to  have  been  used 

562 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

before  the  Sung  dynasty,  as  writers  are  silent  about  any- 
thing of  the  kind. 

The  tenth  century  is  marked  by  progress,  both  in  the 
perfected  operations  and  in  the  art  of  the  decorator,  which 
felt  the  influence  of  Buddhism  bringing  Indian  art  in  its 
train,  and  improving  the  taste  of  the  natives.  The  Chinese 
describe  the  porcelain  produced  at  this  epoch  (A.D.  960)  in 
the  following  terms  : — '  Blue  as  the  sky,  bright  as  a  mirror, 
fragile  as  paper,  and  sonorous  as  a  plaque  of  jade-stone  ; 
they  were  lustrous  and  of  a  charming  delicacy  ;  the  fineness 
of  the  crackle  and  the  purity  of  the  colour  are  distinguish- 
ing features  of  them :  they  eclipse  by  their  beauty  all 
preceding  procelains.'  They  were  called  by  the  highly 
poetical  name  of  yu  kwo  tien  tsing,  '  cerulean  blue  in  the 
cloud  rifts  as  it  appears  after  the  showers '  ;  they  were 
highly  valued,  and  even  broken  fragments  were  treasured 
up  as  jewels  would  be,  and  formed  into  ornaments. 
We  shall  find  that  later  on  these  were  imitated  with  good 
effect. 

Amongst  numerous  manufactories  opened  then  through- 
out the  empire,  that  of  King  -  teh  -  chin  in  Kiangsi, 
established  in  A.D.  1004,  takes  the  pre-eminence.  It  is 
still  the  Imperial  manufactory  and  'supplies  all  the  fine 
porcelain  used  in  the  country.'  It  was  almost  wholly 
destroyed  by  the  T'af-'p'ing  rebellion.  A  million  workmen 
were  employed  there  previous  to  that  event,  when  they 
were  dispersed,  either  joining  the  insurgent  ranks  or  dying 
of  want ;  but  according  to  latest  accounts  these  manu- 
factories are  resuming  their  prosperity  ;  five  hundred  kilns, 
it  is  said,  are  constantly  burning. 

'  And  bird-like  poise  on  balanced  wing 
Above  the  town  of  King-te-tching, 
A  burning  town  or  seeming  so, — 
Three  thousand  furnaces  that  glow 
Incessantly,  and  fill  the  air 
With  smoke  uprising,  gyre  on  gyre, 
And  painted  by  the  lurid  glare, 
Of  jets  and  flashes  of  red  fire.' 

— LONGFELLOW,  Ktramos. 

Rapid  progress  was  made  in  the  art,  and  at  the  end  of 

563 


Things  Chinese 

the  tenth  century  coloured  enamel  was  first  applied  on  the 
pieces  baked  in  biscuit,  and  various  colours,  such  as  several 
shades  of  violet  and  blue,  as  well  as  yellow  were  used. 
Buddhist  and  Taoist  figures,  flowers,  and  the  Chinese 
written  characters,  which  have  for  so  many  centuries  lent 
themselves  readily  to  decorative  art,  all  were  employed,  as 
well  as  fillets  in  relief. 

The  Chim  is  another  of  the  oldest  kinds  of  porcelain. 
The  factories  for  its  production  were  in  existence  in  the 
tenth  century,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Sung  dynasty.  One 
native  work  says  : — 

'  The  highest  quality  consists  of  pieces  having  a  colour  as  red  as 
cinnabar,  and  as  green  as  onion  leaves  and  kingfisher's  plumage, 
.  .  .  and  the  purple  brown  colour  of  the  skin  of  an  egg  -  plant 
fruit,  or  of  pieces  red  like  rouge,  green  like  onion  leaves  and  king- 
fisher's plumage,  and  purple  like  ink-black, — these  three  colours  being 
pure  and  not  in  the  slightest  degree  changed  during  the  firing.' 

Kuan-yao,  mandarin  porcelain,  as  its  name  implies,  was 
produced  in  certain  Government  factories. 

Dr.  Hirth  describes  the  specimen  seen  by  him  as  '  of  a  peculiar 
brownish  green,  a  sort  of  bronze  colour,'  called  by  the  Chinese 
ch'ci-ch'ing,  tea  green,  but  the  varieties  described  as  of  the  Sung 
dynasty  are  'white  and  thin  like  paper';  'another  was  very  much 
the  same  as  Ko-  Yau  [the  ancient  celadon  crackle]  with  three  grada- 
tions in  colour  constituting  their  value,  viz.  :  (i)  a  pale  <r^V«^-green  ; 
(2)  a  fallow  white  ;  and  (3)  grey.  The  Ko-ku-yao-lun  speaks  of  ch'ing- 
green  playing  into  pale  scarlet,  the  shades  being  very  different  though  ; 
the  best  ones  having  the  "  crab's  claw  pattern,"  and  "  a  red  brim  with 
an  iron  coloured  bottom."  ' 

Another  division  of  porcelains  was  the  Lung-ctiilan-yau 
and  Ko-yau,  '  the  real  old  celadons '  described  as  of '  a  sea- 
green  mixed  with  bluish  or  greyish  tints,  neither  a  decided 
green  nor  anything  like  blue.'  The  qualities  it  possesses  are 
'  thickness,  heaviness,  rich  olive  or  sea-green  enamel,  white 
paste,  and  a  ...  ferruginous  ring  on  the  bottom ' — the 
paste,  which  was  originally  white,  turned  red  in  the  fire. 
These  were  produced  in  the  Sung  and  Yuan  dynasties 
(A.D.  960  to  1368)  and  seem  to  have  been  carried  by  the 
current  of  mediaeval  Chinese  trade  into  '  Arab  possessions 
and  other  foreign  countries.' 

564 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

We  quote  from  Gulland's  work  the  following  interesting 
account  of  crackle,  that  curious  characteristic  of  many 
specimens  of  porcelains  : — 

'This  [crackle],  like  the  following  class  [celadon],  consists  of  a 
glaze,  white  or  coloured,  generally  covering  a  coarse  paste  resem- 
bling stoneware,  which  is  sometimes  of  quite  a  red  colour.  Although 
now  artificially  produced,  it  is  said  originally,  at  an  early  period,  to 
have  been  discovered  by  accident.  Crackle,  it  is  said  by  the  Chinese, 
was  known  during  the  southern  Sung  dynasty  (A.I).  1127-1278). 
There  seems  to  be  various  ways  of  producing  this  effect,  which 
appears  in  the  main  to  have  been  caused  by  exposing  the  piece  to  a 
sudden  drop  in  temperature,  thus  causing  the  glaze  on  the  surface  to 
contract  faster  than  the  paste  or  biscuit,  and  so  break  into  sections, 
which,  when  baked,  become  crackle.  In  these  small  cracks  in  the 
glaze,  Indian  ink  or  a  red  colour  were  sometimes  rubbed,  thus 
heightening  the  effect.  The  Chinese  were  so  completely  the  masters 
of  the  process,  that  they  could  turn  out  at  will  crackle  of  any  size,  now 
known  as  large,  medium,  and  small  crackle,  the  latter  being  called  by 
the  French  truite,  from  its  resemblance  to  the  scales  of  a  trout.' 

The  crackled  porcelain  known  as  tsiti-k'i  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  was  also  a  product  of  this  first  or  primi- 
tive period  of  the  ceramic  art  in  China.  'The  beautiful 
coloured  ground  tints,  chalcedony,  dull  violet,  yellow  and 
Turkish  blue,  so  much  valued  by  collectors,  began  to  be 
used  in  the  thirteenth  century.' 

The  second  period,  the  Hsiian  Te,  comprises  the  reigns 
of  Hsiian  Te,  Cheng  T'ung,  and  Ching  T'ai,  lasting  from  A.D. 
1426  to  A.D.  1465.  Ceramic  art  was  still  in  a  formative 
stage  at  the  commencement  of  this  period,  notwithstand- 
ing the  advances  made  in  the  last  period.  Its  character- 
istic type  was  the  decoration  of  blue  flowers  under  the 
glaze.  This  blue  was  the  su-ni-po,  and  took  after  the 
firing  a  pale  blue.  This  porcelain  is  highly  esteemed  by 
the  Chinese.  M.  Paleologue  describes  the  pieces  thus 
produced  in  the  following  terms  : — '  Elles  out,  en  effet,  un 
charme  doux  de  coloris  et  de  composition,  une  purete 
de  ton,  une  delicatesse  d'aspect  qui  n'ont  jamais  £te 
surpasses.' 

Red  was  also  put  into  the  enamel  for  the  first  time 
before  the  glaze  was  applied,  being  '  painted  on  the  paste 
so  that  the  red  designs  shone  through  the  glaze,  dazzling 
the  eyes.  It  is  described  as  obtained  by  powdering 

565 


Things  Chinese 

rubies  from  the  West,  but  this  is  impossible.'  It  was  a 
copper  silicate  ;  and  the  red  for  painting  over  the  glaze 
was  prepared  from  sulphate  of  iron  and  carbonate  of  lead. 
'  This  mixture  produced  a  fine  coral  red,'  and,  to  procure 
a  deep  enough  red,  cornelian  was  employed. 

Amongst  other  work  produced  at  this  time  may  be 
mentioned  some  pottery  known  by  the  Portuguese  as 
boccaro :  the  fine  kind  of  this  ware  was  formed  into  teapots 
and  other  objects,  while  the  coarser  sort  was  employed  as 
ornamentation  on  walls,  it  being  used  in  the  famous 
Porcelain  Tower  of  Nanking,  which  was  built  A.D. 
1415-1430. 

The  reign  of  Hsiian  Te  '  is  celebrated  for  its  porcelain,  which  is  held 
[by  some]  to  be  the  finest  produced  during  the  Ming  dynasty  :  every 
production  was  of  the  highest  artistic  value.  Cups  were  made  of  a 
bright  red  or  of  sky  blue.  The  surface  on  some  cups  was  granulated 
like  the  skin  of  a  fowl  or  the  peel  of  the  sweet  orange.  There  were 
vases  crackled  like  glass,  or  with  veins  as  red  as  the  blood  of  the  eel, 
rivalling  in  beauty  the  porcelain  of  Jou-chou  and  the  Kuan-yao.  The 
bowls  decorated  with  crickets  were  of  extraordinary  beauty.' 

'The  most  flourishing  period  of  Chinese  porcelain  making,  how- 
ever, like  that  of  most  other  branches  of  its  art  industry,  was  during 
the  Ming  dynasty,  especially  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  During  this  period  its  manufacture  occupied  a  new  position, 
owing  to  the  employment  of  many  coloured  decorations  upon  glaze 
after  the  article  had  been  baked.  This  was  a  new  development,  and 
was  called  "the  five-coloured  porcelain,"  because  more  than  one 
colour  was  employed,  but  the  number  was  not  necessarily  confined  to 
five.  We  shall  refer  again  to  these  under  the  K'ang-Hsi  period.  With 
this  advance  the  artist  proceeded  to  more  difficult  subjects  for  decora- 
tive purposes,  such  as  the  human  figure,  historical,  legendary,  and 
religious  scenes  and  landscapes.  Porcelains  in  which  green  pre- 
dominated were  particularly  prized.'  '  Gold  and  gold  purple  were  not 
used  till  the  year  1690.' 

The  third  epoch,  that  of  Ch'eng  Hua,  includes  the  reigns 
of  Hung  Chih,  Cheng  Te,  Chia-Ching,  and  Lung  Ch'ing, 
and  lasted  from  A.D.  1465  to  1573.  Blue  porcelain  was 
still  manufactured,  less  pure  materials  being  employed  in 
place  of  the  su-ni-po. 

At  the  same  time  advances  are  noticeable  in  other 
points,  such  as  arrangements  of  colours  and  skill  in 
designs,  etc.  An  improved  quality  of  cobalt  seems 
to  have  been  used  (A.D.  1521)  and  a  new  dark  blue  was 

566 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

produced  ;    the   objects    made   in    it    commanded    a    high 
price. 

'  In  the  Ch'dng  Hua  period  [that  of  the  reign  of  that  sovereign  A.D. 
1465-1487]  lived  several  celebrated  artists.  One  made  jars  which  he 
decorated  on  the  upper  part  with  the  monlan  [tree  peony]  in  flower, 
and  below  a  hen  and  chickens  full  of  life  and  movement.  There  were 
also  cups  with  handles,  painted  with  grapes  ;  wine  cups,  ornamented 
with  figures  and  the  lotus  ;  others  as  thin  as  paper,  painted  with  blue 
flowers  ;  others  with  locusts.  The  enamelled  were  especially  esteemed. 
The  blue  on  the  ware  of  this  period  is  inferior  to  the  Hsiian  Te,  but  its 
paintings  and  colours  surpass  any  that  preceded  them.' 

Gilding,  which  was  first  employed  during  the  Yuan 
dynasty,  was  brought  to  perfection  during  the  reign  of 
Ch'eng  Hua  (A.D.  1465-1489.) 

'In  the  Chia  Ching  period  (A.D.  1522-1566),  the  dark 
blue  vases  were  alone  in  favour.' 

Immense  quantities  of  porcelain  were  ordered  to  be 
manufactured  for  Imperial  purposes,  in  A.D.  1571  :  no  less 
a  number  than  105,770  pairs  of  different  kinds  of  articles, 
and  in  1583  as  many  as  96,000  pieces,  but  remonstrances 
were  made  by  the  censors,  and  in  some  instances,  at  all 
events,  the  amounts  were  reduced.  This  wholesale  order- 
ing and  consequent  enormous  production  has  flooded 
the  streets  of  Peking  with  porcelain  of  that  date,  '  where 
a  street-hawker  may  be  seen  with  sweetmeats  piled  on 
dishes  over  a  yard  in  diameter,  or  ladling  iced  syrup  out 
of  Ming  bowls,  and  there  is  hardly  a  butcher's  shop  with- 
out a  large  Ming  jar.' 

The  fourth  period  is  styled  the  Wan  Li  period,  though 
it  covers  the  reigns  of  T'ai  Ch'ang,  T'ien  Ch'i,  and  Ch'ung 
Cheng  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  as  well  as  that  of  Shun  Chih 
of  the  present,  or  Ts'ing  dynasty  or  Ch'ing,  and  lasted 
from  A.D.  1573  to  1662. 

Green  and  the  '  five  coloured  porcelains '  were  the  chief 
products.  Two  drawbacks  were  experienced  at  this  time  : 
one  was  the  giving  out  of  the  clay  employed  for  the  fine 
porcelain  ;  and  the  other  was  the  cessation  of  the  importa- 
tion of  the  blue — the  Mohammedan  blue  as  the  Chinese 
termed  it — just,  as  a  century  before,  the  su-ni-po  blue  had 
failed.  To  meet  the  new  condition  of  affairs  and  to  hide 

567 


Things  Chinese 

the  greyish  character  of  the  only  products  procurable  with 
the  materials  at  their  disposal,  a  rich  brilliancy  of  enamel 
was  employed,  and  the  importance  attached  to  the  outer 
surface  hid  the  inferior  products  below. 

During  the  reign  of  Lung  Ch'ing,  the  last  Emperor  of  the 
last  period,  as  well  as  during  that  of  Wan  Li,  the  first  of 
the  period  now  under  review,  '  the  Imperial  manufactory 
produced  pieces  which  showed  the  greatest  artistic  skill.' 

The  latter  Emperor  '  had  cups  for  the  altar  as  white  as  jade,  and 
of  extraordinary  beauty.  The  glaze  of  the  vases  was  creamy,  "  like  a 
layer  of  congealed  fat."  The  surface  was  granulated,  as  if  covered 
with  grains  of  millet,  or  like  the  flesh  of  a  fowl ;  some  are  said  to 
appear  as  if  covered  with  buds  of  the  azalea,  and  others  shagreened 
like  the  peel  of  an  orange.'  During  this  same  reign  there  'lived  a 
celebrated  artist  of  the  name  of  Au,  who  excelled  in  poetry,  writing, 
and  painting.  .  .  .  He  withdrew  from  the  world  and  retired  to  a  manu- 
factory, where  he  produced,  in  secret,  porcelain,  remarkable  alike  for 
its  quality  and  the  beauty  of  its  colours.  Among  these  the  most 
sought  after  were  large  cups,  ornamented  with  red  clouds,  brilliant  as 
vermilion,  and  egg-shell  cups,  of  dazzling  whiteness,  and  so  fine  that 
some  of  them  did  not  weigh  more  than  twelve  grains.'  'The  white 
pieces  of  the  Wan  Li'  reign  'were  very  celebrated.'  'The  manu- 
facture of  porcelain  continued  at  the  King-teh-chin  Imperial  Potteries 
under  the  present  dynasty  (the  Ts'ing,  or  Manchu  Tartar,  A.D.  1662) 
with  equal  success.'  During  Shun  Chih's  reign,  however,  as  well  as 
the  latter  part  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  '  there  seems  to  have  been  a  great 
decline  in  the  manufacture  of  fine  porcelain  ;  therefore  little  artistic 
work  is  found  during  this  period.' 

'  The  Monochrome  porcelain  of  the  Ming  and  Ch'ien  Lung  periods, 
the  ruby,  sang-de-batif,  Imperial  yellow,  crushed  strawberry,  peach- 
bloom,  moonlight  blue,  camellia-green,  apple-green,  and  other  rare 
enamel  porcelains  of  old  China  always  have  been,  and  still  remain, 
inimitable.' 

'The  secret  of  the  Chinese  coloured  enamel  porcelain  vases' 
consisted  in  '  the  art  of  using  verifiable  enamels,  which  required  the 
second  firing  over  the  glaze  at  a  low  temperature.' 

The  fifth  epoch  is  that  of  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
K'ang  Hsi  (A.D.  1662-1723),  in  which  the  art  of  the  manu- 
facture of  porcelain  attained  its  greatest  eminence,  as  M. 
Pal^ologue  says  about  it  :  — 

'C'est  la  belle  dpoque  de  la  porcelaine.  Les  proce'de's  se  sont 
perfectionne's,  les  ressources  des  ceramistes  et  des  peintres  sont  plus 
riches  ;  d'autre  part,  les  formes  sont  plus  heureuses  et  mieux  pon- 
de*rees,  la  composition  plus  savante  et  plus  variee  ;  les  colorations  ont 
une  harmonic  douce  ou  une  puissance  d'eclat  que  les  pieces  anciennes, 
avaient  rarement  realises.' 

568 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

Mr.  Gulland  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that : — 

Kang  Hsi  '  seems  to  have  been  a  very  able  man,  fond  of  art  and 
science,  willing  moreover  to  avail  himself  of  the  assistance  of  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  and  it  was  probably  their  aid  that  led,  as  Sir  A. 
W.  Franks  says,  "to  many  improvements  in  the  porcelain  manufacture 
and  to  the  introduction  of  several  new  colours."  It  is  said  that  two 
Jesuit  lay-brothers  were  at  this  time  employed  at  the  royal  factories 
of  King-te-chin.' 

Ysbranti  Ides,  ambassador  to  China  from  Peter  the 
Great  in  A.D.  1692,  speaking  of  the  porcelain  of  the 
country,  says : — 

'  The  finest,  richest,  and  most  valuable  china  is  not  exported,  or 
at  least  very  rarely,  particularly  a  yellow  ware,  which  is  destined  for 
the  Imperial  use,  and  is  prohibited  to  all  other  persons.  They  have 
a  kind  of  crimson  ware  [probably  the  sang-de-bceuf\  which  is  very 
fine  and  dear,  because  great  quantities  of  it  are  spoiled  in  the  baking. 
They  have  another  sort,  of  a  shining  white,  purflcd  with  red,  which 
is  produced  by  blowing  the  colour  through  a  gauze,  so  that  both  the 
inside  and  outside  are  equally  beautified  with  crimson  no  bigger  than 
pins'  points  ;  and  this  must  be  very  expensive,  since  for  one  piece 
that  succeeds  a  hundred  are  spoiled.  They  have  a  kind  of  china 
purfled  in  the  same  manner  with  gold.  Also  a  kind  which  looks 
like  mosaic  work,  or  as  if  it  had  been  cracked  in  a  thousand  places 
and  set  together  again  without  cement.  There  is  another  kind  of 
violet-coloured  china,  with  patterns  composed  of  green  specks,  which 
are  made  by  blowing  the  colours  through  a  frame  pierced  with  holes  ; 
and  this  operation  succeeds  so  rarely,  that  a  very  small  basin  is 
worth  two  or  three  hundred  pounds.  They  have  a  kind  of  white 
china,  excessively  thin,  with  blue  fishes  painted  on  the  material 
between  the  coats  of  varnish,  so  that  they  are  invisible  except  when 
the  cup  is  full  of  liquor.' 

The  most  of  the  porcelain  of  this  period  may  be 
grouped  under  the  four  heads  of  white  porcelain,  green, 
rose,  and  coloured  glaze. 

This  white  porcelain  was  made  in  Te-hoa  in  the  Fuh- 
kien  province  ;  the  Chinese  call  it  peh-tsz,  that  is  '  white 
porcelain.'  It  '  is  very  lustrous  and  polished,'  but  it  is  very 
thick.  It  was  used  with  good  effect  in  the  construction  of 
statuettes  of  Buddhist  idols.  M.  Pale"ologue  thus  describes 
one  that  he  saw  : — 

'  Certaines  statuettes  faites  de  cette  pate  ont  un  charme  singulier  ; 
une  deesse  Kouan-yin,  que  nous  vimes  &  Pekin,  avail,  dans  son  im- 
mobilite  hieratique,  une  delicatesse  de  formes,  une  grace  pensive,  une 
douceur  de  physionomie  et  une  suavite  d'expression  que  n'ont  jamais 
depasse'es  les  plus  beaux  bronzes  sacres.' 

569 


Things  Chinese 

The  white  is  not  confined  to  one  shade,  but  runs 
through  all  the  varieties. 

With  regard  to  the  green  porcelain,  two  schools  sprang 
up :  one,  while  following  the  models  of  antiquity,  intro- 
duced a  grace  and  beauty  and  an  improvement  in  style 
wanting  in  the  old  works.  Flowers,  sprays  of  trees, 
grasses,  flights  of  birds,  beetles,  and  dragon-flies,  all  lent 
their  aid  to  the  decorations  of  these  objects,  and  the  love 
of  nature,  so  inherent  in  the  Chinese,  had  full  scope,  while 
in  combination  with  the  dominant  green,  appeared  red  and 
touches  of  yellow,  blue,  and  violet ;  the  other  school,  while 
paying  less  attention  to  colouring,  had  able  brushes  and 
skilful  hands,  which  were  employed  in  depicting  '  historical 
or  religious  scenes,  full  of  life  and  movement,'  but  unfor- 
tunately an  Imperial  edict  in  A.D.  1677  put  an  end  to  the 
production  of  such  scenes. 

Several  new  colours  were  discovered  about  A.D.  1680. 
The  rose-colour  had  different  shades  of 'exquisite  sweet- 
ness.' The  commonest  subjects  employed  were  flowers 
and  birds,  amongst  the  former,  the  lotus  and  chrysanthe- 
mum were  favourites.  This  kind  of  porcelain,  however, 
was  further  perfected  in  the  following  period.  Of  the 
remaining  porcelains,  of  this  epoch,  the  celadons  and  the 
flambe's  are  to  be  particularly  noticed.  With  regard  to  the 
former  they  were  not  first  produced  during  this  epoch,  but 
some  manufactured  now  were  perfect  gems  in  brilliancy. 
'  Turquoise-blue,  sea-green,  and  a  suspicion  of  violet'  is  one 
description  of  what  celadons  are,  and  all  these  tints  are 
often  met  blended  in  one. 

Gulland  describes  celadon  as  '"single  coloured  glazes,"  known  as 
"whole"  or  "self"  coloured  pieces.  To  lovers  of  colour  this  is 
probably  the  most  interesting  class.  It  was  much  appreciated  by  the 
collectors  of  last  century,  and  still  brings  long  prices.  Of  all  the 
various  descriptions,  it  is,  perhaps,  the  one  that  lent  itself  best  to 
French  skill  in  ormolu  mounting.  The  distinctive  feature  of  this 
class  is  that  the  coloured  glaze  was  applied  to  the  "  paste,"  and  thus 
exposed  to  the  extreme  heat  of  the  first  firing.  This  often  caused  the 
•glaze  to  change  colour,  hence  the  variegated  hues  to  be  met  with, 
known  to  the  French  as  flambt,  and  to  us  as  "splashed."  In  course 
of  time  the  Chinese,  no  doubt,  could  produce  this  effect  pretty  well  at 
will,  and  perhaps  sometimes  used  glazes  of  more  than  one  colour  to 

570 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

obtain  their  end.  The  word  celadon  is  unfortunately  used  in  two 
senses — as  a  general  term,  where  the  substance  of  which  the  vessel  is 
made  is  hid  from  view  by  the  coloured  glaze  with  which  it  is  covered  ; 
in  the  other,  as  indicating  that  particular  range  of  greens  known  by 
this  name.  ...  In  no  class  do  we  find  greater  variety  or  brilliancy 
of  colouring  than  in  this  ;  nearly  every  colour  and  shade  thereof  is  to 
be  met  with.' 

The  list  of  shades,  thirty-four  in  number;  given  on  page 
139  of  Mr.  Gulland's  book  (First  Edition),  will  show 
what  a  variety  of  colours  are  to  be  met  with  in  this 
interesting  division  of  porcelain. 

We  must  really  again  quote  M.  Paleologue,  who  is  so 
in  love  with  his  subject  that  he  would  make  an  enthusiast 
of  almost  any  one.  He  says  of  these  celadons  :— 

'  Les  celadons  dits  "  bleu  de  ciel  apres  la  pluie,"  en  souvenir  des 
porcelaines,  de  Che-tsong  dont  ils  etaient  1'imitation,  nous  offrent  les 
plus  delicats  specimens  de  ce  genre.  Mais  les  celadons  ornes  de 
dessins  graves  ou  imprimes  en  relief  dans  la  pate  du  fond  sont  encore 
plus  seduisants  peut-etre  par  les  effets  de  modele  et  de  coloration 
que  realise  la  couverte  accumulee  sur  le  decor  :  la  fluidite  des  teintes. 
la  sorte  d'ombre  dont  elles  s'enveloppent  par  places  n'ont  jamais  pu 
etre  reproduces  dans  les  porcelaines  de  fabrication  europeenne. 
Notons  enfin,  dans  le  mcme  groupe  ceramique  les  celadons  bleu 
empois  dont  la  couverte,  preparee  an  cobalt,  a  un  aspect  lumineux, 
semi-translucide.' 

Che-tsong  named  above  is  Shih  Tsung,  or  Chia  Ching. 

'  Celadon  porcelain  is  manufactured  by  applying  the  green  glaze  to 
the  ware  before  it  has  been  fired  at  all  ;  by  this  means,  the  peculiar 
depth  of  surface  is  given  to  it,  the  burning  process  thoroughly 
incorporating  the  glaze  into  the  body.' 

The  spotted  celadons  which  were  the  rage  in  France  in 
the  eighteenth  century  were  also  the  products  of  this 
period. 

There  were  some  beautiful  specimens  of  flambes  at  this 
time :  one  is  described  as  resembling  precious  stones 
blended  together ;  but  it  is  in  the  next  period  that  these 
works  were  the  most  finished. 

During  K'ang  Hsi's  reign  crackled  china  was  brought 
to  perfection.  (See  page  565  also) : — 

'  Perhaps  the  most  characteristic  ware  produced  by  the  Chinese 
potters  is  the  crackled.  Many  varieties  of  this  ware  exist,  but  they  are 
all  produced  by  the  same  means,  namely,  the  unequal  contraction  of 
the  glaze  and  the  body.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  first  crackled 
piece  was  the  result  of  an  accident,  or  what  might  as  properly  be 

571 


Things  Chinese 

called  a  blunder  ;  the  glaze  had  not  been  of  the  usual  quality,  and  in 
cooling,  contracted  so  much  more  than  the  body,  that  it  split  into  a 
thousand  pieces.' 

'The  crackle  glaze  is  highly  esteemed  by  the  Chinese,  and  in 
their  hands  has  been  made  in  many  varieties  quite  decorative.  There 
is  a  style  of  large  crackle  with  the  intervening  space  filled  with  a  fine 
crackle,  the  fine  cracks  never  passing  beyond  the  enclosing  lines  of 
the  coarse.  There  are  other  specimens  with  zones  of  fine  crackle, 
with  intervening  spaces  without  crackle,  ornamented  with  markings 
to  suit  the  fancy  of  the  artist.  But  one  of  the  most  decorative  crackles 
is  produced  by  making  the  fissures  of  the  first  glaze  as  wide  as 
possible,  and  then  rubbing  colouring  matter  into  the  interstices  ;  the 
piece  being  again  fired  to  fix  these  colours,  after  which  a  smooth 
transparent  enamel  is  applied  over  all,  often  giving  the  piece  the 
appearance  of  mosaic  work.' 

Amongst  other  noteworthy  productions  of  this  epoch 
are  to  be  named  the  tsang,  the  enamel  of  which  was 
serpent  green,  gold  yellow,  pale  yellow,  violet  or  light 
green  ;  and  this  variety  took  all  the  colours  of  bronze. 

A  very  curious  coloration  is  produced  on  vases  by  the 
workman  blowing  the  colouring,  '  after  the  base  colour ' 
was  applied,  which  was  matter  '  usually  of  a  reddish 
brown '  colour,  '  through  a  piece  of  gauze  fastened  at  the 
end  of  a  tube  of  bamboo.'  '  This  metallic  colouring  strikes 
in  a  spray,  and,  after  firing,  the  specimen  has  a  fine 
metallic  lustre  not  very  unlike  what  is  known  as  gold 
stone.'  Some  vases  have  been  subjected  to  this  mode 
of  treatment  more  than  once,  receiving  a  miniature  shower 
of  different  coloured  rain.  This  kind  of  decoration  is 
known  by  the  name  of  souffle,  and  the  finest  of  it  was 
produced  during  the  Kang  Hsi  period. 

Quite  a  variety  of  these  decorations  were  produced, 
one  of  which  at  least  is  very  beautiful.  By  some  means 
the  colouring  material  was  '  blown  from  the  tube '  and 
lighted  '  upon  the  piece  in  small  bubbles,  some  remaining 
as  such,  while  most  of  them '  broke  and  formed  '  rings, 
many  of  the  rings,  in  turn,'  broke  '  at  their  lower  side, 
the  colours  running  a  little,  often  giving  a  beautiful  agate 
appearance,  in  fact,  such  pieces  are  called  agate  specimens. 
Souffl6  porcelain  was  also  made  in  the  Ch'ien  Lung  period, 
but  not  of  so  fine  a  quality '  as  that  just  described. 

572 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

'The  best  blacks  were  made  in  the  reign  of  Kang  Hsi,  and  with 
their  fine  enamel  some  specimens  are  quite  beautiful  ;  the  black  is 
produced  by  uranium  oxide.  Plain  reds  were  not  much  used,  it  seems, 
during  the  time  of  Kang  Hsi,  but  a  lovely  tint  was  employed  in  con- 
nection with  other  colours  in  the  decorations.  .  .  What  is  known  as 
the  five-coloured  decoration,  was  introduced  during  the  Ming  dynasty, 
but  brought  to  its  greatest  degree  of  perfection  during  the  time  of 
Kang  Hsi.  The  five  colours  are  red,  yellow,  green,  blue,  and  black. 
These  are  all  produced  from  metallic  oxides  or  minerals  ;  no  other 
colouring  matter  will  stand  the  high  degree  of  heat  required  to  produce 
underglaze  decoration.  In  using  these  colours  in  combination  it 
required  a  great  amount  of  experience  and  manipulative  skill,  and  so 
the  range  of  colours  must  necessarily  be  limited,  for  all  material  used 
must  be  of  a  character  to  fuse,  on  the  one  hand,  before  the  fusing  point 
of  the  paste,  and,  on  the  other,  not  evaporate  and  spoil  the  shade 
required,  while  enduring  the  heat  necessary  for  the  underglaze  firing  ; 
and  then  again,  some  colours  are  much  more  refractory  than  others  ; 
no  two  fuse  at  the  same  temperature.  Therefore  the  most  refractory 
colours  must  in  all  cases  be  applied  first,  then  the  piece  fired  to  the 
fusing  point  of  this  colour  ;  then,  for  the  shading  of  this  colour,  more 
must  be  added  to  points  requiring  the  heavy  shades,  and  fused  again 
until  this  colour  and  its  tints  are  satisfactory  ;  then  the  next  refractory 
colour  is  applied  in  the  same  manner,  fired  to  the  fusing  point,  and  so 
on  until  the  last  and  most  easily  fusible  colour  has  been  applied, 
whereupon  over  all  an  enamel  is  fused  which  is  less  refractory  than 
any  colour.  The  fine  specimens  of  the  five  colours  have  probably 
been  fired  from  fifteen  to  twenty  times.  Then  if  the  piece  comes  out 
at  the  last  finished,  without  break,  crack,  warp,  or  the  colours  having 
run,  and  possessing  all  the  brilliancy  and  shading  desired,  the  piece 
is  valuable  ;  many  are  spoiled  during  this  fiery  ordeal.  With  very 
limited  exceptions,  the  finest  artists  that  ever  existed  in  China  lived 
during  the  K'ang  Hsi  period.'  During  this  '  time  Chinese  porcelain 
was  brought  to  its  highest  degree  of  perfection  and  artistic  beauty, 
with  perhaps  the  exception  of  the  beautiful  Ming  greens.  The 
exquisite  sang-de-bceuf  when  perfect  is  of  great  beauty.  To  describe 
its  brilliancy  would  be  most  difficult,  yet,  if  attempted,  one  might  say, 
take  a  plain,  undecorated  porcelain  vase  and  immerse  it  in  the  freshest 
arterial  blood,  and,  while  dripping,  fix  the  colour  with  a  deep  trans- 
parent enamel.  While  one  piece  is  nearly  perfect,  a  thousand  are 
more  or  less  spoiled  in  the  firing.  They  come  out  of  the  kiln  from 
the  beautiful  colour  above  described  to  a  much  darker  red,  often 
badly  blotched  ;  from  the  latter  they  run  through  all  the  shades  until 
lost  in  an  ash  colour  tinged  with  only  the  slightest  blush  of  red. 
There  is  a  beautiful  blue  which  seems  engraved  into  a  creamy  paste 
over  which  a  liquid  enamel  is  fixed,  the  enamel  often  being  crackled, 
and  also  an  exquisite  white  described  as  having  the  appearance  of 
congealed  fat.  Perhaps  with  these  exceptions,  no  Ming  porcelain  or 
decorations  equal,  in  quality  of  paste,  beauty  of  form,  purity  of  enamel, 
brilliancy  and  happy  combination  of  colours,  and  high  artistic 
decorative  skill,  the  porcelain  made  during  the  reign  of  K'ang  Hsi.' 

'With  the  exception  of  the  beautiful  blue  and  the  creamy  tinted 
white  (often  crackled),  which  belong  to  the  Ming  dynasty — these 
specimens  are  often  rare — all  other  fine  old  blue  and  white  china 

573 


Things  Chinese 

belongs  to  the  K'ang  Hsi  period,  often  inaccurately  marked  Ming  in 
Chinese  characters  on  the  bottom.  Many  of  the  specimens  are 
very  beautiful  ;  they  have  a  clear  white  ground  and  brilliant  blue 
ornamentation,  and  have  this  virtue,  that  in  whatever  light,  and  from 
whatever  distance  the  colour  of  the  piece  is  seen,  it  is  always  blue. 
These  blues  are  formed  from  cobalt  oxide.  All  the  fine  yellow  with 
a  deep  transparent  enamel  which  lights  up  with  a  delightful  brilliancy, 
was  also  made  in  the  K'ang  Hsi  period  ;  these  are  often  decorated  with 
a  lively  green,  usually  with  a  dragon,'  a  lion,  'or  some  mythical 
creature.'  'Yellow  is  the  present  Imperial  colour.  The  turquoise 
variety  was  probably  first  made  during  this  reign,  and  is  among  the 
most  highly  prized.  The  colour  is  derived  from  a  copper  oxide,  and 
like  the  sang-de-bceuf  of  the  Mings,  it  seems  to  have  been  somewhat 
incorporated  with  the  glaze,  which  is  translucent,  and,  if  it  can  be 
properly  expressed  in  words,  would  appear  as  though  you  were 
looking  into  a  depth  of  brilliant  colour  ;  when  pure  it  is  very  beautiful, 
and  has  the  property  of  retaining  its  character  in  artificial  light. 
Green  was  the  Imperial  colour  of  the  Mings,  and  was  brought  to  a 
fair  degree  of  perfection,  having  a  jade-like  brilliancy  ;  in  fact  real 
jade  was  reduced  to  a  fine  powder  and  incorporated  with  ordinary 
colouring  material,  chromic  oxide,  so  that  in  firing,  a  good  jade  green 
was  the  result.  These  fine  greens  were  well  preserved,  but  very  much 
improved  upon  in  true  jade  brilliancy  during  the  K'ang  Hsi  period. 
The  plain  green  of  the  Mings  called  truitc  is  highly  prized.' 

'Towards  the  end  of  the  reign  of  K'ang  Hsi  a  new  style  of  decora- 
tion appears  in  the  "famille  rose"  distinguished  by  a  totally  different 
tone  of  colouring,  with  its  prevailing  half  tints  and  broken  colours, 
including  pink  and  ruby  enamel  derived  from  gold.' 

This  kind  of  porcelain  attained  its  highest  excellence 
during  the  following  reign,  that  of  Yung  Cheng. 

The  sixth  epoch  is  that  of  Yung  Cheng  and  Ch'ien 
Lung,  A.D.  1723  to  A.D.  1796.  The  commencement  of  the 
period  marked  a  new  era  in  ceramic  art,  and  the  modern 
school  may  be  said  to  have  then  begun.  The  artists  of 
the  modern  school  as  regards  the  processes  and  technical 
skill  are  the  equals  of  their  predecessors,  '  in  some  points 
they  are  even  superior  to  them,'  as  for  example  in  the 
egg-shell  china  produced  by  them  ;  but  at  the  same  time 
there  are  distinguishable  the  causes  which  resulted  in  the 
decadence  of  the  Chinese  porcelain  later  on,  for  the 
ornament  is  overdone,  the  tendency  being  to  cover  the 
whole  surface  with  arabesques,  branches,  and  foliage. 

During  Yung  Cheng's  reign,  a  period  of  thirteen  years, 
'  the  ceramic  art  declined,  and  very  little  fine  work  was 
done.'  Yet  what  was  done  is  of  interest.  There  is  a  fine 

574 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

egg-shell  specimen,  very  thin,  often  decorated.  Some 
pieces  were  of  the  colour  of  an  egg,  and  as  shining  as 
silver.  Others  were  imitations  of  the  ancient  wares, 
especially  the  five-coloured  Ming,  true  to  the  colour  of 
the  porcelain,  which  is  of  a  greyish  white,  but  rather  coarse 
in  appearance,  instead  of  a  clear  white,  like  the  K'ang  Hsi 
work.  The  colours  used  and  the  style  of  decoration  are 
so  exact  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  detect  the  difference, 
were  it  not,  perhaps,  for  the  introduction  of  certain  fruits, 
the  peach  and  pomegranate,  for  instance,  and  the  peculiar 
modified  shapes  of  at  least  the  beakers. 

'  The  "  hawthorn  pattern  " — really  the  "  prunus,"  which 
produces  its  blossoms  before  its  leaves — is  to  be  met  with 
bearing  very  early  date-marks  ;  but  it  is  now  generally 
held  that  none  are  genuine  previous  to  Yung  Cheng  (1723- 
1736),  "and  the  finest  and  most  prized  examples  were 
probably  made  about  this  date." ' 

In  Ch'ien  Lung's  reign  many  varieties  of  china  were 
produced,  but  '  the  principal  types  may  be  ranged  into 
four  classes ' : — the  rose  porcelain,  egg-shell,  flambe,  and 
that  for  exportation.  We  have  already  mentioned  the  first 
under  the  reigns  of  K'ang  Hsi  and  Yung  Cheng ;  the  egg- 
shell porcelain  which  reached  its  perfection  about  A.D.  1732 
was  a  most  delicate  production  ;  the  flambe  porcelain 
presents  the  appearance  of  a  play  of  colours  and,  as  we 
have  already  said,  of  precious  stones  fused  together ; 
currents  of  air  were  rapidly  directed  on  the  vase  while  it 
was  in  the  fire  ;  the  Chinese  have  taken  their  inspiration 
as  colourists  of  porcelain  from  nature,  whenever  rich  tones 
or  a  play  of  colours  presented  themselves  ;  the  porcelain 
for  exportation  consists  of  several  varieties,  such  as 
Mandarin  porcelain,  where  these  functionaries  figure  as 
the  decorations.  This  porcelain  is  sent  to  Europe,  and  is 
very  inferior  in  character.  There  is  also  porcelain  with 
Persian  designs,  for  the  Persian  market ;  and  Chinese 
porcelain,  exported  and  decorated  in  Europe. 

During  the  reign  of  Ch'ien  Lung  (A.D.  1736-1796)  'the  ceramic 
art  was  brought  nearly  to  the  perfection  it  was  left  in  by  K'ang  Hsi  ; 

575 


Things  Chinese 

yet  altogether  it  fell  a  little  short.  However,  one  artist,  named  T'ang, 
decorating  in  the  five  colours,  surpassed  all  others,  before  or  since,  in 
his  wonderful  skill  in  drawing  flowers  and  fruit.  He  represented 
fruit  in  all  stages  ;  sometimes  the  skin  of  the  ripe  grape  or  peach  was 
broken,  the  juice  running  on  to  the  stand  or  table  on  which  it  was 
lying  ;  even  a  broken  bit  of  this  porcelain  is  of  value,  while  a  perfect 
specimen  brings  a  large  price.'  The  Ch'ien  Lung  as  a  whole  is  a  little 
below  the  K'ang  Hsi  'in  quality  and  decoration.  There  is,  however, 
a  great  variety  of  plain  reds  called  dragon's  blood  ;  many  are  fine 
specimens,  but  not  equal  to  the  sang-de-bceuf  of  the  Mings,  though 
perhaps  better  than  any  K'ang  Hsi  red.  Also  a  good  turquoise  was 
made,  but  inferior  to  the  brilliant  K'ang  Hsi  specimens,  and  a  very  large 
variety  of  flambes.  Probably  this  flambe  was  at  first  an  accident 
caused  by  one  colour  running  into  another;  evidently  the  cue  was 
taken  from  the  accident,  and  a  high  degree  of  ornamentation  followed. 
One  of  the  most  charming  effects,  perhaps,  is  produced  by  streaks  of 
whitish  blue  running  down  over  a  dragon's  blood  red,  giving  one 
something  of  the  sensation  of  delightful  minor  music.  The  other 
coloured  enamels  are  almost  countless,  an  endless  variety  being 
obtained  by  admixture  of  different  tints,  by  dusting,  sprinkling,  and 
splashing.  These  enamels  appear  to  be  laid  upon  the  porcelain  while 
it  is  in  a  biscuit  state,  and  fused  at  a  great  heat  ;  the  firing  does 
really  the  artist's  duty  in  works  of  this  class,  changing  the  tints,  com- 
bining and  running  them  over  into  one  another  in  the  most  fantastic 
manner.  It  seems  every  attempt  was  made  in  mixing  colours  to 
produce  new  tints  ;  even  new  colours  were  discovered  among  them, 
violet  and  pink.  It  is  probable  that  the  endeavour  to  get  a  greater 
variety  of  tints  by  mixing  colours  was  one  reason  of  the  Ch'ien  Lung 
decoration  falling  short  in  brilliancy  of  the  simple  colour  decoration 
of  K'ang  Hsi.' 

The  seventh  epoch  is  the  present  period  commencing 
with  A.D.  1796.  It  has  seen  no  progress,  but  is  rather  a 
period  of  decadence,  partly  due  to  the  excessive  demand 
for  Chinese  porcelain  of  any  style  or  character  in  the  West, 
and  also  as  well  to  the  diminution  of  artistic  judgment  in 
China. 

The  marks  on  Chinese  porcelain  chiefly  consist  of  a 
date,  or  rather  the  name  of  the  reign  of  an  Emperor,  or 
that  of  a  dynasty,  or  both  combined.  The  workman's 
name  does  not  appear,  as  '  in  China  every  piece  passes 
through  the  hands  of  a  number  of  workmen,  each  contri- 
buting his  fraction  to  the  decoration.  All  these  decorators 
being  other  than  the  potter  who  turned  the  vase,  and  the 
workman  who  glazed  it,  no  single  specimen  could  be 
marked  as  the  work  of  one  man.' 

With  the  Chinese  collector,  age  is  the  first  requisite,  and 

576 


Porcelain  and  Pottery 

beauty  is  a  secondary  consideration.  It  is  amusing  to  hear 
the  laughter  from  a  Chinese  crowd  round  a  stall  when  the 
Chinese  stall-keeper  offers  an  ugly  ginger  jar  of  a  hideous 
glaring  yellow,  with  the  recommendation  of  its  age,  and 
the  European  despises  it  for  its  ugliness. 

The  following  epitomised  account  of  some  of  the 
principal  points  of  interest  with  regard  to  porcelain  is 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Edkins : — 

The  history  of  Chinese  porcelain  goes  back  to  the  year  B.C.  189, 
as  to  the  farthest  limit ;  but  it  is  best  to  say  it  dates  from  B.C.  185  to 
A.D.  87,  and  the  locality  was  Hwai  Ning  Hien  in  Honan,  an  arrondisse- 
ment  enclosed  within  the  walls  of  the  prefectural  city  Ch'en  Chow. 
This  place  is  nearly  one  hundred  English  miles  south-south-east  of 
Kai-fong-fu.  Here  the  first  porcelain  was  made,  while  in  Europe  it 
was  in  A.D.  1706  that  hard  porcelain  was  first  made  in  Germany. 
The  Portuguese  had  in  A.D.  1518  brought  Chinese  porcelain  to 
Europe,  for  they  had  then  begun  trading  to  China.  In  1695  soft 
porcelain  was  first  made  in  France,  and  in  1768  or  1770  the  manu- 
facture of  hard  porcelain  was  begun  at  Sevres,  near  Paris.  Stanislas 
Julien  in  his  '  Translation  of  a  Chinese  History  of  Porcelain '  gives  these 
facts  from  Brongmart's  'Traites  des  Arts  Ce"ramiques.'  He  also  ob- 
serves that  the  discovery  of  a  mode  of  manufacturing  porcelain  by 
the  Chinese  preceded  that  of  Europe  by  about  1600  years.  During 
the  Han  dynasty  the  progress  of  the  ceramic  art  in  China  was  slow, 
but  it  reappeared  in  the  Wei  period,  A.D.  220  to  264,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Si-an-fu  in  Shensi  and  at  Lo-yang  in  Honan.  The  residence 
of  the  court  in  those  cities  promoted  the  advance  of  the  art  at  that 
time.  A  little  later  the  blue  porcelain  of  Wen-chow,  south  of  Ning- 
po,  was  held  in  high  estimation.  This  was  in  the  Tsin  dynasty,  which 
reigned  A.D.  265  to  419.  The  manufacture  at  King-te-chen  in  Kiangsi 
began  about  A.D.  583,  in  the  Ch'en  dynasty,  when  Nanking  was  the 
capital  for  South  China,  while  Loyang  was  the  Northern  metropolis, 
and  was  held  by  Tartar  chiefs,  who  called  their  dynasty  the  Wei. 
The  old  glass-ware  of  China  called  lieu-li,  a  Sanscrit  word  introduced 
by  the  Buddhists,  must  indicate  that  Indian  workmen  came  with  the 
Buddhist  priests. 

Books  recommended.. — 'Ancient  Porcelain  :  A  Study  in  Chinese  Mediaeval 
Industry  and  Trade,'  by  Prof.  F.  Hirth,  Ph.D.  An  article  on  'Chinese 
Porcelain  before  the  Present  Dynasty,'  by  S.  W.  Bushell,  M.D.  '  L'Art 
Chinois,'  by  M.  Paleologue.  'An  Essay  on  Chinese  Porcelain,'  by  G.  0. 
Rogers,  D. D.S.  'Chinese  Porcelain,'  by  W.  G.  Gulland.  This  book  is 
finely  illustrated  with  485  illustrations.  We  are  indebted  to  all  of  these  in 
the  above  article  For  a  popular  magazine  article,  see  Harper's  Magazine 
for  April  1885  ;  the  paper  is  entitled,  '  A  Collection  of  Chinese  Porcelain,'  by 
R.  Riordan,  with  illustrations.  '  One  of  the  most  expensive  books  ever  pro- 
duced in  America,  and  perhaps  in  the  whole  world,  is  a  volume  on  Oriental 
Ceramic  Art.  The  price  of  the  work  is  £100,  and  the  issue  is  limited  to  500 
copies.  But  £50,000  will  barely  cover  the  cost  of  publication.  Mr.  Louis 
Prang,  of  Boston,  alone  had  courage  to  tackle  the  job,  which  it  has  taken  him 
seven  years  to  accomplish.  The  result  is  said  to  be  a  triumph  of  skill  and 

577  2__o 


Things  Chinese 

patience,  many  of  the  plates  having  passed  forty-four  times  through  the  press.' 
Dr.  S.  \V.  Bushell,  late  'physician  to  the  British  Embassy  at  Peking," 
supplied  '  the  text,  which  is  virtually  a  complete  history  of  Chinese 
porcelain,  and  to  his  judgment  and  zeal  Mr.  Walters,  from  whose 
collection  the  specimens  illustrated  are  taken,  owes  many  of  his  finest 
specimens.' 

POSTS. — There  was  no  Post  Office  department  in  the 
Chinese  Government  similar  to  our  General  Post  Office 
and. its  branches.  The  Government  sent  its  despatches  by 
means  of  couriers,  who  were  under  a  department  of  the 
Board  of  War,  and  for  whom  relays  of  horses  wdre  pro- 
vided ;  the  greatest  speed  attained  by  these  Government 
couriers  was  200  miles  a  day.  This  courier  service  was 
simply  for  governmental  purposes  ;  the  common  people 
did  not  share  in  its  advantages  and  convenience.  Com- 
mercial enterprise  provided  for  the  general  community  a 
system  of  local  posts  '  entirely  independent  of  the  State.' 
In  most  places,  of  any  importance,  letters  were  received  by 
certain  shops  or  agencies  (private  postal  agencies),  and  on 
payment  of  a  sum,  its  amount  being  contingent  on  the 
distance  the  letter,  or  parcel  of  silver,  had  to  be  carried,  it 
would  probably  have  a  good  chance  of  reaching  its  des- 
tination. To  better  secure  this  result,  it  was  sometimes 
customary  to  write  on  the  envelope  that  a  certain  further 
sum  would  be  paid  to  the  postman  on  delivery,  who  had 
thus  an  incentive  to  try  and  find  the  addressee.  The 
postage  from  Hongkong  to  Canton  was  twenty  cash  (2 
cents),  but  from  Hongkong  to  Fatshan,  which  is  about 
twelve  miles  further  than  Canton,  it  was  double  that 
amount,  viz.,  forty  cash  ;  this  was  one  of  the  advantages 
— a  cheapening  of  the  postal  rates — which  would  have 
resulted  from  foreigners  being  allowed  to  run  steamers  on 
all  the  inner  waters  of  the  Chinese  Empire;  for  there  are 
regular  lines  of  American  river  steamers  running  between 
Hongkong  and  Canton.  There  are  also  steamers  of  the 
same  kind  running  on  the  Yangtsz  between  Shanghai 
and  the  Riverine  Ports. 

Sir  Robert  Hart,  the  Inspector-General  of  the  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs,  established  a  postal  system  between 

573 


P6-tsz,  and  other  Games  of  Chance 

Peking  and  Shanghai,  etc.,  which  was  of  great  benefit,  not 
only  to  the  Custom  service,  but  to  the  foreign  mercantile 
community.  When  the  northern  ports  were  ice-bound,  a 
courier  carried  the  letters  ;  and  a  series  of  postage  stamps 
were  in  use,  of  different  denominations,  such  as  one,  two, 
and  five  candarins,  having  a  dragon  in  the  centre.  We 
wrote  some  few  years  since  that  '  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
will  be  the  nucleus  from  which  shall  expand  a  general 
postage  system  for  the  whole  of  China.' 

This  has  fortunately  now  been  taken  in  hand,  and 
an  Imperial  Postal  Service  has  been  instituted  by  Sir 
Robert  Hart  with  Europeans  at  the  head  of  it,  which 
will  doubtless  in  time  be  extended  to  the  whole  of  this 
vast  empire,  even  to  its  remotest  corners.  '  The  Chinese 
Imperial  Post  Office  was  opened  on  2nd  February  1897.' 
It  is,  however,  not  paying  its  way,  but  is  carried  on  at  a 
loss.  The  rates  of  postage  with  the  Chinese  Imperial 
Post  Office  are  remarkably  low,  viz.  at  Swatow  '  i  cent  per 
£  oz.  on  letters  to  and  from  places  in  China,'  and  local 
letters  £  cent  per  |  oz.,  and  to  Hongkong  4  cents  per  £  oz. 
It  is  stated  to  be  the  cheapest  existing  in  any  part  of  the 
world.  Four  cents  are  taken  for  postal  purposes,  as  the 
equivalent  of  an  English  penny,  therefore  I  cent  is  a 
farthing,  and  \  cent  is  a  half  farthing.  Different  issues 
of  postage  stamps,  etc.,  have  appeared  during  the  last 
few  years,  some  of  which  are  now  rare  and  consequently 
expensive,  and  the  ardent  philatelist  has  all  the  varieties 
of  surcharges,  etc.,  to  delight  himself  with. 

Book  recommended. — A  short  article  in  the  Cornhill  Magazine,  republished 
in  The  China  Mail  of  the  20th  August  1891. 

PO-TSZ,  AND  OTHER  GAMES  OF  CHANCE.— 
P6-tsz  is  only  one  of  the  many  games  of  chance  with  which 
the  Chinese  are  familiar :  it  is  more  a  Hakka  game  than 
Cantonese,  though  Cantonese  play  it.  For  this  game  cards 
and  dominoes  are  used  like  checks  for  umbrellas  at  public 
places  of  entertainment  in  England,  one  being  handed  to 
the  gambler  and  one  being  kept  by  the  holder  of  the 

579 


Things  Chinese 

gambling  stall.  These  are  placed  with  the  gamblers' 
counters  and  serve  to  identify  them  as  theirs ;  for 
counters  are  also  used,  viz.,  a  large  cash,  a  white,  and  a 
black,  porcelain  counter  or  bead,  draftsmen  (like  Chinese 
chessmen)  with  the  amounts  they  stand  for  cut  in  them. 
The  amounts  represented  by  these  may,  for  example,  be 
as  follows — the  cash  =  ten  cents,  white  bead  =  Si,  black- 
do.  =$5,  and  the  rest  =  $io  and  so  on,  and  stakes  are  made. 
The  materials  for  playing  po-tsz  consist  of  two  hollow 
cubes  of  brass,  the  one  smaller  than  the  other,  and  fitting 
one  into  the  other,  and  a  cube  of  black  wood,  which  fits 
into  the  smaller  brass  cube,  but  does  not  quite  reach  up 
to  the  open  top  of  it,  so  that  often  a  piece  of  metal  is 
placed  below  it  to  raise  it,  though  this  is  not  always 
done.  On  each  surface  of  the  cube  of  wood  are  two 
characters,  cut  into  the  wood  and  coloured  white  and 
red  respectively,  the  characters  are  generally  t'ung  and  po, 
which  are  two  of  the  characters  on  a  Chinese  cash,  as 
these  coins  were  first  used  to  play  po-tsz.  The  first 
character  (t'ung)  is  white,  and  the  second  (po)  red  ;  white 
wins,  and  red  loses.  There  is  a  board  or  table  with  one, 
two,  three,  and  four  written  on  each  side,  or  they  are  often 
not  written  on  the  board,  as  one  is  always  near  the  holder 
of  the  stall,  two  at  his  right  hand,  three  opposite  him,  and 
four  at  his  left  hand.  The  cube  of  wood  is  put  in  the 
smaller  hollow  cube  of  brass  which  is  open  at  one  side  for 
this  reason,  and  then  the  smaller  brass  cube  has  the  larger 
cube  put  over  it  as  a  cover,  one  side  of  this  larger  cube 
being  also  left  open  for  that  purpose.  The  owner  of  the 
gambling  stall  puts  all  these  things  together  unseen  by  the 
players,  and  then  spins  them  round.  Any  of  the  players 
is  also  at  liberty  to  do  the  same  after  he  has  done  so. 
The  cube  must  stop  plumb  square  with  the  sides  of  the 
board  or  table,  and  must  be  spun  until  it  has  done  so. 
Then  the  cube  is  lifted  off,  and  whatever  number  on  the 
board  the  white  character  is  next  wins,  red  loses.  The 
cube  of  wood  is  occasionally  turned  round  inside  the 
smaller  brass  cube  for  luck,  and  after  the  holder  of  the 

580 


P6-tsz,  and  other  Games  of  Chance 

stall  has  done  so,  the  others  may  look  at  it  and  change  it 
themselves  as  well.  False  cubes  with  loadstone  in  the 
wood,  and  iron  in  the  larger  cube  are  made,  and  a  con- 
federate, when  lifting  the  cover  off  after  the  spin,  is  able  to 
attract  the  wood  in  the  small  cube  round  to  a  more  favour- 
able side,  the  crowd  being  hoodwinked,  or  prevented  from 
seeing  what  is  going  on,  by  the  confederates.  The  stakes 
on  the  white  side  of  the  metal,  of  course,  win. 

FAN-T'AN  is  more  widely  known  by  the  European 
resident  in  China.  Stakes  are  laid  on  the  number  of  cash 
that  will  be  left,  whether  one,  two,  or  three,  after  raking 
out,  four  at  a  time,  a  number  of  cash  from  under  and 
round  an  upturned  bowl. 

The  WAI  SING  LOTTERY. — Another  well-known  form 
of  gambling  is  the  Waf  Sing  Lottery,  which  is  based  on 
the  Government  Civil  Service  Examinations.  Some  time 
before  the  examination,  the  monopolist,  who  runs  the 
lottery,  finds  out  the  surnames  of  the  candidates  of  a 
certain  district,  and  the  players  select  twenty  names  on 
which  to  stake,  having  previously  endeavoured  to  find 
out  for  their  own  guidance  the  capabilities  of  the  can- 
didates. Having  made  their  selection,  they  send  in  the 
names  and  receive  a  receipt  or  ticket.  These  tickets  are 
differently  priced,  but  a  book  with  half-dollar  tickets 
amounts  to  8500,  as  each  book  contains  a  thousand  tickets. 
Of  this  money,  $50  goes  to  the  monopolist  for  expenses, 
leaving  three  prizes  of  $300,  $100,  and  $50  respectively, 
subject  to  be  reduced  by  a  ten  per  cent,  commission  and 
a  further  deduction  of  a  considerable  amount  for  the 
expenses  of  printing  the  books  and  distributing  the 
prizes.  The  winners  are,  of  course,  those  who  have 
the  highest  number  of  names  of  successful  candidates 
on  their  tickets.  A  perusal  of  our  article  on  Examina- 
tions will  show  that,  from  the  limited  number  allowed  to 
pass  at  an  examination,  the  element  of  chance  must  enter 
very  largely  into  this  lottery,  and  this,  notwithstanding  the 
efforts  to  obtain  some  idea  of  the  attainments  and  capabili- 
ties of  the  candidates. 

581 


Things  Chinese 

PAK  K6P  Piu  is  the  name  of  another  well-known 
lottery.  Eighty  characters  (words)  at  the  beginning  of 
'  The  Thousand  Character  Classic '  are  printed  on  a  fly- 
leaf— the  characters  in  this  book  are  largely  used  by  the 
Chinese  as  numbers,  or  as  we  might  use  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet  in  English  to  distinguish  objects.  No  two 
characters  in  the  book  are  alike — and  twenty  of  them  are 
winning  numbers.  A  ticket  to  cover  ten  characters  may 
cost  four  cash,  and,  if  less  than  five  characters  are  winning 
numbers,  the  gambler  loses  his  four  cash,  while,  if  he  has 
five  winning  characters,  he  makes  a  profit  of  a  cash  or  so ; 
each  additional  winning  character  adds  immensely  to  his 
gains  till  they  culminate  in  ten  taels,  should  all  his 
characters  be  winning  numbers. 

The  Tsz-FA  LOTTERY  has,  in  place  of  numbers,  the 
names  of  thirty-six  ancient  Chinese  celebrities;  the  prices  for 
a  name  running  from  one  cash  upwards.  The  prizes  of  the 
winning  names  amount  to  thirty  times  the  prices  paid  for 
them.  Rhyming  themes  are  issued  which  disclose  in  an 
enigmatical  manner,  to  those  who  may  be  able  to  make 
a  lucky  guess,  the  winning  name.  Women,  however, 
trust  often  to  dreams  to  guide  them  in  their  selection  ; 
but  the  men  rely  on  their  knowledge  of  history  and  the 
incidents  in  the  life  of  the  celebrities,  to  make  a  good 
selection. 

Another  very  common  gambling  amusement,  and  one 
often  seen  on  the  streets,  is  staking  on  the  number  of 
seeds  in  an  orange.  If  a  number  of  Chinese  are  seen 
surrounding  a  fruit  hawker's  stock  of  oranges  in  Hongkong, 
it  will  generally  be  found  that  this  form  of  gambling  is 
the  attraction.  Each  player  has  a  good  look  at  the 
orange,  a  loose-skinned  one,  and  makes  a  guess  at  the 
number  of  seeds  in  it,  staking  his  money  accordingly. 
After  all  have  staked,  the  fruit-dealer  skins  the  orange 
and  opens  each  division,  so  as  to  count  the  pips  carefully. 
The  one  that  guesses  right  wins  treble  the  amount  of  his 
stakes,  whilst  the  two  nearest  in  their  guesses  to  him  each 
win  double  theirs. 

582 


P6-tsz,  and  other  Games  of  Chance 

But  time  would  fail  to  enumerate  and  describe  all  the 
different  modes  of  gambling  resorted  to  on  street  stalls  ; 
some  known  in  the  West,  and  some  entirely  Chinese  or 
Oriental.  The  Chinaman  is  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit 
of  gambling,  He  is  brought  up  to  it  from  his  earliest  youth, 
by  first  venturing  a  cash  or  two  when  buying  a  '  sweety,' 
a  cake,  or  fruit  ;  the  women  spend  much  of  their  ignorant 
leisure  in  games  spiced  by  the  naughtiness  of  bets  and 
stakes  ;  while  the  coolies  amuse  their  unemployed 
moments  by  winning  or  losing  their  hard-earned  cash  on 
a  game  of  chance  ;  the  gambling  sheds  in  the  purlieus  of 
the  cities  are  always  swarming  with  votaries,  and  at  New 
Year  time  a  saturnalia  of  gambling  is  indulged  in  by  all, 
even  by  those  who  religiously  abstain  from  it  at  other 
times. 

Of  games  of  dice,  the  Chinese  have  several,  played  with 
different  numbers  of  dice  of  different  sizes.  The  spots 
on  them  range  from  one  to  six;  and  are  arranged  in  the 
same  way  as  on  European  dice  and  those  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome,  but  the  four  and  the  one  are  red  on 
the  Chinese  and  the  other  numbers  black.  The  dice  are 
thrown  generally  into  a  bowl,  which  is  sometimes  set 
into  a  casing  of  chunam,  inside  a  tin  box,  to  deaden  the 
sound. 

K6N  Mix  YOXG,  'driving  or  pursuing  sheep,'  is 
played  with  six  dice  and  by  any  number  of  players. 
Single  and  double  stakes  are  deposited  on  the  table,  and 
up  to  any  amount,  the  different  throws  of  the  dice 
deciding  whether  the  players  shall  win  or  lose  singles 
or  doubles. 

HAU  LUK  is  played  with  three  dice,  the  principle 
of  this  game  and  the  last  being  much  the  same  other- 
wise. 

CHAK  T'lN  KAU  is  played  with  two  dice.  'In  this 
game  the  twenty-one  throws  that  can  be  made  with  two 
dice  receive  different  names,  and  are  divided  into  two 
series  or  suits,  called  man  (mun)  "  civil  "  and  mo, 
"  military."  ' 

533 


Things  Chinese 

CHONG  YUN  CH'AI;. — Little  bundles  of  bamboo  tallies 
with  Chinese  characters  on  them  are  found  for  sale  in 
certain  shops,  and  these  are  employed  in  playing  this 
game.  The  word  ch'au  means  a  tally  and  Chong-yiin  is 
the  Optimus  at  the  Han-lin  Examination.  (See  Article  on 
Examinations.)  '  Two  or  more  persons  may  play,  using 
six  dice  and  sixty-three  bamboo  tallies,'  each  drawing 
the  tally,  or  tallies,  he  is  entitled  to  from  his  throw 
of  the  dice,  '  the  one  who  counts  highest  becomes  the 
winner.' 

The  SHING  K\VUN  T'6,  the  celebrated  game  of  '  The 
Table  of  the  Promotion  of  Officials '  is  another  famous 
game  which  '  is  played  by  two  or  more  persons  upon  a 
large  paper  diagram,  on  which  are  printed  the  titles  of 
the  different  officials  and  dignitaries  of  the  Chinese 
Government.  The  moves  are  made  by  throwing  dice, 
and  the  players,  whose  positions  upon  the  diagram  are 
indicated  by  notched  or  coloured  splints,  are  advanced 
or  set  back,  according  to  their  throws.' 

CHINESE  DOMINOES. — There  are  thirty-two  dominoes 
in  a  set,  there  are  duplicates  of  each  domino,  and  no 
blanks.  Several  games  are  played  with  dominoes  and 
dice  ;  they  seem  rather  complicated.  Shap-tsai,  P'ai'-Kaii, 
and  T'fn  Kau,  are  names  of  such  games. 

CHINESE  CARDS. — The  cards  used  for  playing  the 
game  of  Ch'd-kam  have  the  same  names  as  dominoes,  and 
have  the  same  number  of  spots  on  them.  They  are  long 
narrow  bits  of  pasteboard  about  the  size  of  a  small  finger. 
The  pack  contains  thirty-two  cards.  In  the  game  of 
Ngau-p'ai  the  pack  contains  thirty-six  cards,  and  the 
cards  are  '  about  two  inches  in  length  and  half  an  inch 
wide.'  It  is  said  to  be  a  very  ancient  game,  and  was  first 
played  by  cowherds,  hence  its  name  '  cow-cards '  ;  such, 
at  least,  is  the  Chinese  account  of  the  origin  of  the 
name. 

Books  recommended. — 'A  Book  on  Chinese  Games  of  Chance,'  by  Nc 
Kwai-shang.  '  Chinese  Games  with  Dice,'  by  Stewart  Culin,  a  paper  intended 
to  be  the  first  of  a  series  on  dominoes,  playing-cards,  and  chess. 

584 


Primitive  Man 

POTATO.  —  Our  common  Irish  potato  was  intro- 
duced into  China  by  the  Dutch,  whence  its  name  of  the 
'Holland  potato'  in  Chinese.  It  is  also  called  the 'little 
potato.'  It  is  largely  cultivated  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Macao  for  the  consumption  of  foreigners,  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence of  planting  them,  they  are  eaten  also  by  the 
natives  themselves.  Before  their  cultivation  there,  the 
staple  of  food  in  that  locality  was  half  and  half  of  rice  and 
sweet  potatoes. 

Sweet  potatoes,  as  their  name  in  Chinese  shows,  are  also 
a  foreign  introduction.  The  sweet  potato  is  quite  different 
from  our  potato.  It  is  longer  in  shape,  sweeter,  and  rather 
pleasant  in  flavour.  It  is  said  to  be  mealy  when  new.  It 
is  not  grown  from  seed,  but  a  cutting  of  the  creeper  is  stuck 
into  the  ground  two  or  three  inches  deep,  covered  up  with 
earth  for  a  foot  of  its  length,  the  rest  being  allowed  to  trail 
over  the  ridge  which  these  shoots  soon  cover  with  their 
leaves.  When  ripe,  one  or  two  are  dug  up  and  the  rest  of 
the  tubers  again  covered  up  till  ripe  and  wanted  later  on. 
A  sandy  soil  appears  to  suit  them  well. 

PRIMITIVE  MAN. — It  is  impossible  in  our  present 
state  of  knowledge  to  write  an  article  on  this  subject.  The 
whole  matter  is  at  present  uninvestigated  as  regards  China 
One  or  two  little  discoveries  have  been  made  which  show 
undoubtedly  that  relics  of  man  in  his  earlier  stages  of  want 
of  civilisation  are  to  be  found  in  China.  There  may  be 
some  faint  attempts  in  the  earlier  records  of  the  Chinese  to 
describe  man  in  his  original  condition,  but  it  is  impossible 
to  separate  out  any  grains  of  wheat  amidst  all  the  chaff  of 
myth  and  fable  of  these  early  stories.  The  Chinese  are 
very  fond  of  collecting  antiquities — ancient  bricks  even 
claim  their  attention,  and  when  once  they  are  put  on  the 
right  course  by  Western  scientists,  they  will  no  doubt  be 
able  to  add  to  our  knowledge  of  early  man,  and  even  some 
skull  to  rival  the  Neanderthal  may  yet  be  found  in  China 
or  rudimentary  attempts  at  drawing  be  discovered.  Mr. 
Baber  obtained  a  polished  stone  axehead  of  serpentine  and 

585 


Things  Chinese 

a  good  specimen  of  one  of  polished  flint  in  his  journey  of 
exploration  in  Western  Szchuan.  Yunnan  is  another 
province  where  celts  may  be  found.  A  writer  in  '  Notes 
and  Queries  on  China  and  Japan,'  also  mentions  having 
had  a  bronze  celt  brought  to  him. 

The  Chinese  still  retain  many  of  the  customs  associated 
with  the  remotest  antiquity,  amongst  which  may  be  cited 
the  '  adoration  of  stones  as  objects  of  worship  which  has 
been  a  prominent  feature  of  barbarian  religion,'  and  the 
universal  prevalence  of  ancestor  worship  in  the  '  all  under 
heaven,'  as  the  empire  is  called. 

PRINTING.— The  Chinese  Classics,  which  form  the 
foundation  of  a  great  portion  of  Chinese  literature,  also 
gave  the  first  hint  to  the  Chinese  for  printing.  They  were 
engraved  on  stone,  A.D.  177,  and  impressions  (or  possibly 
rubbings)  taken  from  them.  Printing  from  wooden  blocks, 
the  system  now  in  general  use  throughout  the  Empire,  was 
known  as  early  as  A.D.  581-618,  being  practised  during  the 
course  of  the  next  three  hundred  years  in  the  T'ang 
dynasty ;  and  was  adopted  by  Imperial  order  in  re- 
producing the  Classics  in  A.D.  952,  thus  anticipating 
Gutenberg  and  Caxton's  discovery  and  work  in  Europe 
by  five  centuries.  The  wood  used  for  the  '  blocks,'  as  they 
are  technically  called,  is  generally  that  of  the  pear  or  plum. 
It  is  cut  into  small  slabs  about  the  size  of  a  foolscap  sheet 
of  paper  and  about  the  thickness  of  an  inch  or  less.  These 
are  soaked  for  some  time  in  water.  The  book  to  be 
printed  is  written  out  most  carefully  by  a  good  writer  in  the 
square  form  of  the  character  employed  in  printing,  and  then 
pasted  face  downwards  on  the  block  ;  the  block-cutter  with 
his  wetted  finger  rubs  off  the  paper,  leaving  the  impression; 
he  then,  with  different  graving  instruments,  and  a  piece  of 
wood  to  act  as  a  mallet,  cuts  away,  to  the  depth  of  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  or  so,  all  the  surface  of  the  wood  which 
is  not  covered  by  the  writing,  thus  leaving  the  writing  in 
relief;  the  block  is  often  cut  on  the  under  surface  as  well, 
and  can  thus  be  used  to  print  on  both  sides.  Each  surface 

586 


Printing 

of  the  block  generally  contains  two  pages  of  the  Chinese 
book  to  be  printed.  This  done  the  block  is  delivered  to 
the  printer  who,  adjusting  it  on  a  table  in  front  of  him  with 
nails  and  pads  of  paper,  prepares  to  print.  Sitting  down 
in  front  of  the  block,  at  his  right  hand  is  a  board  with  a 
curiously  shaped  circular  brush  on  it,  the  handle  being  also 
round,  and  thick  enough  to  be  grasped  comfortably  by  the 
hand.  The  whole  brush  looks  something  like  a  bouquet  of 
flowers  turned  upside  down.  An  earthen  crock  with  liquid 
ink  is  next  to  the  ink-board,  and  a  small  brush,  something 
like  a  diminutive  circular  carpet  broom,  with  a  long  handle, 
lies  in  it.  Beyond  the  block  is  a  pile  of  paper  cut  into  the 
right  shape,  that  is,  a  little  larger  than  the  block.  Within 
convenient  reach  is  a  pad  made  of  coir,  perfectly  smooth 
on  the  surface  ;  the  brushes  are  likewise  made  of  the  same 
fibre.  These  then  are  the  printer's  primitive  materials. 
Ready  to  begin  work  he  takes  up  a  quantity  of  ink  on 
to  the  ink-board  with  the  small  brush ;  after  which  he 
works  this  ink  into  the  large  circular  brush,  and  then  rubs 
it  all  over  the  surface  of  the  block  ;  putting  down  the  brush, 
he  adroitly  takes  hold  of  the  two  nearest  corners  of  the 
topmost  sheet  of  paper,  lifting  it  by  the  thumb  and  fore- 
finger of  each  hand,  giving  it  a  jerk  at  the  same  time  in 
order  to  keep  it  from  falling  limp ;  judging  by  his  eye  how 
much  margin  to  leave,  he  lays  it  neatly  on  the  surface  of 
the  block,  and  lifting  the  pad  or  pressing  brush,  he  passes 
it  deftly  and  lightly  over  the  paper,  exerting  sufficient 
pressure  for  an  impression  to  be  taken.  Printers  get  to  be 
very  quick  at  this  work  ;  it  is  easily  learned.  A  good 
block-cutter  gets  a  dollar  per  thousand  characters  cut. 
After  about  sixteen  thousand  impressions  are  taken  off, 
the  blocks  get  somewhat  worn,  but  they  can  be  retouched, 
when  another  ten  thousand  can  be  printed  from  them.  It 
is  a  cheaper  mode  of  printing  a  few  small  books  than 
by  metallic  type,  as  the  initial  expense  is  slight  compared 
with  that  of  providing  founts  of  type  and  expensive 
presses ;  the  blocks  for  a  large  book  take  up  a  great 
deal  of  room  and  are  very  cumbersome  and  easily 

587 


Things  Chinese 

destroyed  by  insects.  There  is  a  softness  and  mellow- 
ness about  the  character  which  is  wanting  in  the  clear- 
cut  metallic  type. 

PROVERBS.— It  has  been  said  that  'a  Chinese 
proverb  is  something  almost,  if  not  utterly,  indefinable.  Of 
course  it  bears,  in  several  features,  a  strong  likeness  to 
other  branches  of  the  family  in  various  countries ;  but,  of 
"  that  sententious  brevity,"  which  is  said  to  "  constitute  the 
principal  beauty  of  a  proverb" — of  that  brevity,  without 
obscurity,  which  is  said  to  be  the  very  soul  of  a  proverb, 
it  is  often  totally  lacking.  Other  features  it  has  which  are 
peculiarly  its  own,  and  which  impart  to  it  a  terseness, 
beauty,  and  symmetry,  inimitable,  at  least  in  the  English 
language.' 

Proverbs  are  very  numerous  in  China.  We  give  the 
few  following  samples  : — 

'  To  make  a  man  of  yourself  you  must  toil;  if  you  don't,  you  won't.' 
'  Strike  a  flint,  and  you'll  get  fire  ;  strike  it  not,  and  you'll  not  get 

even  smoke.' 
'  No  pains  no  gains'  is  represented  by  'never  was  a  good  work 

done  without  much  trouble.' 

'  If  an  ox  won't  drink,  you  can't  make  him  bend  down  his  head.' 
'Everything  is  difficult  at  first.' 
'  Done  leisurely,  done  well.' 

'  It  is  easier  to  know  how  to  do  a  thing  than  to  do  it.' 
'  Cheap  things  are  not  good  ;  good  things  are  not  cheap.' 
'  Better  take  eight  hundred  than  give  credit  for  a  thousand  cash.' 
'All  unskilful  fools 
'  Quarrel  with  their  tools.' 
'  Two  of  a  trade  hate  one  another.' 
'  Our  daily  bread  depends  on  Heaven.' 
'  There  is  dew  for  every  blade  of  grass.' 
'  A  stick's  a  stick  whether  short  or  tall, 
'  A  man's  a  man  whether  great  or  small.' 
'  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  mulberry  grows.' 
'  There  are  pictures  in  poems,  and  poems  in  pictures. 
'  Learning  is  far  more  precious  than  gold.' 
1  You  cannot  open  a  book  without  learning  something.' 
'  You  may  study  to  old  age  and  yet  have  things  to  learn.' 
'  No  pleasure  equals  the  pleasure  of  study.' 
'  Some  study  shows  the  need  of  more.' 
'  Extensive  reading  is  a  priceless  treasure.' 
'  Strike  while  the  iron's  hot.' 

'  To  persuade  gentlemen  not  to  gamble  is  to  win  for  them.' 
'  The  two  words  pure  and  leisure  no  money  can  buy.' 

588 


Race 

'  Man's  life  is  truly  a  performance.' 

'  Wine  is  a  discoverer  of  secrets.' 

4  Speak  carefully  and  be  slow  to  speak.' 

'  He  who  talks  much  must  err  ;  he  excels  who  says  nothing.' 

'  True  gold  fears  no  fire.' 

1  He  has  the  mouth  of  a  Buddha,  the  heart  of  a  snake.' 

'  The  human  heart  is  bad  to  fathom.' 

'  Do  good,  regardless  of  consequences.' 

Books  recommended.— •' A  Collection  of  Chinese  Proverbs,'  by  Rev.  W. 
Scarborough.  'Chinese  Proverbs,'  by  Rev.  A.  Smith.  'Enigmatic 
Parallelisms  of  the  Canton  Dialect,'  in  China  Review,  vols.  xvi.  and  xvii., 
by  Rev.  T.  W.  Pearce  and  the  Hon.  J.  H.  Stewart- Lockhart.  'Chinese 
Proverbs  in  the  Amoy  Vernacular,'  in  The  China  Review,  vol.  xv.  p.  298. 
•Chinese  Proverbs,'  an  article  in  The  China  Review,  vol.  xx.  pp.  156-166, 
contains  Hakka  and  Swatow  proverbs  translated  by  Rev.  M.  Schaub  and 
Miss  C.  M.  Ricketts. 

PUNKAH. — The  word  punkah  is  derived  from  India. 

It  is  'the  Hindoostani  name  of  a  large  palm-leaf  fan,  the  stalk  of 
which  is  rested  on  the  ground,  while  the  leaf  itself  is  waved  behind  the 
party  to  be  fanned.  The  word  is  now  applied  throughout  the  East  to 
the  swinging  frames  with  cloth  vallances  fitted  in  European  houses.' 

The  Chinese  have  not  adopted  the  punkah,  though  a 
solitary  instance  of  its  use  is  occasionally  seen.  A  native 
barber,  some  years  since,  had  one  fitted  up  in  his  shop  in 
Hongkong. 

RACE. — The  Chinese  as  a  nation  are  not  of  pure 
blood — What  nation  is?  Doubtless,  when  the  present 
inhabitants  of  China  poured  into  the  land  they  absorbed 
some  at  least  of  the  original  inhabitants,  the  Miao  and  the 
Man,  while  later,  in  historic  times,  '  large  immigrations  or 
bands  of  captives  consisting  of  Tibetans,  Huns,  and  the 
Mongolia  Hienbi,'  have  each  furnished  their  quota  towards 
the  amalgam,  to  say  nothing  of  Manchu  Tartars  and  others. 
These  and  climatic  conditions  have  probably  had  some- 
thing to  do  in  differentiating  the  Southern  Chinaman  from 
the  Northern,  the  former  being  well  described  by  Ross  as 
'  short,  small,  "  cute,"  '  and  the  latter  as  '  tall,  stout,  stolid, 
and  slow.' 

This  amalgamation  of  aborigines  and  Chinese  goes  on 
slightly  still  on  the  borders  of  the  habitats  of  the  former, 
as  a  few  Chinese  are  to  be  found  who  have  married  wives 

589 


Things  Chinese 

from    the    different    tribes.       (See    Article    on    Chinese, 
Physical  Characteristics  of.) 

RAILWAYS. — China  would  seem  to  be  an  ideal  land 
for  a  gigantic  system  of  railways,  for  it  is  a  '  land  of  magni- 
ficent distances ' ;  but  it  is  also  a  land  of  '  stupendous 
prejudices ' ;  it  is  therefore  not  surprising  that  the  railway 
is  in  its  infancy  in  China.  '  Europe  has  a  mile  of  railway 
for  every  2,400  inhabitants  ;  China  has,  perhaps,  about  a 
mile  or  more  for  every  million  of  her  inhabitants.'  It  was 
stated  in  1900  that  there  were  30,000  miles  of  railway  in 
Asia,  two-thirds  of  which  belonged  to  British  India.  The 
Trans-Caspian  and  Trans-Siberian  Railway  accounted  then 
in  its  unfinished  state  for  3,200  miles,  Japan  had  3,200 
miles,  French  Indo-China  120  miles,  but  in  Cochin-China, 
Annam,  and  Tonkin  they  were  soon  to  have  2,400  miles. 
Java  had  1000  miles,  Turkey-in-Asia  1,500  miles  finished 
and  600  projected  or  under  construction,  and  Russia  was  to 
join  Astrakhan  to  the  general  Russian  Railway  system, 
while  China  at  that  time  had  only  300  miles  completed  and 
owned  by  the  Government,  which  it  was  stated  were  '  very 
remunerative,  and  European  syndicates'  had  'obtained 
concessions  for  3,600  miles  of  railway  in  China,  the  con- 
struction of  which  is  already  well  advanced.  These  will 
traverse  regions  rich  in  minerals  and  agricultural  products.' 
The  splendid  waterways  afford  great  facilities  for  transit, 
and  '  China  is  better  supplied  with  waterways,  both  natural 
and  artificial,  than  any  other  country  in  the  world,  except, 
perhaps,  Holland ' ;  but  away  from  them  carriage  by  land 
is  often  expensive.  It  sometimes  costs  two  shillings  per 
ton  per  mile  to  take  coal  by  land  in  China,  while  in  Great 
Britain  the  cost  is  a  halfpenny  to  one  penny  a  mile  a  ton, 
and  in  the  United  States  a  farthing  for  the  same  amount 
for  the  same  distance.  The  coalfields  in  China  have  been 
laid  down  on  a  grand  scale.  To  instance  only  one,  that  of 
Shansi,  which  has  a  continuous  field  13,500  miles  in  area, 
of  anthracite,  equal  to  the  best  Pennsylvania!!,  with  from 
15  to  40  feet  seams.  There  is  also  a  rich  bituminous 

590 


Railways 

deposit  in  the  same  province :  so  that  in  the  mere  carriage 
of  coal  there  should  be  a  fine  future  for  railways  in  China  ; 
added  to  which  there  would  be  the  passenger  traffic,  the 
goods  trains,  and  those  laden  with  market  produce,  etc. 

About  forty  years  ago  Sir  R.  Stephenson  came  out  in 
the  hope  of  being  able  to  inaugurate  a  general  railway 
system.  All  the  foreign  communities  in  China  were 
naturally  in  favour  of  such  a  scheme  ;  one  or  two  in- 
dividuals pointed  out  that  the  Chinese  were  not  ready  for 
it,  and  would  not  be  for  a  long  time  to  come,  and,  such 
being  really  the  case,  of  course  nothing  could  be  done. 

In  1876,  a  short  line  of  railway,  about  12  miles  long, 
was  constructed  under  the  auspices  of  an  English  firm,  and 
ran  between  Shanghai  and  Woosung  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Shanghai  River.  There  was  considerable  traffic,  but  the 
Chinese  Government  objected  to  its  being  in  the  hands  of 
foreigners  ;  they  therefore  bought  it  and  closed  it  in  1877  ; 
further  they  took  it  up,  and  transferred  rails  and  rolling 
stock  to  the  Island  of  Formo.-a,  where  they  lay  rusting  for 
some  years.  A  railway  was  constructed  in  Formosa  by 
the  Chinese;  and  this  material  and  rolling  s:ock  found 
use  in  this  then  outlying  inland  of  the  Chinese  empire, 
where  the  harm  it  might  do  would  be  too  far  off  to  affect 
the  stability  of  the  mighty  domin'ons  of  the  Son  of 
Heaven  ;  the  Chinese  also  thus  having  the  control  of  it  in 
their  own  hands.  (A  history  of  the  Woosur.g  Railway 
appears  in  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press,  of  the  27th 
September  1892).  This  line  between  Shanghai  and 
Woosung  was  afterwards  reconstructed  by  the  Chinese 
Government,  and  opened  in  1898.  It  is  to  be  incorporated 
as  part  of  the  Shanghai-Soochow  system. 

The  next  line,  after  this  first  Woosung  Railway,  was 
from  the  coal  mines  at  Kai-ping  to  the  sea  coast,  whence 
it  was  carried  on  to  the  forts  at  Taku.  It  was  first  opened 
for  carrying  coals  to  the  canal  bank,  but  has  now  de- 
veloped into  a  very  large  concern,  and  it  may  almost  be 
said  the  whole  welfare  of  the  adjacent  country  depends  on 
it.  The  investment  has  turned  out  to  be  very  profitable. 


Things  Chinese 

This  railway  was  of  invaluable  use  to  the  Chinese  for  the 
movement  of  troops  during  the  Japanese  war,  but  its  con- 
struction had  to  be  stopped  during  the  conflict  between 
the  two  nations.  Trains  1000  feet  long  have  not  been  an 
uncommon  sight  on  it. 

The  following  was  written  some  time  ago : — 

For  some  time  past  the  construction  has  been  going  on  (and  it 
will  show  a  few  of  the  difficulties  that  stand  in  the  way  of  the  develop- 
ment of  railways  in  China)  of '  an  Imperial  railway,  which  is  intended 
eventually  to  connect  Tientsin  with  Kirin  in  Manchuria.  Ninety-four 
miles  (from  Tientsin  to  Kuyeh)  have  been  in  working  order  since 
1891,  and  during  1892  carried  488,300  passengers.'  The  line  has 
'  been  extended  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  per  annum.' 

At  the  principal  terminus,  Tientsin,  about  a  100  Chinese  clerks 
are  employed,  of  whom  about  one-half  are  alleged  to  be  totally  un- 
necessary, '  being  friends  and  hangers  on.'  At  other  stations  the  same 
condition  of  affairs  obtains.  '  The  first-class  fares  are  a  little  over  one 
halfpenny  a  mile,  and  the  second  a  decimal  over  a  farthing.  The 
third-class  fares  are  even  cheaper  still.  The  fares  for  the  entire  year 
(1892)  from  all  classes,  over  the  ninety-four  miles  above  mentioned, 
were  only  ;£  10,000,  taking  the  tael  at  its  par  value  of  6s.  8d.  The 
receipts,  according  to  Consul  Brenan's  interesting  report,  from  all 
sources,  were  only  about  226,000  taels,  or  ^75,500,  and  even  these 
figures  are,  at  the  current  rate  of  exchange,  too  high.' 

'  It  is  astonishing  to  see  the  use  the  Chinese  are  making  ...  of  the 
railway  from  Kaiping  to  Tientsin.  The  farmers  bring  their  market 
produce  along  with  them  to  Tientsin  and  other  places  on  the  line 
where  they  find  a  ready  sale  for  their  wares,  and,  instead  of  a  curse, 
as  the  people  too  often  consider  it  in  places  where  they  still  stick  to 
their  antediluvian  carts,  wheelbarrows,  and  other  clumsy  modes  of 
conveyance,  the  railway  is  beginning  to  be  recognised  as  a  blessing 
to  rich  and  poor  alike.' 

'Native  capitalists  have  but  little  confidence  in  the  "Imperial  line" 
as  an  investment.  Moreover,  no  accounts  are  issued  to  show  how 
money  is  expended.  A  Government  grant  of  about  .£600,000  a  year 
maintains  the  construction  of  the  line,  which  is  being  completed  for 
strategical  reasons  only,  although  the  original  idea  was  to  treat  it 
solely  as  a  commercial  undertaking.  What  with  corruption,  bad 
management,  and  a  virtual  boycott  on  the  part  of  capitalists,  the 
prospects  of  success  do  not  seem  very  promising.'  '  It  is  the  intention 
of  the  Railway  Administration  to  build  a  subsidiary  line  to  Moukden, 
while  the  main  line  north  will  be  continued  on  to  Kirin  ....  From 
Lanchow,  another  line  westwards  is  contemplated  to  north  of 
Tungchow  (near  Peking)  and  thence  to  Paotung-fu,  the  capital  of 
Chili  province.' 

'The  Kaiping  Coal  Go's,  line,  at  first  intended  only  to  carry  coal 
to  the  canal  bank,  has  been  extended  to  Tientsin,  and  is  open  to 
passenger  traffic.'  An  extension  of  the  Tientsin  line  to  Shanhaikwan, 

592 


Railways 

'  where  the  great  wall  reaches  the  sea,'  has  been  completed,  and  '  a  line 
from  Linsi  to  Newchwang  and  then  to  Kirin  has  been  sanctioned  [see 
below].  A  line  from  Tientsin  to  Peking  was  opened  in  1897,  which 
now,  by  the  addition  of  an  electric  tram,  takes  one  up  to  the  very- 
gates  of  Peking,  in  fact  to  the  Yung  Ting  Gate.' 

With  the  Chinese  Government,  considerations  of  de- 
fence would  have  proved  more  effective  in  causing  the 
construction  of  railways  than  anything  else.  Even  the 
short  line  in  existence  in  the  North  proved  useful  in  a 
small  rebellion  that  took  place  lately. 

'  The  great  object  of  the  Chinese  Government  in  making  railways 
is  to  secure  facilities  for  moving  troops  and  munitions  of  war,  not  to 
promote  trade  or  encourage  industries.'  '  So  long  as  this  is  the  case, 
the  railways  most  needed  are  not  likely  to  be  constructed  in  a  hurry.' 

Every  new  railway  project  in  China  appears  to  have 
had  a  hard  tussle  at  its  inception.  There  was  a  pro- 
gressive party  in  favour  of  the  iron  road ;  there  was 
another  party  opposed  to  progress,  conservative  officials 
who  deprecated  the  introduction  of  all  foreign  inventions. 
Both  parties  were  united  apparently  in  the  idea  of  pre- 
venting all  foreign  intervention.  The  Chinese,  fearful  of 
foreign  influence  in  their  country,  would  not  brook  any 
interference  in  the  way  of  any  development  of  railway 
schemes  for  China,  until  compelled  to  permit  them.  '  China 
for  the  Chinese '  was  their  motto ;  and  for  fear  that  an 
alien  authority  might  be  set  up  in  their  midst,  they  turned 
a  deaf  ear  to  all  entreaties  for  permission  to  construct  lines. 
So  far  did  they  carry  these  precautions,  that  they  resolved 
to  smelt  their  own  ore  and  make  their  own  rails,  buying  as 
little  as  possible  in  the  foreign  market.  If  this  resolution 
had  been  adhered  to,  it  would  probably  have  been  many 
years  before  railway  lines  of  any  great  magnitude  were  in 
running  order.  Extensive  iron-works  were  set  up  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Hankow,  with  this  end  in  view,  and  a 
small  line  for  the  transportation  of  iron  ore  was  laid  at 
Hankow :  it  was  called  the  Ta-ye  Railway,  and  ran  to 
Huang-si-kan — a  distance  of  60  li  (20  miles).  Looming 
up  in  the  far  distant  future  there  was  the  Grand  Trunk  line 
from  Peking  vid  Wuchang  to  Canton.  Whether  this 

593  i  P 


Things  Chinese 

railway  would  really  be  commenced  last  century  or  this, 
or  indefinitely  postponed,  was  doubtful.  The  Viceroy,  who 
had  the  undertaking  in  hand,  having  spent  enormous 
sums  of  money  on  the  initial  stages  of  the  work  as  outlined 
above,  was  getting  into  serious  financial  difficulties,  and 
it  was  very  questionable  whether  he  would  be  able  to 
proceed  much  further,  for  there  was  no  capital  for  building 
railways  in  China  :  the  Government  had  not  the  money 
available  ;  would  not  borrow  it  from  foreigners  ;  nor  allow 
private  enterprise.  Another  proposal  some  years  ago  was 
for  a  line  to  be  constructed  from  Canton  to  Shamshuipo, 
near  the  Cosmopolitan  Docks  in  British  territory,  on  the 
mainland  opposite  Hongkong.  Surveys  were  made,  and 
permission  granted  for  its  construction,  but  the  project 
fell  into  abeyance.  It  was  to  have  passed  through  the 
important  town  of  Sheklung,  as  well  as  other  places, 
running  a  total  length  of  380  //',  or  about  127  miles.  But, 
like  the  other  railways,  no  foreigners  were  to  hold  shares 
in  it.  Twice  have  surveys  been  made  now  for  such  a  line, 
but  it  is  not  yet  un  fait  accompli  ;  when  the  Grand  Hankow- 
Canton  Trunk  line  is  finished  this  will  follow  as  a  matter 
of  course.  (The  latest  news  is  that  this  is  now  to  be  built.) 
Later,  a  railway  was  projected  between  Swatow  and  the 
prefectorial  city  of  Ch'aochow-fu.  Hopes  were  entertained 
that  this  line,  of  some  30  miles,  more  or  less,  would  be  the 
precursor  of  other  short  lines  in  the  South  of  China,  but 
they  have  been  doomed  to  disappointment. 

The  last  paragraph  shows  one  stage  (the  second,  the 
first  being  the  strongest  opposition  to  them,  as  shown 
above)  in  the  history  of  railway  enterprise  in  China.  Since 
then  great  changes  have  taken  place,  and  for  some  time 
little  has  been  heard  in  connection  with  China  but  spheres 
of  influence  and  railways,  mining  and  other  concessions : 
Russia,  France,  Germany,  America,  Belgium,  Italy,  Portugal, 
and  England,  all  knocking  at  China's  doors. 

The  Russian  system  of  railways  and  those  of  China 
are  joined  together.  France  appears  desirous  of  penetrating 
China  with  her  railways  from  her  Indo-Chinese  empire 

594 


Railways 

next  Yunnan,  while  many  English  are  desirous  that  British 
lines  shall  develop  the  West  of  China  in  connection  with 
our  Asiatic  empire. 

The  whole  history  of  the  different  railway  concessions 
is  thus  described  in  the  report  of  the  China  Association 
for  1 898- 1 899  : — 

'  Having  selected  their  respective  spheres  [of  influence]  the  Powers 
proceeded  as  it  were  by  tacit  consent  to  mark  them  off  by  Railway 
and  Mining  Concessions.  Russia  had  set  the  example  in  an  Agreement 
(dated  September  1896)  for  the  construction  of  an  "Eastern  Chinese 
Railway  "  system  of  Manchuria. 

'  France  had  followed  by  requesting  the  Tsung-li-Yamen,  in  June 
1897,  to  promise  that  the  Chinese  Government  would  address  itself  to 
the  Fives- Lille  Company  for  prolongations  of  the  Langson-Lungchow 
line  toward  Nanning  and  Pese,  and  would  invite  the  aid  of  French 
Engineers  for  the  opening  of  mines  in  Kwangtung,  Kwangsi,  and 
Yunnan. 

'  Pursuing  this  assertion  of  interest  in  the  provinces  bordering  on 
Tongking,  she  exacted,  in  May  1898,  the  concession  of  a  railway 
from  Pakhoi  to  a  point  on  the  West  River,  with  the  ulterior  right  of 
making  any  future  lines  radiating  from  Pakhoi.— The  occasion  was 
taken  by  the  Association  to  emphasise  the  protest  which  had  been 
made  in  April  against  this  assertion  of  French  influence  in  a  province 
which  constitutes,  commercially,  as  well  as  geographically,  the  hinter- 
land of  Hongkong. 

'An  American  Syndicate  has  obtained  a  concession  for  the 
Southern  extension  of  the  Great  Trunk  line — from  the  banks  of  the 
Yangtsze  opposite  Hankow  to  Canton  ;  and  Sir  Claude  MacDonald 
has  obtained,  finally,  the  concession  of  a  right  to  make  a  railway  from 
Canton  to  the  coast  (Kowloong)  opposite  Hongkong. 

'  Various  other  concessions  of  less  political,  but  of  considerable 
financial  importance,  have  been  made.  The  Russo-Chinese  bank  has 
undertaken  to  make  a  branch  from  Chengting  (a  city  on  the  Lu-Han 
line,  in  Pechili)  to  Taiyuen,  the  capital  of  Shansi. 

'A  Syndicate  combining  British  and  Italian  interests  has  obtained 
extensive  mining  rights  in  Shansi,  coupled  with  the  right  of  railway 
outlet  to  the  Han  river  at  Siang-yang. 

'A  British  subject,  Mr.  Pritchard  Morgan,  has  entered  into  an 
agreement  having  for  its  object  the  development  of  mines  and  con- 
comitant railways  in  Szechuen.  France  is  understood  to  have 
protested  that  this  arrangement  is  inconsistent  with  the  undertaking 
not  to  seek  exclusive  privileges  in  South-West  China,  concluded 
between  the  two  Governments  .  .  .  but  the  protest  appears 
strained.  .  .  . 

'  Broadly  speaking,  therefore,  China  has  been  partitioned  into 
spheres  of  industrial  interest  that  may  become  spheres  of  political 
influence  in  certain  eventualities  which  the  present  regime  appears 
not  unlikely  to  precipitate.' 

'An  Anglo-Italian  syndicate  has  obtained  a  right  10  construct 
the  line  from  Joyau  in  Hupeh  to  Taochau  in  Shansi,  and  Messrs. 

595 


Things  Chinese 

Jardine,  Matheson  &   Co.,  have  secured  rights  over  the  line  from 
Sinyan  in  Honan  to  Nangking  irid  Luchau  in  Anhui.' 

'  Rivalry  with  England  for  the  trade  of  Yunnan  is  being  pursued 
actively  in  other  respects,  the  Chamber  having  guaranteed  a  loan  of 
70,000,000  frs.,  to  be  employed  in  making  a  railway  up  the  valley  of 
the  Red  River,  to  Yunnan-fu. 

'Great  Britain,  on  the  other  hand,  has  obtained  permission  to 
extend  the  Kunlon  Ferry  line  into  Yunnan. 

'  Germany  gave  it  to  be  understood  from  the  first,  that  she  intended 
to  keep  in  German  hands  the  construction  and  management  of 
railways  in  Shantung. 

1  In  an  agreement  (dated  2nd  September  1898)  between  English  and 
German  capitalists  for  the  construction  of  a  line  between  Tientsin  and 
Chinkiang,  the  sphere  of  German  interests  is  defined  as  the  region 
watered  by  affluents  of  the  Hwang-ho,  and  the  English  sphere  as  that 
watered  by  affluents  of  the  Yangtsze.  From  Tientsin  to  the  southern 
border  of  Shantung,  therefore,  the  line  will  be  controlled  by  German, 
and  the  continuation  across  Kiangpeh  by  British,  subjects.  It  followed, 
equally,  that  the  British  and  Chinese  Corporation  obtained  without 
further  competition  a  concession  for  the  construction  of  lines  between 
Shanghai,  Soochow,  and  Nanking. 

'  Negotiations  were  concluded  by  the  British  and  Chinese  Corpora- 
tion, about  the  same  time,  with  the  aid  of  H.M.  Government,  for  the 
proportioning  of  the  Tientsin-Shanhaikwan  line  up  the  west  coast  of 
the  Liao-tung  Gulf  to  Sin-min-ting  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Liao, 
and  to  Newchwang. 

1  More  important  than  all,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese,  is  the  great 
trunk  line  which  is  to  connect  Peking  with  Hankow.  Granted  origin- 
ally to  a  Belgian  syndicate  in  1897,  after  some  ineffectual  negotiations 
with  American  and  British  financiers,  this  concession  had  lapsed  and 
been  revived  more  than  once  before  a  substantial  contract  was 
signed,  in  June,  with  a  titular  Belgian  Syndicate  supported  by  Russo- 
French  diplomacy. 

'  Both  these  contracts  have  been  the  subject,  since,  of  keen  con- 
troversy, on  the  ground,  broadly,  that  they  constitute  an  intrusion,  in 
either  case,  into  alien  spheres.  A  protest  by  the  Russian  Minister 
against  the  Newchwang  agreement  was  met  by  surrendering  all 
rights  of  mortgage  over  the  section  of  the  line  outside  the  Great  Wall. 
A  protest  by  the  British  Minister  against  the  signature  of  the  Lu-Han 
contract  was  disregarded  by  the  Tsungli-Yamen,  and  the  Chinese 
Government  was  punished  for  its  disregard  and  bad  faith  by  the 
exaction  of  certain  other  railway  concessions.  As  the  contract  gives  a 
Franco-Russo-Belgian  combination  full  right  of  mortgage  and  fore- 
closure over  a  line  penetrating  the  heart  of  the  Yangtsze  Valley,  it 
needs  to  be  revised,  obviously,  on  a  similar  principle,  if  it  is  carried 
out.' 

The  following  items  contain  further  particulars  as  to 
some  of  the  concessions  mentioned  above : — 

'The  negotiations  concerning  the  construction  of  the  Tsin-Chin 
(Tientsin-Chinkiang)  Railway,  have  been  successfully  concluded 
between  England,  Germany,  and  China.  It  has  been  arranged  that 

596 


Railways 

the  sections  between  Tientsin  and  Tsinan,  and  Tsinan  and  Ichau, 
shall  be  placed  under  the  control  of  Germany,  and  the  section  between 
Ichau  and  Chinkiang  under  British  control.'  The  railway  is  to  be 
completed  within  five  years. 

The  loan  is  ^"7,400,000  gold,  which  is  to  be  repaid  in 
fifty  years  to  the  Hongkong  and  Shanghai  Banking  Corpora- 
tion and  the  German  Bank.  '  The  security  is  the  guarantee 
of  the  Chinese  Government  plus  the  railway  itself.'  Three 
Europeans  and  two  Chinese  are  to  have  the  management 
of  it ;  from  Tientsin  to  the  Southern  boundaries  of 
Shantung,  it  is  to  be  under  German  control  and  the  rest 
is  to  be  under  British  control. 

There  is  a  line  between  Tiehsanpu,  in  Hupeh,  to  a  spot 
on  the  Yangtsze,  70  miles  below  Hankow,  for  conveying 
the  iron  ore  from  Hupeh  to  the  ironworks  at  Hanyang. 

The  line  from  Peking  to  Tientsin  is  about  75  miles 
long. 

There  are  further  railway  developments  projected  in 
Shantung,  thanks  to  the  advent  of  the  Germans  in  the 
province. 

'A  German  railway  is  to  be  constructed  from  Tapadurh,  near 
Kiaochow,  to  Weihsien,  and  then  to  join  the  Tientsin-Chinkiang  main 
line.  A  line  is  also  to  be  built  from  Tapadurh  to  Tsintao.  Both 
lines  will  take  two  years  in  construction.  They  have  been  secured 
by  a  German  syndicate.  .  .  .  The  Weihsien  branch  will  tap  the 
rich  coal  district  which  is  expected  to  be  the  mineral  mainstay  of 
the  German  sphere  of  interest  in  Shantung.  Another  line  is  to  be 
constructed  from  Kiaochau  (Tapadurh)  to  I  chow,  and  thence  to  the 
Tientsin-Chinkiang  main  line.  Work  on  the  Weihsien  line  com- 
menced on  Friday,  2nd  June.'  [1899]. 

The  railway  from  Peking  to  Hankow,  'about  813  miles  long, 
will  pass  throuerh  the  three  important  provinces  of  Chili,  Honan, 
and  Hupeh '  ['  from  Peking  to  Hankow,  about  650  miles,  and  from 
Hankow  to  Canton,  about  500  miles,  or  about  1,150  miles  in  all.' 
Another  writer  says  : — '  The  total  length  of  line  will  be  about  800 
English  miles,  and  the  capital  of  the  syndicate  four  and  a  half 
millions  sterling,  represented  by  225,000  snares  of  ^20  each],  and  it 
"will  serve  the  rich  basins  of  the  Yangtsze-kiang  and  of  the  Hwang- 
ho." ' 

It  was  expected  that  in  1902  the  railway  from  Hankow 
to  Peking  would  reach  346  miles  from  the  former  place : 
it  is  progressing  at  the  rate  of  £  kilometre  per  working 
day. 

597 


Things  Chinese 

'With  reference  to  the  proposed  Hankow-Canton  railway,  the 
Chief  Director,  Chang  Taotai,  formerly  Consul-General  at  Singapore,' 
we  read,  'has  informed  his  friends  that  the  line  will  begin  at  Canton, 
pass  Fatshan  to  the  city  of  Samshui,  on  the  West  River.  From  this 
place  the  trunk  line  will  go  across  and  enter  Hunan,  joining  at  Hankow 
the  Lu-Han  Railway.  From  Samshui  again  there  will  be  constructed 
branch  lines  ;  namely,  one  to  Kueilin,  the  capital  of  Kwangsi  province, 
which  will  be  called  the  Western  Branch  line  ;  while  from  Canton 
there  will  be  an  Eastern  Branch  line  connecting  that  city  with 
Huichow,  thence  to  Swatow  and  northward  into  Fukien  province. 
The  Viceroy  T'an  has  already  detailed  one  Battalion  of  500  men  of  the 
Chien  Regiment  to  act  as  a  guard  to  the  workers  on  the  new  railway 
which  it  is  intended  to  begin  early  in  May  next.'  [1899]. 

'The  party  of  engineers  and  experts  of  the  Canton-Hankow 
Railway  Syndicate  have  completed  their  survey  up  to  Kupong  in 
Punyu  district,  and  are  buying  land  from  the  owners  holding  title- 
deeds.'  This  line  is  now  progressing  from  both  ends. 

A  survey  of  a  projected  line  from  Soochow  to  Ningpo 
vid  Hangchow  has  been  made,  and  the  Hongkong  and 
Shanghai  Bank  are  to  finance  it. 

The  following  was  written  a  few  years  ago  : — 

'  When  the  line  of  the  Siberian  Railway  approaches  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Russian  Empire,  it  is  suddenly  stopped  by  a  long  and 
broad  wedge  of  land  running  from  south  to  north.  This  is  part  of  the 
Chinese  territory  of  Manchuria,  probably  the  richest  portion  of  the 
Chinese  Empire.  In  the  centre  of  it  is  the  important  fortified  town  of 
Kirin,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  that  name.  The  province  of 
Kirin  is  prolonged  to  the  south-west  by  the  province  of  Shinking,  the 
capital  of  which  is  Moukden,  and  which  ends  in  the  long  peninsula 
having  the  great  naval  base  of  Port  Arthur  for  its  most  south-westerly 
point.  The  Siberian  railway  has  to  make  a  long  detour  to  the  north 
round  this  wedge,  and  the  present  treaty  [1896]  is  intended  first  of  all 
to  enable  it  to  avoid  this  by  taking  the  chord  instead  of  the  arc.  Thus 
the  first  advantage  of  Russia  is  to  prolong  its  line  from  some  point  in 
Siberia  ;  probably  Nertchinsk,  i>id  Kirin,  straight  to  Vladivostock. 
Besides  this,  however,  Russia  is  now  authorised  to  build  a  railway 
to  join  the  main  line  at  Kirin  and  run  south-westwards,  first  to  Port 
Arthur,  and  second  to  Shanhaikwan,  which  is  the  terminus  of  the 
present  short  railway  to  Tientsin.  The  Convention  gives  to  Russia 
the  right  to  carry  her  Trans-Siberian  Railway  to  Kirin,  the  Chinese 
town  of  Central  Manchuria,  from  {two  directions — first,  some  point  in 
Siberia  ;  and  second,  Vladivostock.  Next,  Russia  obtains  the  right 
to  build  a  railway  from  Kirin  to  Port  Arthur  should  China  fail  to  do 
so.' 

'These  three  lines  of  railway  are  to  be  built  with  Russian  money, 
and  are  to  be  defended  by  posts  of  Russian  Cossacks  ;  they  will  also 
be  built  to  the  Russian  gauge.  Russia  is  to  work  mines  in  Manchuria, 
and  Russian  officers  are  to  drill  the  Chinese  troops  in  Manchuria.' 

With  regard  to  the  railway  operations  in  the  neighbour- 

598 


Railways 

hood  of  Kirin,  Moukden,  and  Port  Arthur,  an  opinion  has 
been  expressed  lately  that  the  line  cannot  be  finished  in 
less  than  five  years,  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  timber,  and 
of  workmen  and  labour.  American  pine  is  used,  and  has 
to  be  brought  by  sea,  the  supply  of  it  being  very  limited. 
Wood  is  also  brought  from  the  Korean  frontier,  and  the 
winter  is  likewise  so  severe  that  the  Chinese  labourers 
cannot  stand  it,  and  have  to  stop  work  for  five  months  in 
the  year. 

The  following  extract,  though  the  Trans-Siberian  Rail- 
way is  now  finished,  is  still  interesting  in  this  connection  : — 

'  The  programme  of  Russian  railway  extension  in  Asia  has  lately 
undergone  considerable  revision.  The  original  scheme  of  the  Trans- 
Siberian  Railway  has  been  greatly  modified,  and  it  is  probable  that  a 
portion  of  the  proposed  route  through  Eastern  Siberia  will  be 
abandoned.  When  the  line  was  originally  authorised,  the  work  of 
construction  was  commenced  at  both  ends  simultaneously,  and  the 
work  at  the  Pacific  terminus  was  inaugurated  by  the  present  Tsar, 
who  cut  the  first  sod  of  earth  at  Vladivostock  on  2Qth  March  1891. 
The  work  at  this  end  of  the  line  has  been  completed  as  far  as 
Khabarovka — a  distance  of  481  miles,  and  here  the  terminus  is  likely 
to  remain  for  some  years  to  come.  The  alternative  route  authorised 
by  the  Manchurian  Railway  Agreement  of  1896  will  start  from 
Vladivostock  and  will  pass  by  way  of  Nicolsk  and  Ninguta  to  Tsitsihar, 
and  thence  across  the  Siberian  frontier  to  Nerchinsk,  where  it  will 
join  the  railway  now  under  construction.  The  energy  with  which  the 
work  of  railway  development  is  being  pushed  forward  in  Russian 
Manchuria  is  impressed  on  the  visitor  to  Vladivostock,  from  the 
moment  he  lands  :  the  country  for  miles  round  swarms  with  parties 
of  labourers  engaged  in  the  construction  of  earth-works,  the  erection 
of  bridges  and  the  general  work  necessary  to  the  construction  of  a 
railway.  The  labourers  are  convicts  who  have  been  sent  to  Siberia 
for  various  offences.  They  work  under  a  Cossack  guard,  and  are  paid 
for  their  labour  at  the  rate  of  one-tenth  of  the  value  of  the  work  they 
do.  There  are  probably  from  15,0x20  to  20,000  of  these  convict 
labourers  at  work  in  Manchuria  at  the  present  time.' 

'  Russia  has  demanded  the  right  to  carry  a  totally  new  branch 
of  the  Trans-Siberian  line,  or  rather  a  feeder,  from  somewhere  near 
the  junction  of  the  Shilka  with  the  Amur,  south  to  Kalgan,  .  .  . 
No  doubt,  the  line  to  Kalgan,  whether  constructed  from  Aigun  or 
Maimatchin  (Kiatkha)  will  take  off  a  tremendously  troublesome  section 
of  the  Trans-Siberian  line,  and  moreover  it  will  most  certainly  be 
constructed,  and  it  will  as  certainly  be  extended  to  connect  with 
the  Russian  system  in  Shansi,  which  is  expected  she  will  begin  to 
construct  next  year  [1900].' 

Railway  concessions  North  of  the  Great  Wall  are  to  be 
left  to  Russian  enterprise,  and  those  in  the  basin  of  the 

599 


Things  Chinese 

Yangtsz  to  the  British,  but  this  agreement  made 
between  the  two  nations  is  not  to  infringe  in  any 
way  on  the  rights  acquired  with  regard  to  the 
Shanhaikwan-Newchwang  line,  though  the  line  is  to 
remain  a  Chinese  line.  The  Peking-Tientsin-Shanhaik- 
wan  Railway  has  been  handed  over  to  the  Chinese. 

'  Ten  or  twelve  millions  sterling '  would  be  needed  for  a  Burmo- 
China  Railway  from  Kunlon  Ferry,  the  proposed  terminus  of  the 
Mandalay-Salween  Railway  to  the  Yangtsze  Valley.'  It  would  'reach 
the  Yangtsze  at  Luchow,  about  a  hundred  miles  higher  up  the  river 
than  Chinkiang.  .  .  The  length  .  .  .  would  be  about  1,000  miles.' 
It  'is  not  only  not  impracticable,  but  its  construction  would  present 
no  very  extraordinary  difficulties.' 

The  following  published  in  1897  is  of  interest : — 

'A  light  railway'  is  to  be  built  'between  Peking  and  the  Imperial 
mausolea.'  '  Every  time  a  member  of  the  Imperial  family  or  the  harem 
dies  it  costs  some  Tls.  300,000  to  Tls.  400,000  to  transport  the  remains 
to  the  mausolea,  whilst  in  the  case  of  a  deceased  Emperor  or  Empress- 
Dowager,  no  less  than  two  million  taels  are  usually  expended  for 
transport  expenses,  etc.  Hence  the  idea  of  a  railway  is  to  save  such 
exorbitant  expenses.' 

At  the  end  of  1900  the  following  railways  were 
completed  :  Shantung  Railway,  nearly  100  miles  (in  Dec. 
1901, 160  kilometres.  In  three  years  it  will  reach  Chinan-fu, 
the  main  section  towards  which  was  finished  in  June  1902)  ; 
Imperial  Railways  of  North  China,  540  miles  (now 
901  kilometres  or  more) ;  Shanghai-Woosung  Railway, 
1 1  miles  ;  Lu-Han  Railway,  from  Peking  to  Chengtingfu 
about  1 60  miles,  and  northward  from  Hankow,  about 
105  miles.  It  is  now  (1903)  making  steady  progress. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  because  all  these 
railways  were  planned,  that  railway  communication  is 
in  full  swing  in  China.  One  or  two  maps  of  China 
have  been  published  lately,  showing  in  black  lines  and 
otherwise  the  concessions,  etc.,  and  on  the  strength  of 
these,  two  railway  engine-drivers  came  up  a  few  years 
since  from  Australia  to  Hongkong  in  the  confident 
assurance  of  being  able  to  obtain  employment  on  one 
of  these  numerous  lines  of  railway  thus  marked  out. 

An  Annual  Report  of  the  China  Association  gave  the 

600 


Railways 

following  useful  table  of  railways  actually  built,  in  course 
of  construction,  or  projected  in  China  : — 

(A)  Railways  completed  and  working. 

1.  The   Imperial    Chinese    Northern    Railway, 

from  Peking  to  Tientsin  and  Shanhaikwan 
(with  extension  to  Sinninting  and 
Newchwang  nearly  completed). 

2.  Peking   to  Paoting-fii  (built  by  the  Chinese 

Government,  but  incorporated  as  part  of  the 
Lu-Han  line). 

3.  Shanghai  to  Woosung  (built  by  the  Chinese 

Government,  but  to  be  incorporated  as  part 
of  the  Shanghai-Soochow  system). 

(B)  Railways    in    progress   or    projected,    for    which 

concessions  have  been  granted  to — 

1.  Japan — for  railways — 

(«)  from  Seoul  to  Chemilpo,  and 
(b}  from  Seoul  to  Fusan  in  Corea. 

2.  Russia,   for    the    so-called    Chinese   Eastern 

Railways  in  Manchuria. 

3.  The    Russo-Chinese    Bank,   for   a    line   from 

Chengting  (a  station  on  the  Lu-Han  line  in 
Pechili)  to  Tanjuen,  the  capital  of  Shansi. 

4.  A     Franco-Belgian     Syndicate,    for     a    line 

(known  as  the  Lu-Han)  from  Peking  to 
Hankow. 

5.  An  American  Syndicate,  (which  has  agreed, 

since,  to  share  its  interests  with  the  British 
and  Chinese  Corporation),  for  a  line  from 
Hankow  to  Canton. 

6.  Germany,    for    a    Railway    Triangle  —  from 

Kiaochow  to  Tsinan,  Kiaochan  to  Yihien  — 
in  Shangtung. 

7.  An  Anglo-German  Syndicate,  for  a  line  from 

Tientsin  to  the  Yangtsze  opposite  Chinkiang. 

8.  The   British   and    Chinese    Corporation,    for 

lines : — 

(a)  from  Shanghai  to  Soochow  and  Nanking. 
60 1 


Things  Chinese 

(fr)  from    Shanghai    to    Hangchow,    with 
possible  extension  to  Ningpo. 

(c)  from    Pukon    (opposite    Nanking)    to 

Hsinyang,  a  station  on  the  Lu-Han 
Railway,  in  Honan. 

(d)  from  Canton  to  Kowloong. 
9.  The  Peking  Syndicate  for  lines— 

(a)  from  Taokow  on  the  Wei  River  to 
Weihwei  and  Tsechow. 

(/>)  from  Tsechow  vid  Honan-fii  to  Siang- 

yang  on  the  Han  River. 
10.  France  for  lines  from — 

(#)  Pakhoi  to  a  point  not  yet  determined 
on  the  bank  of  the  West  River 
(presumably  Nanning). 

(]£}  Lungchow  (on  the  frontier  of  Tong- 
king)  to  Nanning  or  Pe"se. 

(c]  from  the  frontier  of  Tong-king  (presum- 

ably Laokai)  to  Yunnan-fu. 

(d)  Kwang  Chow  Bay,  across  the  neck  of 

the  peninsula,  to  Om-pu. 

The  list  is  improving,  says  the  Report,  but  many  of  the 
projects  still  remain  dormant. 

The  following  summary  of  Railway  enterprise  in 
China,  mostly,  if  not  entirely,  under  European  auspices, 
will  give  an  idea  of  what  has  been  done : — 

In  the  North  of  China  a  considerable  extent  of  railway  (mostly  in 
British  hands)  has  been  constructed,  and  is  open  for  traffic.  From 
Peking  to  Tientsin,  a  distance  of  80  miles,  the  line  is  open,  and  thence 
to  Tang-ku  on  the  coast,  a  distance  of  27  miles.  From  Tang-ku  it 
runs  through  the  coal  district  to  Shan-hai-kwan,  147  miles,  and  thence 
along  the  coast,  113  miles,  to  Chen-Chou  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
Liao-Tung.  ...  As  the  railway  approaches  Chen-Chou,  two  lines 
branch  off,  one  of  7  miles,  from  Kao  Chiao  to  Tien  Chiao  Chang,  on 
the  coast ;  the  other  runs  30  miles  inland,  from  Nu  Erh  Ho  to  the 
Nan  Pao  coal  mines.  The  total  length  of  line  open  from  Peking  to 
Chen-Chou,  including  the  two  branches,  in  December  1899,  was  404 
miles.  The  line  is  being  continued  round  the  head  of  the  Liao  Tung 
Gulf  to  Yung  Kow,  where  the  system  will  be  connected  by  a  Russian 
branch  line  with  the  railway  which  is  being  constructed  from  Port 
Arthur  and  Talienwan  to  the  Siberian  railway.  Another  prolongation 
of  the  British  line  is  being  laid  from  Chen-Chou  to  Hsin  Min  Tun,  106 

602 


Railways 

miles  to  the  north-east  and  about  40  miles  west  of  Mukden.  The 
Russian  railway  through  Manchuria  is  being  constructed,  and  will 
probably  be  completed  in  1902.  The  main  line  will  have  a  length  of 
950  miles,  and  the  South  Manchuria  branch  to  Tort  Arthur  650  miles. 
Towards  the  south-west,  Peking  is  connected  with  Pao-ting-fu,  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Chihli,  by  a  line  88  miles  in  length,  from 
which,  at  Liu  Li  Ho,  a  branch  runs  to  the  Chou  Kow  Tien  coal-fields, 
10  miles  distant.  The  Pao-ting-fu  line,  constructed  with  British 
capital,  was,  in  January  1900,  transferred  to  a  Belgian  syndicate,  and 
will  be  extended  southwards  to  Hankau  on  the  Yangtsze  river.  The 
section  from  Pao-ting-fu  to  Cheng-Ting-Fu  is  now  under  construction. 
From  the  Yangtsze  another  projected  line  (American)  will  run  to 
Canton.  Railways  (British)  are  to  be  constructed  also  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  mining  and  petroleum  industries  of  the  province  of 
Shansi,  and  others  to  connect  the  Honan  mines  with  the  Yangtsze 
river  opposite  Nanking  viA  Kaifong.  The  Shanghai-Wusung  Railway 
of  12  miles  has  been  open  for  traffic  since  August  1898.  From 
Shanghai  a  projected  line  will  run  to  Hang-Chou,  Ningpo,  Wenchau, 
and  probably  to  Canton.  Other  lines  (British)  are  to  connect  Ching- 
tu,  in  the  province  of  Szechuan,  with  Wuchau,  and  with  Canton. 
French  lines  are  proposed  to  bring  Tonking  into  communication  with 
the  treaty  ports  of  Mengtsz,  Wuchau,  and  Pakhoi,  and  also  with  the 
province  of  Yunnan.'  ('The  Statesman's  Year  Book.:) 

'  The  railway  between  Canton  and  Hankow  will  cover  750  English 
miles  and  pass  through  many  important  cities.  There  does  not  seem 
any  disposition  to  hurry  forward  this  work.  It  is  commonly  reported 
in  Canton  that  a  company  calling  itself  the  Chinese-American  Railway 
Company  has  been  formed  to  carry  out  this  project.  When  once  the 
work  is  fairly  started,  it  is  reckoned  that  850,000,000  a  year  will  be 
required  to  meet  all  the  expenses,  labour,  material,  etc.  Interest  on 
this  sum  will  be  paid  at  the  rate  of  eight  taels  per  cent,  per  annum.' 

The  track  is  a  double  one  from  Peking  to  Tientsin, 
with  a  gauge  of  4  feet  8|  inches.  A  French  line  is 
proposed  between  Pakhoi  and  some  point  to  be  fixed 
upon,  on  the  West  River,  another  is  from  Kwongchow- 
wan  to  Whampoa.  '  A  concession  is  in  existence  to 
allow  France  to  carry  a  railway  line  from  Laokay  (in 
Tonkin)  to  Yunnansen  .  .  .  being  the  extension  of  the 
railway  from  Haiphong  and  Hanoi.'  This  line  is  to  be 
239  miles  in  length  from  Haiphong  to  Laokai.  The 
building  and  working  capital  of  the  Haiphong- Yunnansen 
line  is  ,£4,000,000. 

Books  recommended. — A  leader  in  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press  of  9th 
September  1891,  gives  an  interesting  account  of  the  development  of  the 
Tientsin  Railway  from  a  seven-miles  tram-line  to  the  present  dimensions. 
An  interesting  article  has  appeared  in  Tl\e  Engineer,  giving  an  account  of  the 
history  and  construction  of  the  railway  in  Formosa.  It  was  republished  in 

603 


Things  Chinese 

the  London  and  Cliina  Express  and  copied  in  the  Hongkong  Telegraph  of  the 
10th  of  August  1892.  A  perusal  of  this  article  will  show  the  great  difficulties 
encountered  from  Chinese  ignorance,  prejudice,  and  bribery  in  such  works. 
'  Railway  Enterprise  in  China,'  an  article  in  Chambers's  Journal  for  May 
1899,  by  B.  Taylor. 

RATS. — The  rat  is  as  common  a  creature  in  China  as 
elsewhere.  In  fact,  scientific  men  trace  the  brown,  or 
Norway,  rat  back  to  Western  China  as  its  ancient 
home.  From  this,  its  original  habitat,  it  journeyed  west- 
ward to  Europe,  and  reached  England  by  the  aid  of  ships, 
arriving  in  the  latter  country  in  A.D.  1730,  having  crossed 
the  Volga  in  1727.  They  marched  in  large  troops,  appear- 
ing in  '  Paris  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.' 

'  The  rat,  especially  the  Asiatic  rat,  is  more  susceptible  to  plague 
than  any  other  animal,  the  guinea-pig  coming  next,  and,  as  rats  have 
a  habit  of  joining  ships  at  one  port  and  leaving  them  at  another,  they 
become  a  menace,  as  they  may  form  the  medium  of  conveying  the 
plague  infection  round  the  world.' 

To  prevent  this,  tin  shields  are  put  on  ships'  cables  to 
keep  them  from  landing.  (Also  see  Article  on  Plague.) 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Chinese  live  on  rats,  etc. 
They  are  eaten  occasionally  by  the  very  poor  :  in  the 
country,  some  four  or  five  out  of  a  hundred  have  doubtless 
tasted  them.  These  people,  if  they  come  across  a  large, 
fat  one  may  cook  it.  Dried  rats  are  to  be  seen  hung  up  for 
sale  in  dried  meat  shops.  The  wealthy  do  not  eat  them,  as 
a  rule,  though  there  is  a  notion  that  rat's  flesh  will  produce 
the  growth  of  hair:  so  some,  though  feeling  squeamish  about 
such  meat,  will  force  themselves  to  eat  a  little  in  order  that 
their  hair  may  grow  in  again. 

The  Chinese  appear  to  be  very  cruel  occasionally  when 
a  rat  is  caught :  sometimes  the  offending  creature  is  nailed 
alive  to  a  board  ;  at  other  times  it  is  dipped  in  kerosene  and 
set  fire  to  while  its  tormentors  gloat  over  its  agony. 
Doubtless  there  is  a  feeling  that  the  thief  and  destroyer  of 
their  property  is  suffering  a  just  reward  for  its  depredations. 

RELIGION. — Amongst  this  ancient  nation  are  to  be 
found  many  persistent  survivals  of  old-world  religions 

604 


Rice 

and  myths  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation 
through  the  long  ages  past.  Faint  traces  of  such  beliefs 
and  modes  of  worship  are  to  be  found  by  the  diligent 
enquirer  in  our  Western  lands  ;  but  in  China  they  form  in 
many  cases  not  only  the  basis  on  which  have  been  super- 
imposed the  more  modern  systems  of  religion  ;  but  they 
permeate  the  whole  present  amalgam  of  credulity,  supersti- 
tion, forms  and  ritual,  which  go  to  make  up  the  average 
Chinaman's  religion.  The  worship  of  Heaven  and  Earth, 
of  mountains  and  rivers  is  still  in  existence,  and  traces 
of  Sabianism  are  to  be  found ;  the  adoration  and  planting 
of  sacred  trees  near  temples  can  be  seen  to  this  day ;  and 
a  most  common  form  of  worship  is  the  worship  of  stones, 
besides  an  ever  present  and  most  profound  belief  in  evil 
spirits  which  cause  disease,  etc. 

As  Gibbon  said  of  Rome,  so  it  might  almost  be  said  of 
China  to-day  : — '  To  the  common  people  all  religions  are 
equally  true ;  to  the  philosopher  all  are  equally  false  ;  to 
the  magistrate  all  are  equally  useful.'  To  the  superficial 
observer  the  Chinese  appear  a  very  religious  people,  and 
yet,  on  closer  observation,  it  will  be  found  that  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  formalism  about  their  worship.  They  are 
very  superstitious,  and  the  whole  land  is  full  of  idols. 
The  women  are  most  devout  worshippers  ;  many  of  the 
educated  men  profess  scepticism,  while  giving  an  outward 
adhesion  to  the  forms  of  worship.  There  are  some  earnest 
souls  to  be  found  among  them  who  join  different  sects  of 
Buddhism  in  order  to  find  some  satisfaction  for  the 
longings  of  their  hearts  ;  when  the  truths  of  Christianity 
are  presented  to  such,  they  are  sometimes  received  as  a 
revelation  from  Heaven. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Religious  System  of  China,'  by  J.  J.  M.  de 
Groot,  Ph.D.  See  articles  on  Buddhism,  Taoism,  and  Missions,  and  the 
books  recommended  at  the  end  of  those  articles. 

RICE. — The  Chinese  language  has  developed  a  number 
of  names  for  rice  in  its  different  stages  of  growth,  thus 
confirming  what  Archdeacon  Trench  pointed  out — the 

605 


Things  Chinese 

tendency  of  a  language  to  develop  in  any  special 
direction.  Rice  being  the  main  support  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  South  of  China,  every  stage  of  its  growth  is  of  the 
greatest  interest  to  them ;  but  to  us,  who  never  see  it  in 
our  own  land  but  in  the  hulled  grain,  it  is  simply  rice 
whether  in  that  state,  or  when  the  tender  blade  is  just 
shooting  out  of  the  ground,  or  when  nearly  ripe ;  and  we 
have  to  borrow  from  a  foreign  language  the  word  paddy 
to  represent  it  with  the  husk  on — a  word,  by-the-bye, 
little  used  or  known  in  England  itself,  as  the  necessity  for 
its  use  there  is  but  slight.  For  all  of  these  different 
conditions  of  rice,  the  Chinese  have  names,  and  again,  not 
only  does  one  word  do  duty  for  cooked  rice,  but  the  soup- 
like  drink  made  from  boiling  a  small  quantity  of  rice  in  a 
large  quantity  of  water,  has  a  distinctive  name  of  its  own, 
chuk  (pronounced  chook),  for  which  Europeans  in  the 
East,  being  at  a  loss  for  a  word  to  express  it,  have  again 
had  recourse  to  the  borrowing  of  a  Malay  word  to  express 
it,  congee, 

Rice  is  the  staple  article  of  diet  in  the  South  of  China ; 
so  much  so,  that  '  to  eat  rice '  is  synonymous  with  taking  a 
meal ;  and  the  equivalent  of  '  How  do  you  do?'  is  '  Have 
you  eaten  your  rice  yet  ? '  '  He  cannot  eat  his  rice '  is 
tantamount  to  saying  that  a  sick  man  is  unable  to  take  his 
food.  Breakfast  is  chiu-fdn,  '  morning  rice,'  and  ye-fdn,  or 
man-fan,  '  late  rice,'  and  '  evening  rice '  stands  for  dinner. 
With  regard  to  its  use  as  food  in  the  extreme  South,  we 
refer  our  readers  to  our  Article  on  Food  in  this  book. 

The  rice  grows  in  small  patches,  scarcely  entitled  to  be 
called  fields.  As  the  rice  grows  best  in  water,  these  are 
under  a  few  inches  of  water  the  most  of  the  time.  There 
are  no  fences  or  walls  between  them,  but  the  mud  is  piled 
up  all  round  each  little  division  of  ground,  and,  drying  in 
the  sun,  forms  a  narrow  footpath  only  wide  enough  for  one 
person  to  walk  on.  When  the  rice-plant,  which  has  been 
thickly  sown  in  one  place,  is  6  inches  high,  it  is  trans- 
planted into  the  miniature  fields  by  men  and  women 
wading  through  the  mud,  and  five  or  six  of  these  sprouts 

606 


Riots 

are  stuck  into  one  hole.  In  a  very  short  time  the  fields 
present  a  beautiful  sight,  being  converted  from  the  muddy 
flats  into  masses  of  living,  delicate  green.  Two,  or  some- 
times even  three,  crops  of  rice,  or  other  plants,  succeed  one 
another — a  crop  of  fish  is.  put  into  the  field  when  they,  the 
fish,  are  a  few  inches  long,  to  fatten  for  the  market  while 
the  rice  is  growing. 

The  Chinese  prefer  their  own  rice  to  that  grown  in 
foreign  countries.  There  are  several  varieties  of  this  useful 
grain,  coarse  and  fine,  white  and  red,  glutinous  arid  non- 
glutinous. 

At  New  Year's  time  popped  rice  is  largely  used,  and  is 
carried  about  the  streets  in  large  baskets,  looking  like 
snow  in  its  whiteness.  It  is  prepared  in  the  same  way 
as  the  popped  Indian  corn,  or  maize,  of  the  New  England 
States,  and  is  very  much  like  it  in  appearance  and  taste. 

About  Swatow  and  Amoy  more  congee  is  eaten  than  at 
Canton  and  neighbourhood,  while,  up  North,  millet  takes 
the  place  of  rice. 

Book  recommended. — For  an  interesting  account  of  rice  the  world  round, 
see  Rhein's  '  Industries  of  Japan,'  p.  37. 

RIOTS. — The  Chinese  have  acquired  an  uneviable 
notoriety  of  late  years  for  riots  directed  against  foreign 
residents  at  different  treaty  ports  and  cities.  In  their 
intensity  and  wild  outburst  they  resemble  the  cyclonic 
disturbances,  the  typhoons,  which  carry  death  and  destruc- 
tion in  their  train.  As  before  the  typhoons  premonitory 
symptoms  are  generally  observable  in  a  disturbed  state  of 
the  atmosphere,  so  before  these  riots  there  is  a  heated  state 
of  opinion,  which  those  who  are  in  touch  with  the  native 
mind  may  discover. 

To  those  not  intimately  acquainted  with  the  Chinese  it 
may  be  supposed  that  as  the  proverbial  Irishman  is  never 
happy  unless  he  is  in  the  midst  of  a  row,  so  the  Chinese 
are  only  in  their  native  element  when  rushing  in  hordes 
against  the  defenceless  European  or  American.  To  say 
that  the  Chinese  are  peaceful,  law-abiding  subjects  seems 

607 


Things  Chinese 

preposterous  when  writing  about  Chinese  riots,  but  such  a 
statement,  nevertheless,  is  the  truth  ;  for  they  are  one  of 
the  most  peaceful  nations  in  the  world.  The  Chinese, 
from  a  European  standpoint,  is  made  up  of  a  mass  of 
incongruities,  the  most  opposite  traits  of  character  are  to 
be  found  in  juxtaposition  ;  and  this  same  quiet  Chinaman 
is  a  perfect  demon,  a  yelling,  infuriated  brute,  a  monster  of 
destruction,  in  a  riot ;  rapine,  robbery,  arson,  and  murder, 
all  rapidly  succeed  each  other  at  such  a  time,  the  howling 
mob  ravening  like  wild  beasts  as  they  run  wanton  with  life 
and  property.  '  There  is  no  fear  of  Got  in  a  riot,'  so 
according  to  Shakespeare  said  Sir  Hugh  Evans. 

What  are  the  causes  that  transform  the  law-abiding 
Chinaman  into  a  demon  of  destruction  ?  We  propose  to 
mention  what  we  consider  to  be  some  of  them.  It  must 
first  be  taken  into  consideration  that  the  Chinese  as  a  mass 
are  woefully  ignorant  of  the  commonest  scientific  facts 
which  are  taught  to  our  children  at  school.  When  they 
find  that  we  are  able  to  rush  along  at  the  rate  of  60 
miles  an  hour  in  railways ;  when  they  see  steamers  go 
without  wind  and  against  the  tide ;  when  they  hear  some 
vague  rumour  of  Westerners  being  able  to  see  millions  of 
miles  into  the  sky,  or  on  the  other  hand  minutely  examine 
some  insect  and  make  it  as  large  as  a  buffalo ;  when  they 
see  tumours  cut  off  and  legs  and  arms  amputated  by  the 
skilful  surgeon ;  it  is  comparatively  easy  for  them  to 
believe  that  these  magic-working  foreigners  can  look 
several  inches  into  the  ground  and  discover  precious 
metals,  especially  since  their  own  geomancers  pretend  to 
the  same  power  (the  author  himself,  when  on  a  trip  in 
the  interior,  was  asked  if  he  did  not  possess  this  power) ; 
and  further,  with  such  people,  it  does  not  require  much 
stretch  of  the  imagination  to  believe  the  story  that 
foreigners,  who  are  all  blue-eyed,  require  the  black  eyes  of 
Chinese  children  to  compound  their  wonder-working 
medicines,  or  the  eyes  of  dead  Chinese  to  transform  lead 
into  silver.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  owing  to  this  dense 
ignorance,  they  are  credulous  to  an  extreme  extent.  They 

608 


Riots 

will  believe  almost  any  and  everything.  It  must  also  be 
remembered  that  we  are  foreigners  to  them — enemies  we 
have  been  at  various  times  ;  and,  unfortunately,  in  our 
relations  with  them,  we  have  sometimes  been  overbearing  ; 
the  nation  looks  upon  us  as  the  introducers  of  opium  ;  the 
officials  and  literati  fear  our  science  and  civilisation  will 
overturn  theirs,  and  most  of  the  mandarins  are  afraid  that 
these  will  put  an  end  to  their  corrupt  system  of  government 
and  their  profits  ;  some  dread  that  we  will  eventually  wrest 
their  country  from  them.  Besides,  of  late  years,  a 
knowledge  of  the  shutting  of  foreign  countries,  such  as 
America  and  Australia,  against  Chinese  immigration  is 
becoming  known  ;  to  which  must  be  added  the  fact  that 
the  mass  of  foreigners  do  not  understand  the  Chinese,  at 
times  fearing  designs  from  them  when  they  are  to  be 
trusted,  and  implicitly  trusting  them  when  they  are  acting 
with  duplicity  ;  and  we,  unfortunately,  do  not  always  act 
with  sufficient  care  in  our  intercourse  with  them,  for  our 
motives  are  often  misunderstood  and  our  actions  mis- 
construed. We  are  strange,  grotesque,  bizarre  objects  in 
their  eyes,  our  every  action  outre,  and  sinister  motives  are 
readily  ascribed  to  such  curious  beings  as  we  appear  to 
them — devils  as  they  call  us.  Given  all  this  material,  it 
needs  but  the  dissemination  of  lying  books  against  some 
foreigners,  issued  with  the  imprimatur  of  high  officials ;  it 
requires  but  an  incipient  rebellion  in  the  throes  of  its 
attempted  birth  ;  it  wants  but  a  few  lewd  fellows  of  the 
baser  sort  to  start  a  riot ;  the  apathetic,  indifferent,  and 
half-sympathising  mandarins  take  care,  as  a  rule,  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  until  the  mischief  is  done,  while  their 
soldiery,  as  often  as  not,  lend  a  hand  in  the  plundering  of 
compounds,  the  dismantling  of  houses.  And  yet  it  is 
wonderful  how  an  armed  little  force,  consisting  only  of  the 
mercantile  residents,  a  dozen  or  a  score  of  men,  if  resolutely 
facing  the  packed  mass  of  the  infuriated  mob  breathing  out 
death  and  destruction,  can,  with  scarcely  firing  a  shot, 
disperse  the  armies  of  the  aliens  like  smoke. 

The  question  naturally  arises  :     What  is  the  remedy 

609  2  Q 


Things  Chinese 

for  all  this  ?  We  believe  nothing  but  a  determined  front 
presented  by  all  the  foreign  powers,  an  insistence  on  the 
opening  up  of  more  of  the  country,  the  continual  presence 
of  at  least  one  gunboat  at  every  treaty  port,  and,  should 
a  riot  take  place,  the  carrying  out  of  the  threat  once  made 
at  Hankow,  that  Imperial  property  would  be  fired  on.  If 
the  officials  found  their  yamens  bombarded  as  sure  as  a 
riot  took  place,  and  one  or  two  of  their  most  prominent 
members  seized  and  carried  off  to  the  gunboat,  we  believe 
that  riots  would  cease.  This  would  be  a  more  effective 
punishment  than  the  destruction  of  defenceless  villages  or 
towns,  as  the  inhabitants  in  many  cases  are  but  tools  in  the 
hands  of  designing  knaves.  The  Chinese  officials  always 
cry  non  possumus  until  they  know  they  must  do  what  is 
required  of  them.  The  true  secret  of  dealing  with  the 
Chinese,  and  that  which  has  always  been  successful  in  the 
past,  is  firmness  ;  kindness  towards  them  at  all  times,  but 
no  shilly-shallying  ;  consideration  and  sympathy,  with  a 
fixed  resolution,  and  a  determination  that  the  demands, 
granted  they  are  right,  shall  be  acceded  to,  and  that  at 
once. 

'The  huge  majority  of  Chinese,  the  peasants  and  traders,  are 
eminently  law-abiding  folk,  and  would  no  more  dream  of  sacking 
foreign  chapels  and  murdering  missionaries  in  cold  blood  than  they 
would  dream  of  learning  Euclid  or  of  coming  to  help  a  foreigner  who 
was  being  murdered.' 

'  Nine  anti-foreign  riots  out  of  ten  are  directly  fomented  and 
instigated  from  the  yamens,  possibly  not  by  the  mandarin  himself,  but 
at  anyrate  by  his  entourage,  or  by  the  local  literati ;  every  yamen  has  a 
host  of  hangers  on— lictors,  runners,  squeezers,  and  their  relations  to 
the  tenth  degree.  These  people  are  invariably  hand  in  glove  with 
the  loafers,  gamblers,  and  opium-smokers  who  constitute  the  criminal 
classes  of  every  Chinese  town  and  who  are  ready  for  anything  from 
the  T'di  P'ing  Rebellion  to  baiting  a  missionary,  for  they  feel  sure  that 
their  own  skins  will  not  suffer.  The  outrages  on  foreigners  are  rarely 
the  result  of  a  sudden  outburst  of  passion  ;  they  are  raked  up  by 
persons  who  are  perfectly  well  known  in  the  locality.  When  riots 
occur,  the  most  innocent  mandarin  is  invariably  guilty  of  having 
lacked  the  courage  to  put  his  foot  down  and  crush  the  movement  before 
it  had  gathered  force.  ...  It  should  be  made  perfectly  clear  to  the 
official  classes  of  China  that  they  will  have  to  pay  through  the  nose ' 
for  allowing  their  underlings  'to  indulge  in  the  pastime  of  committing 
outrages  on  foreign  subjects.  The  tariff  for  murdering  a  missionary 

6lO 


Riots 

should  be  made  absolutely  prohibitive.  If  every  Viceroy  felt  con- 
vinced that  he  would  have  to  pay  a  quarter  of  a  million  taels  within 
three  months  for  every  missionary  murdered  within  his  jurisdiction, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  missionaries  would  be  as  safe  in  China 
as  in  Piccadilly.  Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  people  of  China 
are  totally  indifferent  to  Christian  or  any  other  religious  propaganda  ; 
they  neither  understand  nor  wish  to  understand  nirvana,  pure  Tao,  or 
justification  by  faith  ;  they  wish  to  pursue  their  ordinary  avocations  in 
peace,  and  would  be  quite  willing  to  allow  the  missionary  to  do  the 
same.' 

We  give  a  list  of  a  few  of  the  more  notable  riots  : — 

7th  December,  1842. — European  factories  at  Canton  destroyed  by 
a  mob. 

2 ist  June,  1870. —  Riot  at  Tientsin  and  massacre  of  R.  C.  nuns. 

4th  May,  1874. — Riot  in  French  Concession,  Shanghai. 

loth  September,  1883. —  Riot  by  Chinese  mob  in  Canton.  Great 
destruction  of  foreign  houses  and  property  on  Shameen. 

3rd  October,  1884. — Serious  coolie  riot  in  Hongkong. 

4th  October,  1884. — Attack  on  foreigners  at  Wenchow. 

ist  July,  1886. — Serious  riot  at  Chungking. 

5th  February,  1889. — Anti-foreign  riot  at  Chinkiang.  Foreign 
houses  burned  and  looted. 

1 3th  May,  1891. — Anti-foreign  riot  at  Wuhu.  Catholic  mission 
premises,  I.M.  Custom  House,  and  British  Consulate  burned  and 
looted. 

1 8th  May,  1891. — Anti-foreign  riot  in  the  Hochow  district.  Anti- 
foreign  riot  at  Ngankin. 

25th  May,  1891. — Anti-foreign  riot  at  Ngankin.  Some  foreign 
houses  burned  and  looted. 

ist  June,  1891. — Anti-foreign  riot  at  Tanyang,  20  miles  from  Chin- 
kiang. Catholic  property  destroyed. 

5th  June,  1891. — Anti-foreign  riot  at  Wusueh,  near  Hankow. 
Foreign  property  destroyed,  Rev.  Mr.  Argent,  Wesleyan  Missionary, 
and  Mr.  Green,  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Custom's  service,  killed. 

yth  June,  1891. — Attempted  anti-foreign  riot  at  Kiukiang. 

8th  June  1891. — Destruction  of  French  Missionaries'  property  at 
Woo-sih,  near  Foochow,  by  an  anti-foreign  mob. 

9th  June,  1891. — Attack  on  mission  premises  at  Soochow.  Rioters 
dispersed. 

1 4th  June,  1891. —  Mission  property  burned  down  at  Shahsi. 

2oth  June,  1891. — Riot  at  Ha-mien  City  on  the  Yangtsz.  Catholic 
property  destroyed. 

25th  and  26th  June,  1891.— Riots  attempted  at  Tsing-kiang-pu  and 
Hunan-fu  on  the  Grand  Canal,  but  suppressed. 

3oth  June,  1891. — A  mob  loots  and  burns  down  Catholic  chapel 
and  schools  at  Yan-kao,  near  Tung-chow  on  the  Yangtsz. 

July,  1891. — Riot  at  Yiin-yang-shien,  about  half-way  between 
Ichang  and  Chungking. 

2nd  September,  1891. — Riot  at  Ichang.  Nearly  all  foreign 
property  destroyed. 

ist  July,  1893. — Two  Swedish  Missionaries  murdered  at  Sungpu, 
in  Central  China,  by  mob. 

6n 


Things  Chinese 

June,  1894. — Two  medical  missionary  ladies  attacked  by  a  mob 
in  Honam,  Canton,  because  one  of  them  rendered  assistance  to  a 
plague  patient,  and  on  the  2oth  June,  at  Sheklung,  Tung  Kwun,  the 
American  Presbyterian  Chapel  demolished  by  a  mob,  and  one  man 
killed. 

29th  May,  1895. — Anti-foreign  riots  in  Szchuen. 

ist  August,  1895. — At  Kucheng  (near  Foochow)  massacre,  Rev. 
Mr.  Stewart  and  ten  helpless  ladies  and  children  murdered  by  a  mob. 

1 2th  May,  1896. — Serious  riot  at  Kiangyin.  Mission  property 
entirely  destroyed. 

ist  November,  1897. — Murder  of  two  German  Catholic  priests  at 
Yenchow  by  a  band  of  twenty  men,  which  led  up  to  the  seizure  of  Kiau- 
chow  by  the  Germans. 

i6th  March,  1898. — American  Mission,  in  suburbs  of  Chungking, 
sacked  by  mob,  and  Chinese  medical  assistants  maltreated  and  one 
murdered. 

9th  April,  1898. — Riot  in  Shasi.  Buildings  on  foreign  bund 
destroyed. 

8th  July,  1898. — Protestant  and  Catholic  Missions  attacked  by 
rioters  at  Shum-ching-fu,  in  Szchuen.  A  French  priest  captured  by 
brigands. 

I5th  October,  1898. — Rioting  at  Ho  Chou,  50  miles  from  Chung- 
king. American  and  French  Mission  places  attacked  and  burned. 

25th  October,  1898. — Rioting  at  Shameen,  Canton. 

8th  January,  1899. — Serious  rioting  at  Sung-do,  near  Ningpo,  over 
an  attempt  to  work  mines.  810,000  worth  of  mining  property 
destroyed. 

I5th  August  1902. — Murder  of  two  missionaries,  Messrs.  Bruce  and 
Lowis,  by  mob,  at  Chengchow,  Hunan. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  an  account  of  all  the  small 
unimportant  riots  or  mobs.  At  times  riots  have  been 
imminent  and  in  a  few  cases  have  actually  taken  place, 
unattended  with  loss  of  life  and  with  but  little  injury  to 
property. 

The  terrible  Boxer  rising  fostered  by  the  Chinese 
Government,  Chinese  officials  aiding  and  abetting  them 
and  Chinese  soldiers  fighting  with  them  in  a  war  of 
extermination  against  all  Westerners,  resulting  in  the 
dreadful  siege  of  the  legations  in  Peking,  the  fighting  in 
Tientsin,  the  operations  in  North  China  and  the  taking  of 
the  Taku  Forts,  etc.,  scarcely  come  under  the  category  of 
Riots  ;  but  though  not  exactly  coming  under  this  caption,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  call  attention  to  the  number  of  murdered 
missionaries,  many  of  them  slaughtered  in  cold  blood, 
some  by  order  of  officials  with  a  slight  semblance  of  legal 

procedure. 

612 


Roads 

These  massacres  took  place  in  1899  and  1900.  One 
Mission  alone — the  China  Inland — lost  48  members  and 
21  children.  The  total  Protestant  loss,  however,  was 
135  adults  and  53  children.  Of  these,  nearly  100  were 
British,  more  than  50  Swedish,  and  over  30  Americans. 
'  If  the  Roman  Catholic  losses '  are  added  and  the 
martyred  native  Christians,  it  will  be  one  of  the  greatest 
persecutions  in  history.  Even  the  Diocletian  persecution 
was  less,  according  to  Gibbon. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Anti-Foreign  Riots  in  China  in  1891.'  'The 
Sources  of  the  Anti-Foreign  Disturbances  in  China,'  by  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid, 
M.A.  A  full  account  of  the  Swedish  Missionary  riot  and  what  was  done 
about  it,  is  contained  in  the  Hongkong  Daily  Press  of  21st  Feb.,  1894.  An 
article  entitled  'The  Future  of  China,'  in  The  Fortnightly  Review,  August 
1896. 

ROADS. — In  the  south  of  China  the  rivers  are  the 
natural  roads,  and  in  some  places,  especially  in  the  delta  of 
the  Canton  river,  the  country  is  reticulated  with  rivers, 
streams,  cross  canals,  etc.,  which  bring  every  few  miles  of 
country  within  easy  reach  of  water  communication.  Back 
from  the  network  of  rivers,  paths  connect  the  market- 
towns  and  villages.  In  some  places  these  paths  are  paved 
with  granite  slabs.  It  is  considered  a  meritorious  act  to 
repair  or  construct  roads. 

The  country  near  Swatow  is  well  provided  with  water 
communication  ;  some  of  the  rivers  have  numerous  boats 
of  many  descriptions.  The  public  roads  in  this  neighbour- 
hood are  good,  as  a  rule,  though  but  paths.  They  are 
often  formed  of  a  kind  of  cement  in  large  slabs  about  a 
yard  or  so  wide,  occasionally  square  stones  are  let  into  this 
cement,  while  at  other  times,  squares  of  a  slightly  different 
structure  from  the  rest  of  the  road,  and  looking  like 
conglomerate,  are  so  let  in,  while  again  at  other  times  the 
stone  is  used.  The  roads  in  this  locality  are  not  straight, 
but  ramble  through  the  rice-fields  with  a  very  meandering 
course. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Amoy  there  does  not  seem  to 
be  such  a  traffic  on  the  rivers  ;  and  the  same  is  said  to  hold 

613 


Things  Chinese 

good  with  regard  to  the  great  Yangtsz  Kiang  in  the  centre 
of  China. 

In  the  north  of  China,  where  carts  are  used,  the  roads 
are  worn  below  the  surface  of  the  surrounding  land,  and  in 
the  heavy  rains  form  water-courses  for  the  deluges  that 
pour  from  the  skies  to  escape  by ;  when  in  this  state  they 
have  occasionally  to  be  swum  by  travellers,  and  instances 
of  wayfarers  being  drowned  in  the  road  are  not  unknown. 

In  some  places,  roads  made  five  hundred  or  even 
thousands  of  years  ago  are  in  existence. 

It  would  greatly  develop  trade  and  facilitate  intercom- 
munication were  a  Chinese  MacAdam  to  arise  or  were 
the  Chinese  Government,  instead  of  buying  foreign  war 
material,  to  devote  its  energy  to  the  construction  of  these 
arteries  of  trade.  With  the  curious  topsyturvy  way  in 
which  the  Chinese  do  everything,  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely 
that  the  iron  road  will  run  its  spider-like  lines  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  empire  before  a  system  of  properly 
constructed  roads  becomes  un  fait  accompli  in  this  land. 

SHOOTING. — The  Chinese  are  not  sufficiently  civilised 
to  take  delight  in  killing  birds  and  other  game  for  pleasure  ! 
There  is  a  small  amount  of  shooting  goes  on  for  food 
purposes.  To  those  who  glory  in  such  pursuits  there  is  no 
better  book  than  Lieutenant  Craddock's  '  Sporting  Notes 
in  the  Far  East.'  He  seems  to  have  had  a  varied 
experience,  and  gives  it  for  the  benefit  of  others,  detailing 
the  game  to  be  found  at  the  different  ports,  the  seasons  for 
them,  and  rules  of  procedure.  Snipe,  pheasants,  woodcock, 
quail,  and  many  other  birds,  as  well  as  deer,  etc.,  are  to  be 
found  at  different  places.  It  would  be  a  good  day  for  the 
inhabitants  of  certain  districts  of  China  if  sportsmen  would 
follow  the  example  of  a  few  of  their  number  and  go  tiger 
shooting.  This  is  to  be  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Amoy  and  Foochow,  in  some  parts  of  the  Canton  pro- 
vince, and  doubtless  in  many  other  places  in  China.  The 
tigers  are  a  regular  pest,  carrying  off  young  children  at 
times  even  from  the  doors  of  their  houses,  as  well  as  dogs 

614 


Shuttlecock 

and  other  small  animals.  In  two  years,  foreign  sportsmen 
from  Amoy  '  have  killed  no  fewer  than  twenty-five '  of 
them. 

SHUTTLECOCK. — The  usual  reverse  occurs  in  China 
with  regard  to  some  of  the  games  that  happens  with  many 
other  things  in  this  land  of  contrarieties.  Instead  of 
shuttlecock  being  more  especially  a  game  for  girls,  it 
is  most  especially  a  game  for  boys,  lads,  and  men.  No 
girls  ever  play  it.  It  may  almost  be  said  to  be  the 
national  game  of  China,  and  kite-flying  the  national 
pastime.  The  latter  is  indulged  in  in  autumn  ;  the  former 
in  winter,  though  it  is  played  at  other  times  as  well.  What 
seems  curious  about  the  two  is,  that,  though  children  find 
an  amusement  in  them,  they  are  largely  enjoyed  and  in- 
dulged in  by  those  who  can  scarcely  be  described  as 
children,  except  with  the  qualifying  phrase  'of  an  older 
growth '  appended. 

There  is  no  battledore  used  by  the  Chinese,  but  the 
shuttlecock  is  kept  up  in  the  air  by  the  foot,  the  broad 
white  sole  of  the  Chinese  shoe  acting  admirably  for  the 
purpose.  Two,  three,  four,  or  more  players  get  together  ; 
and,  if  two,  stand  opposite  each  other,  if  three  or  more, 
they  form  an  irregular  ring  and  kick  the  shuttlecock  up 
into  the  air  in  such  a  manner  that  it  may  fall  near  another 
player,  so  that  there  is  no  violent  exercise  except  what  is 
necessary  for  the  kicking.  If  a  foot  stroke  is  impossible, 
when  the  shuttlecock  is  falling  near  one,  then  it  is  allowable 
to  keep  it  up  by  hitting  it  with  the  hand  and  thus  send  it 
to  another  player,  or  to  bang  it  into  the  air  in  such  a  way 
that  it  may  return  in  a  position  to  be  easily  hit  by  the  foot. 
There  are  several  foot-strokes — the  most  common  being 
with  the  inner  side  of  the  sole  of  the  right  shoe.  A  hit  is 
sometimes  made  with  the  outer  side  of  the  sole  of  the  right 
shoe.  Another  hit  that  must  require  some  dexterity  (if 
we  may  be  allowed  to  use  such  a  word  in  connection  with 
the  foot)  is  given  with  the  right  foot — with  the  inner  side 
of  the  sole  of  the  right  shoe — from  under  the  calf  of  the 

615 


Things  Chinese 

left  leg.  The  most  usual  form  of  this  stroke  is  as  follows  : 
the  left  leg  is  doubled  round  so  that  the  foot  is  in  front 
of  the  body  and  about  ten  or  twelve  inches  from  the 
ground :  this  is  done  while  the  shuttlecock  is  descend- 
ing :  and,  when  it  is  almost  near  enough  to  hit,  a  spring 
is  taken  off  the  ground  with  the  right  foot  last,  and  the 
shuttlecock  is  immediately  hit  by  the  inner  side  of  the  sole 
of  the  right  shoe  from  under  the  left  calf.  Another  variety  of 
this  stroke  is  to  stretch  the  left  leg  out  in  a  sloping  direction 
downwards  from  the  body  with  the  foot  a  few  inches  above 
the  ground,  and  then  a  similar  stroke  is  made  as  described 
above.  Another  stroke  is  made  with  the  sole  of  the  right 
foot  from  behind  the  body,  the  foot  in  delivering  it  being 
kicked  backwards  and  upwards.  With  many  of  the  strokes 
delivered  from  the  feet,  the  shuttlecock  is  sent  up  some  ten, 
twenty,  or  thirty  feet  into  the  air,  though  occasionally  a 
forward  kick  is  given  which  directs  it  towards  another 
player,  with,  perhaps,  a  slightly  rising  direction.  The  play 
often  begins  by  one  player  tossing  the  shuttlecock  with  his 
hand  up  in  the  air  towards  another  player  opposite  him. 
The  object  of  the  play  is,  of  course,  to  keep  the  shuttlecock 
up  as  long  as  possible.  The  shuttlecock  itself  is  rather 
different  in  construction  from  that  in  use  in  the  West,  no 
cork  being  used  ;  but  a  number  of  layers  of  skin  are  em- 
ployed, the  two  outer  being  snake's  skin  and  the  inner 
ones  are  said  to  be  shark's  skin,  there  being  from  eight  or 
ten  to  twenty  layers.  The  feathers  used  are  duck's  feathers 
and  three  in  number. 

SILK. — Notwithstanding  the  disparagement  of  early 
Chinese  inventions  by  some,  no  one  has  yet  been  found  bold 
enough  to  try  and  wrest  the  palm  from  them  for  the  three 
discoveries  of  porcelain,  lacquer-ware,  and  the  manufacture 
of  silk.  '  The  cultivation  of  silk,  as  of  tea,  had  its  origin 
in  China,'  and  '  China  still  stands  first  amongst  the  silk- 
producing  countries  of  the  earth,  and  the  amount  exported 
annually  from  it  to  Europe,  North  America,  and  Bombay, 
is  between  52,000  and  85,000  bales.' 

616 


Silk 

Silk  culture  is  of  very  ancient  origin  ;  from  references 
in  the  '  Shu  King'  to  it,  it  is  evident  that  it  was  well  known 
when  that  work  was  written.  Silkworms  are  said  to  have 
been  first  reared  (B.C.  2600)  by  the  Empress  of  Huang  Ti, 
who  was  deified  and  worshipped,  under  the  name  of  Yuen-fi, 
as  the  Goddess  of  Silk.  Offerings  are  made  to  her  annually, 
in  April,  by  the  Empress,  at  a  temple  in  the  palace  grounds 
at  Peking.  The  great  Yu  is  credited  by  the  Chinese  '  as 
the  most  prominent  promoter'  of  the  cultivation  of  silk, 
and  he  is  likewise  said  to  '  have  planted  the  hill  country  of 
Shansi  with  mulberries.'  The  Chinese  Government  has 
followed  the  good  example  of  this  semi-mythical  monarch, 
by  giving  encouragement  to  the  people  and  endeavouring 
to  incite  them  to  engage  in  this  industrial  occupation.  In 
fact  it  has  bestowed  unremitting  attention  on  this  important 
branch  of  industry.  Again,  however,  it  is  stated,  that  'the 
raising  of  silkworms  (at  first  upon  the  mulberry  boughs — 
as  now  in  some  parts  of  Honan  and  Szchuan)  is  traced  to 
an  Emperor  who  lived  B.C.  2697.' 

As  the  mulberry  leaf  is  the  chief  food  of  the  silkworm, 
much  labour  and  the  greatest  care  is  expended  on  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  mulberry  tree.  In  the  neighbourhood  of 
Chinkiang  there  are  two  kinds  of  mulberries — a  wild  and  a 
domestic — the  domestic  is  grafted  on  the  wild.  The  young 
mulberry  trees  are  transplanted  in  December,  and  are 
placed  at  regular  distances  of  five  or  six  feet  from  one 
another  ;  they  are  then  cut  down  to  one  foot  six  inches  in 
height,  and  two  shoots  are  allowed  to  grow ;  with  the 
systematic  pruning  carried  on  each  year,  after  five  or  six 
years  there  are  only  sixteen  branches  left ;  the  continual 
cutting  off  of  all  but  two  fresh  twigs  on  each  branch  pro- 
duces a  knobbed  appearance  of  the  tree  ;  and  finally,  from 
these  knobbed-like  fists,  about  fifty  to  eighty  branches 
are  preserved.  The  trees  live  more  than  fifty  years ;  but 
are  not  allowed  to  grow  higher  than  five  or  six  feet. 
The  wild  mulberry,  which  grows  to  a  height  of  fifty 
or  sixty  feet,  is  also  used,  and  there  is  a  smaller  kind 
as  well. 

617 


Things  Chinese 

The  silkworm  undergoes  several  changes  ;  but  different 
species  would  appear  to  differ  in  this  respect,  for  it  seems 
that  the  '  southern  silkworm  '  has  four  periods  for  moulting, 
as  a  rule,  while  the  '  northern  silkworm '  generally  casts  its 
skin  three  times. 

The  greatest  care  is  taken  to  keep  the  silkworms  from 
noise,  which  they  dislike  ;  so  far  indeed  do  the  silkworm 
carers  carry  their  precautions  that  they  become  super- 
stitious, the  silkworms  at  certain  places  being  informed  by 
their  keepers  of  the  arrival  of  travellers,  and,  if  this  is 
omitted,  any  luckless  wight,  chancing  on  a  village  un- 
announced, will  receive  but  scant  courtesy,  and  be  driven 
away  with  curses,  if  nothing  worse. 

There  are  ten  rules  laid  down  for  breeding  silk- 
worms : — 

'  The  eggs  when  on  paper  must  be  kept  cool ;  after  having  been 
hatched  they  require  to  be  kept  warm  ;  during  their  period  of  moulting 
they  must  be  kept  hungry  ;  in  the  intervals  between  their  sleeps  they 
must  be  well  supplied  with  food  ;  they  should  not  be  placed  too  close 
together  nor  too  far  apart  ;  during  their  sleeps  they  should  be  kept 
dark  and  warm  ;  after  they  have  cast  their  skins,  cool,  and  allowed 
plenty  of  light  ;  for  a  little  time  after  moulting  they  should  be  sparsely 
fed  ;  and  when  they  are  full  grown  ought  never  to  be  without  food  ; 
their  eggs  should  be  laid  close  together,  but  not  heaped  upon  each 
other.'  Wet,  withered,  or  dusty  leaves  are  not  given  to  them.  Rather 
less  than  two  ozs.  in  weight  of  young  worms  will  eat  i  ton  and  420 
Ibs.  weight  of  leaves. 

'  While  the  worms  are  growing,  care  is  taken  to  keep  them '  from 
'  bright  light  ;  they  are  often  changed  from  one  hurdle  to  another  that 
they  may  have  roomy  and  clean  places  ;  the  utmost  attention  is  paid 
to  their  condition  and  feeding,  and  noting  the  right  time  for  preparing 
them  for  spinning  cocoons.  Three  days  are  required  for  this,  and  in 
six  it  is  time  to  stifle  the  larvae  and  reel  the  silk  from  the  cocoons  ; 
this  being  usually  done  by  other  workmen.  Those  who  rear  the 
worms  enclose  the  cocoons  in  a  jar  buried  in  the  ground  and  lined  with 
mats  and  leaves,  interlaying  them  with  salt,  which  kills  the  pupae  but 
keeps  the  silk  supple,  strong,  and  lustrous  ;  preserved  in  this  manner, 
they  can  be  transported  to  any  distance,  or  the  reeling  of  the  silk  can 
be  delayed  until  convenient.  Another  mode  of  destroying  the  cocoons 
is  to  spread  them  on  trays  and  expose  them  by  twos  to  the  steam  of 
boiling  water,  putting  the  upper  in  the  place  of  the  lower  one 
according  to  the  degree  of  heat  they  are  in,  taking  care  that  the 
chrysalides  are  killed  and  the  silk  not  injured.  After  exposure  to 
steam  the  silk  can  be  reeled  off  immediately,  but  if  placed  in  the  jars 
they  must  be  put  into  warm  water  to  dissolve  the  glue  before  the 
floss  can  be  unwound.' 

6l8 


Silk 

Silk  from  wild  worms  of  different  species  is  also  used  in 
some  of  the  provinces. 

In  Shingking  in  Manchuria,  silk  is  produced  from  a 
species  of  silkworm,  Bombyx  Pernyi,  or  Bombyx  Fantoni, 
of  Italy,  which  feeds  on  the  leaves  of  a  species  of  oak, 
Quercus  Mongolia,  or  Quercus  robur.  A  small  quantity  is 
also  produced  from  the  Boinbyx  Cyntliia.  The  yield  of  this 
silk  might  be  quadrupled.  The  chrysalides  are  an  article  of 
diet  with  the  Chinese.  The  spinning  wheel  is  similar  to 
that  in  the  West.  It  requires  from  4,000  to  5,000  cocoons 
for  a  piece  of  silk,  and  it  takes  a  man  two  days  to  weave 
it.  There  are  no  large  manufactories  for  its  production, 
but  '  each  one  spins,  weaves,  and  dyes  his  own  material '  in 
Manchuria,  and  this  is  also  largely  the  case  throughout 
China,  though  not  entirely.  A  black  silk  is  produced 
from  the  Bombyx  Pernyi  due  to  the  worm  eating  the  whole 
of  the  leaf,  stalk,  and  everything. 

In  the  district  about  Chefoo  there  are  two  kinds  of  silk 
produced  :  'wild  silk,'  spun  from  the  cocoons  of  the  Bombyx 
Pernyi,  the  wild  silkworm  mentioned  above  ;  and  '  yellow 
silk,'  spun  from  the  cocoons  of  the  Bombyx  Mori,  or  silk- 
worm proper. 

The  women  in  some  places  keep  the  eggs  on  their 
persons  to  hatch  them  by  the  warmth  of  their  bodies, 
while  in  other  places  they  are  put  under  the  blankets  in 
the  bed. 

'  A  newly  hatched  silkworm  is  as  fine  as  a  hair.  Im- 
mediately under  its  head  there  are  four  legs,  a  little  beyond 
on  the  body  there  are  six  more,  and  again  six  more  near 
the  end  at  the  tail ;  their  whole  length  is  about  one-tenth 
of  an  inch,  and  their  colour  is  black.'  The  greatest  care  is 
taken  in  supplying  them  with  leaves,  the  men  actually 
washing  their  hands  before  touching  the  leaves.  They  are 
fed  five  or  six  times  a  day  for  three  days,  but  after  that 
constantly.  After  one  or  two  days,  the  worms  become 
brown  and,  after  five  days  more,  a  yellowish  white.  The 
fifth  days  seem  memorable  ones  with  the  silkworm,  for  on 
the  fifth  day  they  stop  feeding  and  '  undergo  their  first 

619 


Things  Chinese 

moult/  and  at  intervals  of  about  five  days  after  each  waking 
they  again  cast  their  skins,  ceasing  eating  for  periods  vary- 
ing from  a  day  and  night  to  the  '  long  repose,"  the  fourth 
one  of,  if  the  weather  is  cold,  two  or  three  days,  their  colour 
changing  at  these  different  periods  from  yellow  or  a 
yellowish  -  white  from  before  the  stupors  to  a  slight 
yellowish  tint  or  a  white  colour  after.  After  these  moults 
they  will,  if  in  good  condition,  eat  twenty  times  their  weight 
in  leaves.  After  another  five  days  they  attain  maturity 
and  are  about  two  inches  in  length.  What  look  like 
sheaves  of  straw  are  used  for  the  silkworms  to  construct 
their  cocoons  on,  each  sheaf  or  bundle  being  tied  round  the 
middle  and  spread  out  at  the  top  and  bottom  ;  sixty  or 
seventy  worms  are  put  on  each  bundle,  care  being  taken 
not  to  crowd  them  too  much  together.  They  then  proceed 
to  spin  their  cocoons  amongst  the  stalks  of  straw  by  first 
attaching  themselves  with  some  looser  threads,  after  which 
they  spin  the  compact  '  oblong  case,'  as  the  dictionary 
terms  it,  but  beautifully  rounded,  working  of  course  from 
the  outside  in.  They  finish  spinning  in  five  days,  and,  if 
the  silk  is  not  spun  off,  they  pierce  their  yellow  shrouds  in 
ten  days. 

'  From  two  catties  of  good  cocoons,  nine  catties  of  silk 
are  reeled  off.  ...  A  quick  hand  with  a  double  reeling 
machine  reels  about  i|  catties  of  silk  per  day,  thus  100 
catties  of  cocoons  are  about  six  days'  work.'  A  certain 
number  of  cocoons  are  kept  for  breeding  purposes.  The 
female  moths  die  in  five  days  after  laying  their  eggs,  which 
they  do  within  a  day  or  so  of  coming  out. 

In  the  Canton  province  the  two  principal  qualities  of 
silk  are  Tai-tsam  and  Lun-yut :  the  eggs  of  the  former  are 
hatched  once  or  twice  a  year ;  the  latter  seven  times. 

The  author  saw,  in  Swatow,  some  curious,  large,  wild 
caterpillars,  brightly  coloured,  which  spin  a  species  of  silk- 
used  in  making  lanterns. 

Wild  silkworms  in  the  north  of  China  are  fed  on 
different  kinds  of  oak,  and  they  supply  two  crops  of  cocoons 
annually.  The  natives  hatch  them,  and,  after  feeding  them 

620 


Silk 

themselves,  place  them  on  the  branches,  when  the  leaves  of 
the  trees  are  fully  out,  and  transfer  them  to  other  trees  as 
they  eat  the  leaves  of  one.  They  spin  their  cocoons  on  the 
trees,  from  whence  they  are  gathered.  After  the  female 
moths  have  come  out,  and  are  ready  to  lay  their  eggs,  the 
natives  tie  them  by  one  leg  with  fine  threads  to  the  branches 
of  the  tree,  when  they  lay  their  eggs  on  the  leaves.  These 
wild  silkworms  are  '  smaller  than  the  domestic  ones  and  of 
a  greyish  black  colour.'  The  silk  filaments  of  the  domestic 
silkworm  cocoons  are  wound  into  thread  by  the  aid  of  a 
primitive  reeling  machine. 

For  reeling  the  silk  filament  off  the  cocoons,  they  are 
placed  in  hot  water  to  loosen  the  ends  of  the  silk,  the 
rough  parts  are  cleared  away,  and  the  clean  filament  taken 
with  the  hand  and  then  passed  over,  or  through,  the  different 
parts  of  the  reeling  machine.  As  soon  as  the  cocoon  gets 
thin  and  the  chrysalis  is  visible,  a  new  filament  is  taken  in 
its  place.  The  best  threads  are  made  with  six  or  seven 
cocoons,  ranging  from  this  number  to  twenty  or  more  for 
the  coarsest.  '  A  quick  hand  can  reel  in  one  day  .  .  . 
about  20  taels  weight  fine  or  30  taels  coarse  silk.'  The 
wild  worm  cocoons  are  treated  in  a  different  manner. 

The  space  to  which  our  article  must  be  confined,  will 
not  allow  us  to  go  into  a  detailed  statement  of  the  numbers 
of  looms  and  their  output,  nor  are  statistics  available  for 
a  full  statement ;  but,  as  an  example  of  what  is  done,  we 
may  say  that  in  1880  there  were  in  Chinkiang  1,000 
looms  employing  4,000  labourers.  In  one  day,  three  men 
can  turn  out  about  12  feet  to  16  feet  of  silk;  for  plain 
goods,  two  men  only  are  required  at  each  loom ;  and 
only  one  man  for  weaving  gauze,  there  being  200  looms 
for  this  with  300  men  at  work,  of  which  14,000  to  15,000 
pieces  are  annually  produced  for  local  consumption  within 
the  province  of  Kiangsu.  Besides  this,  there  are  50  or 
60  looms  '  engaged  in  weaving  silk  ribbons,  each  attended 
to  by  one  man  ;  a  second  is  required  only  in  weaving  the 
broader  kinds.  .  .  .  On  an  average,  one  man  can 
weave  about  40  feet  per  day.  There  are  about  100  men 

621 


Things  Chinese 

engaged  in  this  branch  of  the  business  ;  and  there  are  about 
30  or  40  looms  for  weaving  red  plain  satin.' 

For  making  sewing  silk  'two  filaments  are  twisted 
together  into  threads.'  For  crape  manufacture  there  are 
about  200  looms  and  800  men  employed. 

'  The  greatest  silk-producing  province  in  China  is 
Chekiang,  and  Kiangsu  comes  second/  while  '  Hu-chow 
holds  the  first  place  among  the  departments  of  the  whole 
Empire  of  China  for  the  production  of  silk.'  It  may, 
therefore,  be  interesting  to  note  the  production  of  this  one 
department.  The  production  then  for  1878  was  2,925,232 
catties  (1,755,139  kilos.),  and  for  1879,  3,304,196  catties 
(1,982,517  kilos.).  There  are  4,000  looms,  each  loom 
producing  about  100  pieces  a  year. 

Hang-chiu  produces  the  best  kinds  of  silk  piece  goods. 

There  is  a  complaint  of  the  defective  reeling  and 
adulteration  of  silk  from  North  China,  which,  unless 
checked,  is  bound  to  do  injury  to  the  silk  trade  of 
China. 

There  are  silk  filature  establishments  in  China  where 
foreign  machinery  is  employed  in  reeling  and  weaving  the 
silk.  There  were  three  in  Macao,  some  years  ago,  one 
with  fifty-four  steam-looms.  Shanghai  has  twenty-seven 
silk  filatures,  Hangchow  has  one,  and  Soochow  three. 

'Filatures  produce  silk  realising  Tls.  200  a  picul  more  than  will 
that  spun  from  the  same  cocoons  by  the  old  primitive  method.' 

'The  steps  initiated  by  the  Inspector-General  [of  Imperial  Mari- 
time Customs]  to  implant  in  China  the  Pasteur  system  of  detecting 
and  eradicating  disease  in  silkworms  have  succeeded  in  the  Kwangtung 
province.'  Some  time  ago  it  was  stated  that,  in  Kiangsu  and 
Chehkiang  they  '  are  considering  the  establishment  of  silkworm 
nurseries  for  the  selection  of  eggs  on  the  Pasteur  system,'  these  steps 
being  necessary  to  cope  with  the  silkworm  disease. 

'Sericulture  is  now  [1895]  the  leading  industry  in  China,  since  tea 
has  gradually  receded  to  a  subordinate  position.' 

The  export  of  China  silk  is  increasing,  but  not  at  a 
rapid  rate.  The  following  extract  from  a  consular  report 
may  prove  of  interest : — 

'China  silk  is  intrinsically  the  best  silk  in  the  world,  but  from 

622 


Slavery 

ignorance  or  lack  of  energy  on  the  part  of  the  producers,  it  continues 
from  year  to  year  to  be  prepared  in  the  old  faulty  method,  while 
Japan  silk,  by  nature  much  inferior,  is  beating  it  in  the  market,  simply 
by  the  care  and  attention  bestowed  on  its  preparation,  and  by  the 
fostering  provision  of  the  Japanese  government,  who  provide  the 
means  of  educating  their  people  in  the  most  approved  methods  in 
vogue  in  Europe.' 

Enormous  quantities  of  silk  are  not  only  sent  abroad, 
but  even  larger  quantities  are  used  by  the  Chinese 
themselves.  Silk  is  a  common  article  of  attire  and  is  not 
confined  to  the  gentler  sex,  who  delight  to  array  themselves 
in  bright  and  soft  fabrics  in  the  West ;  in  the  gorgeous 
East,  men  are  clothed  in  as  brilliant  robes  as  women.  It 
is  utterly  impossible  to  say  how  much  silk  is  used  in  China, 
but  the  Chinese  consider  that  their  consumption  is  more 
than  double  the  amount  exported  to  foreign  countries.  In 
1890  the  amount  exported  was  158,427  piculs;  in  the 
previous  year,  1889,  it  was  182,939  piculs,  doubling  these 
sums  would  give  316,854  piculs  and  365,878  piculs 
respectively  ;  and  no  one  who  has  seen  the  quantity  of 
silk  used  by  Chinese  would  doubt  that  these  amounts 
must  be  well  within  the  mark  of  their  actual  consumption 
of  that  useful  commodity. 

Books  recommended.  —  'Silk,'  being  a  thick  brochure,  No.  3  of  'Special 
Series '  of  the  publications  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Maritime  Customs.  It 
consists  of  a  series  of  reports  from  the  different  Commissioners  of  Customs 
on  the  silk  culture  and  manufacture  in  the  districts  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  ports  at  which  they  were  stationed.  We  are  indebted  to  this  interesting 
and  valuable  publication  for  much  of  the  information  contained  in  this 
article.  Also  see  'Silk:  Statistics,  1879-88,'  a  thin  pamphlet  of  the  same 
'  Special  Series,'  No.  12. 

SLAVERY. — China,  in  common  with  most  Asiatic 
countries  where  the  liberty  of  the  subject  is  unknown,  has 
the  institution  of  slavery ;  but  slavery,  as  a  general  rule, 
is  milder  in  the  despotic  East  than  where,  in  direct 
contravention  of  all  the  free  instincts  of  the  West,  it  has 
been  found  nestling  under  the  flag  of  liberty.  One  would 
expect  the  contrary  to  be  the  rule,  but  it  is  not.  Where 
the  right  of  the  individual  was  generally  respected,  as  in 
America,  if  equal  justice  was  not  meted  out  to  every  man 
as  man,  but  on  the  contrary  the  fundamental  principles  at 

623 


Things  Chinese 

the  foundation  of  society  were  not  only  ignored  but 
persistently  transgressed  with  respect  to  one  section  of  the 
community,  it  needed  but  little  more,  all  barriers  of  law 
and  morality  as  regards  one  branch  of  the  human  family 
being  swept  away,  to  transform  the  otherwise  mild  master 
into  a  cruel  one,  and  a  few  generations,  or  even  less,  to 
develop  tyranny  which  knew  no  law  but  that  of  interest 
and  the  almighty  dollar. 

In  the  East,  the  individual  knows  no  rights,  as  an 
individual,  as  we  understand  such  rights  in  the  West.  He 
is  but  a  member  of  the  family ;  the  family  is  the  unit  of 
society :  the  members  of  the  family  are  but  fractions 
of  the  whole ;  the  slave  owes  his  existence  as  a  slave 
to  this  patriarchal  rule ;  and  ejected  from  one  family, 
generally  by  circumstances  over  which  he  has  no  control, 
he  is  engulfed  in  another. 

Slavery  then  appears  almost  to  be  the  normal  condition 
of  part  of  the  inhabitants  in  a  country  where  the  rights 
of  the  individual,  qua  individual,  are  unknown,  and  where 
the  conservation,  preservation,  and  perpetuation  of  the 
family  are  the  aims  of  human  society,  and  every  means  has 
to  be  employed  with  these  ends  in  view.  To  this  is  due 
some  of  the  buying  and  selling  of  human  beings  as 
chattels ;  for  should  no  son  be  born  to  a  man  he  often 
purchases  one  from  poor  parents  and  adopts  him  as 
his  own.  Girls  are  also  bought  to  become  daughters ; 
but  these  can  scarcely  be  looked  upon  as  slaves,  as 
they  become  the  children  of  the  family  into  which 
they  are  adopted,  and  are  in  no  more  bondage  than  the 
children  born  in  the  family  itself. 

A  species  of  debt-slavery  exists  to  some  extent  in 
China,  where  a  man  will  give  his  son  to  his  creditor  either 
to  adopt  or  to  be  his  slave,  or  his  daughter  for  either  a 
slave  or  a  domestic  slave  (See  below)  in  full  settlement  of 
the  debt  ;  and  in  some  provinces  (but  not  in  Kwang- 
tung)  a  wife  is  even  given  to  be  a  concubine  for  the  same 
purpose. 

A  species  of  domestic  slavery  exists  to  a  very  large 

624 


Slavery 

extent:  there  is  scarcely  a  family  of  good  means  in  Hong- 
kong, Canton,  or  Macao  but  what  possesses  one  or  often 
several  slave-girls.  It  must,  in  all  fairness  to  the  Chinese, 
be  said  that  this  domestic  slave-girl  system  is  a  very  mild 
form  of  slavery,  as  we  understand  that  word.  The  girls 
are  as  a  rule  purchased  from  their  parents,  who  probably 
sell  them  on  account  of  poverty ;  they  are  sold  when 
they  are  young,  at  any  age,  some  as  young  as  three 
years,  and  from  that  up  to  fifteen  ;  but  seven,  eight,  or  ten, 
is  a  common  age.  It  is  better  to  buy  them  young,  as  they 
might  otherwise  run  home.  The  prices  range  from  ten  or 
twenty  to  a  hundred  dollars,  the  larger  amounts  being 
given  for  good-looking  ones,  as  they  will  bring  in  a  larger 
number  of  presents  (at  their  marriage)  to  the  family,  and 
thus  possibly  recoup  the  owner  with  a  two-  or  three-fold 
amount  of  money  on  their  purchase  price,  besides  the 
owner  having  the  use  of  them  as  domestic  servants  for  ten 
or  more  years  without  wages,  food  and  clothing  being  the 
only  outlay  on  them.  As  to  lodging,  it  is  not  worth  while 
taking  account  of  that,  for  Chinese  servants,  like  dogs  or 
cats,  can  sleep  almost  anywhere  and  everywhere. 

These  transactions  often  take  place  through  go-betweens. 
It  is  somewhat  safer,  in  such  cases,  to  have  a  broker  of 
human  flesh,  as  a  charge  of  kidnapping  might  be  more 
difficult  to  bring ;  for  when  there  is  a  go-between  the 
rule  is  that  a  deed  of  sale  is  drawn  up,  which  is 
held  by  the  purchaser.  It  sometimes  happens,  but 
not  often,  that  the  parents  stipulate  that  they  shall 
be  at  liberty  to  come  and  see  the  girl ;  but  this  stipulation, 
if  made,  is  not  reduced  to  writing,  as  it  would  obviously 
clash  with  the  interests  of  the  purchaser  to  have  the 
mother  coming  about  interviewing  the  girl  and  hearing 
her  complaints. 

Should  such  a  verbal  agreement  as  the  above  have 
been  come  to,  the  girl's  parents  are  consulted  about  her 
marriage,  otherwise,  for  the  ten  or  fifteen  years,  the 
girl  is  virtually  and  actually  the  property  of  her  master  or 
mistress,  and  is  an  asset  not  realised,  under  the  ordinary 

625  2  R 


Things  Chinese 

circumstances  of  life,  until  her  marriage,  though  realisable, 
and  should  reverses  in  business  reduce  the  family,  it 
would  be  in  the  power  of  its  head  to  sell  her  just  as  her 
parents  originally  sold  her.  At  the  same  time  this  is  not 
often  done.  A  clause  is  often  inserted  in  the  agreement, 
that  the  girl  is  not  to  be  sold  into  prostitution ;  but, 
should  this  clause  have  been  omitted,  the  parents  are 
powerless  to  prevent  it  in  practice. 

Arrived  at  marriageable  age,  the  girl  is  married,  and 
thus  ends  her  domestic  servitude. 

If  chance  has  thrown  her  into  the  hands  of  a  fairly 
kind  mistress  her  lot  may  not  be  such  a  dreadful  one,  but 
instances  occur  of  brutal  mistresses  half  murdering  their 
poor  little  slave-girls,  even  in  the  British  Colony  of  Hong- 
kong. Theoretically,  of  course,  there  are  no  slaves  in 
Hongkong,  as  it  is  British  territory,  but  practically  there 
are  thousands  of  them.  All  the  young  maid-servants  that 
follow  their  mistresses'  sedan  chairs,  and  that  go  about 
with  little  children,  belong  to  this  class.  No  young 
unmarried  free  women  go  out  into  service,  though  old 
women  do. 

These  little  slave-girls  are  the  most  numerous  class  of 
slaves  in  China.  While  mentioning  the  female  sex,  it  may 
be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  nearly  all  prostitutes  are 
slaves,  the  property  of  their  mistresses,  the  keepers  of  the 
houses  of  ill-fame  in  which  they  reside,  having  often  been 
kidnapped,  or  deceived  by  promises  of  work  being  found 
for  them  as  seamstresses,  and  thus  inveigled  into  the 
clutches  of  the  old  harridans  who  run  these  establishments. 
So  completely  do  they  come  under  the  power  of  these 
pests  of  society,  and  so  cowed  and  frightened  are  they 
by  the  threats  and  intimidations  of  their  mistresses,  that 
even  in  Hongkong,  where  notices  were  put  up  in  all  the 
registered  houses  of  that  character  that  all  were  free— yet, 
notwithstanding  this,  and  the  fact  that  they  are  theoretic- 
ally free  to  go  and  see  the  Registrar-General  and  Protector 
of  Chinese,  whose  duty  it  is,  once  knowing  their  wrongs, 
to  have  them  righted,  they  but  seldom,  in  proportion  to 

626 


Slavery 

their  numbers,  avail  themselves  of  their  rights,  and  when 
brought  up  before  him,  almost  invariably  say  they  enter  on 
such  a  life  freely.  (Before  being  allowed  to  enter  as 
inmates  of  these  houses,  all  appear  before  this  official,  or 
his  assistant,  in  order  to  have  a  chance,  if  they  will 
avail*  themselves  of  it,  of  stating  their  unwillingness  to  be 
coerced  into  a  life  of  shame.)  And  though  every  Chinese 
woman  that  goes  abroad,  as  a  common  emigrant,  is 
questioned  and  examined  as  to  her  willingness  to  go,  yet 
but  few,  who  are  being  taken  against  their  will,  avail 
themselves  of  the  chance  of  recovering  their  freedom.  It 
seems  as  if  it  would  take  centuries  to  educate  the  Chinese 
people  into  an  idea  of  what  personal  freedom  is,  and  what 
the  liberty  of  the  subject  means,  as  regards  the  female  sex. 
The  cases  of  little  boys  sold  to  be  servants  is  even 
worse  than  that  of  the  servant-girls,  as  they  do  not  have 
marriage  to  look  forward  to,  to  set  them  free  and  end 
their  life  of  servitude.  They  are  slaves  for  ever,  unless 
they  purchase  their  freedom. 

'The  Manchu  code  does  not  recognise  the  right  of  the  slave  to 
free  himself  by  his  labour,  nor  punish  the  master  who  refuses 
affranchisement.  There  is,  in  short,  no  regulation  on  the  subject  (in 
practice  the  slave  frequently  purchases  his  body  with  his  peculiutn, 
which  is  usually,  though  not  legally,  held  to  be  the  slave's  own 
property).  •  .  •  Many  Chinese  allow  their  slaves  to  embark  in  trade, 
and  ransom  themselves  with  the  profits.' 

In  ancient  times,  in  China,  there  were  State  slaves, 
but  banishment  now  takes  the  place  of  the  Government 
slavery  to  a  large  extent.  Priestesses,  however,  who 
found  a  new  nunnery  without  the  sanction  of  Govern- 
ment, become  the  slaves  of  Government. 

'  The  wives,  children,  and  relatives  in  the  first  degree  of  rebels 
are  given  as  slaves  to  Government  officers.  .  .  .  Slaves  are  composed 
of(i)  prisoners  of  war  ;  (2)  those  who  sell  themselves  or  are  sold  ;  (3) 
the  children  of  slaves.'  The  first  are  now  rare.  We  have  spoken  of 
some  already  who  come  under  the  second  heading.  '  Though  the 
penal  code  forbids  the  sale  of  free  persons,  even  by  a  husband,  a  father, 
or  a  grandfather,  the  number  of  persons  whom  misery  forces  to  sell 
themselves  or  be  sold  is  considerable.  The  punishment  varies  from 
84  to  90  blows,  and  banishment  for  i\  years,  according  to  the  relation 
existing  between  seller  and  sold.  The  punishment  is  one  degree  less 

627 


Things  Chinese 

when  the  person  sold  consents,  but  young  children  are  exempt  from 
all  punishment,  though  they  may  have  consented,  on  account  of  the 
obedience  due  to  their  older  relations,  and  must  be  returned  to  their 
families.  .  .  .  Though  to  keep  a  free  man  or  lost  child  as  a  slave, 
or  to  give  or  take  in  hire  a  wife  or  daughter,  are  severely  punishable, 
the  adoption  of  stolen  or  lost  children  and  the  sale  of  free  children  and 
inferior  wives  are  daily  transactions  in  China.  Inundation^  and 
famines  are  the  chief  cause.  Every  slave  born  in  a  house  belongs  to 
his  master  or  his  heir  ;  to  detain  a  runaway  slave  is  punishable. 
Players  and  brothel-keepers  recruit  their  numbers  from  this  class,  as 
they  are  forbidden  by  the  code  to  purchase  free  men  or  women  for 
their  professions.  .  .  .  The  inferior  wife  ranks  above  a  slave  ;  she  is 
married  with  fewer  formalities  than  the  first  wife  under  whose  orders 
she  is  put.  The  husband  can  only  dismiss  her  for  certain  specified 
reasons  ;  but  in  practice  inferior  wives  are  frequently  sold.' 

No  property  is  divisible  during  the  period  of  mourning, 
but  after  that  is  over,  if  the  different  sons  of  the  deceased 
wish  to  separate,  they  are  at  liberty  to  do  so,  and  the  eldest 
son  then  divides  the  property  amongst  them  equally, 
whether  they  be  sons  of  the  first  wife  or  of  inferior  wives  or 
of  slaves.  '  We  may  add  that  such  slaves  by  the  birth  of 
children  become  in  China  ipso  facto  inferior  wives.' 

Slaves  are  not  allowed  to  be  married  to  free  girls. 
In  a  general  way  it  may  be  said  that  slaves  convicted 
of  crime  are  punished  more  severely  than  if  they  were  free, 
while  crimes  committed  against  slaves  meet  with  a  lighter 
punishment  than  if  committed  against  free  men.  '  Masters 
may  beat  their  slaves  or  hired  servants  at  pleasure.' 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  during  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  large  numbers  of  black  slaves  of  both 
sexes  from  the  East  Indian  Archipelago  '  were  purchased 
by  the  great  houses  of  Canton,  to  serve  as  gate-keepers.' 
They  were  called  'devil  slaves'  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  the  term  '  foreign  devil,'  so  freely  used  by  the  Chinese 
for  foreigners,  may  have  had  this  origin.  In  the  T'ang 
dynasty  even,  it  is  said  that  they  were  kept  in  large 
numbers  by  the  Chinese.  Three  pages  in  a  Chinese  work, 
'  The  Kwangtung  San  Yu,'  are  taken  up  with  an  account 
of  them,  and  other  Chinese  books  notice  them  as  well. 

There  is  a  curious  slang  phrase  in  use  for  slaves ;  it  is 
'  two  candarins  and  two  lis,'  used  for  example  in  this  way  : — 
'  they  were  two  candarins  and  two  lis,'  equivalent  to  saying 

628 


Snakes 

'  They  were  slaves.'  This  strange  term  is  said  to  have 
arisen  towards  the  close  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  during  the 
troublous  times,  when  a  Chinese  took  advantage  of  his 
opportunity,  and,  representing  himself  as  a  General  of 
the  Manchus,  levied  an  impost  on  each  inhabitant  of  the 
villages  of  three  candarins,  but,  finding  that  the  slaves  in 
these  -warlike  times  were  mostly  poor  and  neglected,  he 
reduced  the  amount  to  be  paid  by  them  to  two  candarins 
and  two  lis,  hence  the  name. 

Books  recommended.  — '  Memoir  on  the  condition  of  Slaves  and  Hired 
Servants  in  China,'  by  M.  E.  Biot,  in  Chinese  Hejwsitory,  July  1849.  Mr. 
Parker  gives  the  pith  of  this  article  by  M.  Biot  in  '  Excursus,  No.  6 — Slaves,' 
in  his  'Comparative  Chinese  Family  Law.' 

SNAKES. — The  ophidians  of  China  are  worthy  of  a 
treatise  to  themselves.  They  abound,  though  we  question 
whether  the  mortality  from  snake-bites  is  as  fearfully  great 
as  in  India.  Not  that  there  are  no  poisonous  ones  to  be 
found,  for  there  are  many  of  them  as  well  as  of  harmless 
ones. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  cobras.  The  common 
cobra  (Naja  tripudians]  is  found  in  Hongkong ;  its  bite  is 
fatal ;  and  it  grows  to  6  feet  4  inches  or  more  in  length.  It 
was  thought  at  one  time  that  the  cobra  was  not  a  native 
of  China,  but  had  been  simply  introduced  in  some  cargo 
brought  by  a  ship  from  some  foreign  port ;  but  this  is 
doubtless  a  mistake,  as  they  are,  we  believe,  to  be  found 
in  the  country  as  well  as  in  Hongkong.  The  author 
saw  one  some  years  since  on  the  Mount  Kellett  Road. 
Even  the  rare  black  variety  has  been  killed  in  Hong- 
kong. 

Another  snake  whose  bite  is  usually  fatal  is  what  is 
known  as  the  Bungarus  fasciatus.  It  grows  in  length  to 
8  feet  6  inches,  and  appears  to  be  common  in  Hongkong 
and  neighbourhood.  It  has  been  described  as  '  handsomely 
marked  with  alternate  rings  of  bright  yellow  and  black/ 
though  to  the  casual  observer  alternate  rings  of  white  and 
black  would  seem  to  be  a  more  accurate  description.  The 
ring  of  white  is  about  half  an  inch  wide  on  the  top  of  its 

629 


Things  Chinese 

back,  while  the  black  is  about  an  inch  and  a  half  wide.     It 
is  said  to  frequent  swampy  ground. 

Another  species  of  the  Bungarus  is  also  found  in  Hong- 
kong, the  B.  semifasciatus,  whose  bite  is  also  fatal.  It  is 
a  smaller  snake  than  the  last,  only  growing  to  about  4  feet 
in  length ;  it  also  has  alternate  rings  of  the  same  colours  as 
the  larger  snake. 

The  Hamadryad,  or  king  cobra,  or  snake-eating  cobra, 
the  Naja  bungarus  vel  opJiiophagus  elaps,  is  rarer  than  any 
of  the  above  snakes  in  Hongkong,  we  are  thankful  to  say  ; 
for  its  bite  is  as  deadly  as  that  of  the  cobra  ;  and  it 
frequently  attacks  man  when  disturbed  ;  a  case  is  even  re- 
corded of  its  following  a  man  in  South  America,  if  we  re- 
member rightly,  for  the  considerable  distance  of  a  mile  or 
two.  It  is  the  largest  known  poisonous  snake  in  the  world. 
A  young  specimen  is  in  the  City  Hall  Museum,  Hong- 
kong, and  a  fairly  large  one  was  killed  in  the  New  Territory 
of  this  Colony,  a  few  years  since,  and  another  just  recently. 

One  of  the  prettiest  snakes,  and  very  common,  is  the 
beautiful,  bright-green  bamboo-snake,  or  green  pit  viper, 
Trimeresurus  gramineus.  The  shape  of  its  head  shows  it 
to  be  poisonous  ;  but  it  is  stated  that  its  bite  is  not  usually 
fatal  to  a  healthy  adult,  though  producing  serious 
symptoms.  It  is  common  in  Burma  as  well.  The  largest 
known  specimen  recorded  is  3  feet  8  inches,  though  it  is 
seldom  seen  in  Hongkong  more  than  a  foot  or  18  inches  in 
length.  The  only  specimen  the  author  has  ever  seen  in 
the  grass,  though  he  has  seen  many  on  the  paths,  was 
dead,  and  then  one  was  close  on  it  before  distinguishing 
it  ;  but  when  alive  its  emerald  green  colour  on  the  back 
(it  is  white  on  the  belly)  must  make  it  extremely  difficult 
to  see.  The  Gardins  is  a  snake  not  often  seen  ;  but  it  is 
found  in  Hongkong  and  elsewhere  in  the  Kwongtung 
Province.  It  is  said  by  the  Chinese  to  be  the  most  deadly 
of  all  snakes,  no  cure  being  possible  for  its  bite.  It  is 
even  found  on  the  house-tops,  or  roofs,  rather.  Its  name 
in  Chinese  is  feet  seen  she,  or  iron-wire  snake ;  it  is 
generally  black  in  colour ;  but  is  also  seen  of  a  sort  of 

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Snakes 

rusty  brown  shade,  is  about  7  or  8  inches  in  length,  and  of 
the  size  of  a  thick  piece  of  iron  wire. 

The  Python,  Python  reticulatus,  or  diamond-marked 
Python^  is  also  found  in  Hongkong  in  the  jungle,  or  woods, 
growing  in  the  Happy  Valley,  or  near  Stanley.  Two 
specimens  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Museum,  12  and  14  feet 
in  length,  as  well  as  one,  bottled  and  preserved  in  spirits. 
As  the  City  of  Hongkong  grows  in  size,  the  snakes  are  driven 
back  from  the  roads  and  adjacent  hill-sides.  Snakes,  which 
used  to  be  occasionally  seen  in  the  Bonham  and  Kennedy 
Roads,  scarcely  ever  appear  now ;  more  especially  is  this 
the  case  on  the  Mount  Kellett  Road,  in  the  Peak  District 
where  a  few  years  ago  it  was  a  most  common  sight  to  find 
a  snake  or  to  '  meet  one,'  as  a  Continental  lady  once 
described  such  an  encounter,  in  the  author's  hearing; 
whereas  now  it  is  very  rarely  indeed  that  one  sets  eyes 
on  one  on  that  road,  or  to  find  them,  as  one  occasionally 
used  to,  in  the  basement  of  one's  house  at  the  Peak. 

Specimens  of  the  following  snakes  found  in  Hongkong 
are  to  be  seen  in  the  City  Hall  Museum  : — 

Naja  tripudians,  Tropidonotus  stolatus. 

Ptyasmucosiis.  T.  subminatus. 

Bungarus  fasdatus.  Homalopsis  buccata. 

B.  semifasciatus.  Dipsas  multimaculata. 

Python  reticulatus.  Cyclophis  major. 

Pelamis  bicolor.  F areas  Icevis. 

Compoossomia  radiatum.  Hydrus  major. 

Trimeresus  erytlirurus.  Gardins. 

T.  gramineus.  Typhlops  braminus. 
OpJiiophagus  elaps. 

Captain  Wall,  I. M.S.,  mentions  other  snakes,  'the 
Callophis  macclellandi,  a  small  and  very  beautiful  little 
snake — bite  not  likely  to  be  fatal  .  .  .  the  Ancistrodon 
blomhoffi  vel  Halys  blomhoffi,  a  pit  viper,  found  in  Japan, 
Formosa,  and  China.'  The  following  cutting  also  mentions 
yet  another  kind  : — 

'  A  poisonous  snake  was  killed  by  a  Goorkha  in  a  field  behind  the 

631 


Things  Chinese 

camp  at  Shanghai,  last  week.  It  was  a  specimen  of  the  Dakota 
elegans  (Russell's  viper),  and  its  bite  is  one  of  the  most  rapidly  fatal  to 
man  and  the  lower  animals.  A  suggestion  is  made  that  this  viper 
came  from  India  in  the  fodder  brought  for  the  use  of  the  horses,  but 
the  species  is  said  not  to  be  rare  in  Mid-China.' 

Snakes  form  an  article  of  diet  in  some  parts  of  the 
country.     (See  Article  on  Food.) 

SNIPE. — Snipe  are  common  in  some  parts  of  China. 
The  following  is  an  account  of  them  from  the  pen  of  a 
naturalist  who  resided  for  many  years  in  the  East :  — 

'  Six  species  of  true  snipe  are  to  be  met  with  in  this  part  of  China 
[Hongkong],  but  the  sportsman  rarely  comes  across  more  than  the 
following  three  varieties  :  Winter,  Swinhoe,  Pintailed. 

'  ist. — The  Common  or  Winter  Snipe. —Is  generally  to  be  found  on 
marsh  or  wet  land,  from  November  to  March.  Length,  bill  to  tail,  io£ 
inches.  Weight,  4  to  4^  ounces.  Feathers,  14  in  tail,  all  ordinary 
full-sized. 

'2nd. — Swinhoe's  Snipe. — Is  one  of  the  two  migratory  (spring  and 
autumn)  species  ;  is  to  be  found  on  grass  land,  in  bean  fields,  etc. 
Spring,  1 5th  April  to  I2th  May.  Autumn,  August  and  September. 
Length,  bill  to  tail,  1 1£  to  12  inches.  Weight,  6  to  8j  ounces.  Feathers, 
20  tail  feathers,  of  which  8  central  are  ordinary  or  winter,  12  (6  on 
each  side)  are  stiff  and  narrow. 

'  3rd. — Pintailed  Snipe. — Is  the  second  of  the  two  migratory  species  ; 
is  to  be  found  frequenting  the  same  haunts  as  the  Swinhoe's, and  in  their 
company,  and  migrates  practically  at  the  same  seasons,  that  is  to  say, 
that  in  a  day's  bag  both  species  will  probably  be  found.  Length,  bill 
to  tail,  \o\  to  II  inches.  Weight,  5  ounces  and  up.  Feathers,  26  tail 
feathers,  10  central  are  ordinary  or  winter,  16  (8  on  each  side)  are 
very  short,  narrow  and  stiff ;  with  scarcely  any  web.  These  webless 
feathers  are /zVzj,  from  which  the  bird  is  named. 

'Winter  birds  have  more  white  on  the  breast  than,  and  are  not  so 
much  barred  under  the  wings  as,  the  more  popular  immigrants.  Rut 
the  great  point  of  distinction,  always  reliable,  lies  in  the  tail  feathers. 
Roughly  speaking,  a  Pintail  is  an  ounce  heavier  than  the  Winter, 
and  an  ounce  less  than  the  Swinhoe? 

The  great  and  common  snipe  is  termed  Gallinago 
megala  (Swinhoe)  and  G.  scolopacina  (Bp.)  and  Totanus 
calidres. 


SOCIETIES. — The  Chinese  are  fully  aware  of  the 
force  of  the  adage  that  '  union  is  strength,'  and  have  not 
a  few  different  forms  of  associations,  societies,  and  guilds. 
One  of  the  most  common,  at  all  events  in  the  South,  is 

63- 


Societies 

the  Money  Loan  Association.  Foreigners  have  consider- 
able difficulty  in  understanding  this  form  of  Association, 
as  the  arrangements  connected  with  it  seem  complicated  ; 
but,  when  once  understood,  are  simple  enough.  There 
are  several  kinds  of  Money  Loan  Associations,  but  the 
most  common  is  the  Yf-wuf  (pronounced  Ye-wooee). 
These  Associations  form  a  ready  and  convenient  means 
for  Chinese  to  obtain,  what  is  to  them,  a  large  sum  of 
money  when  the  exigencies  of  business  or  their  social 
customs,  such  as  those  connected  with  marriage,  make  it 
necessary  for  them  to  procure  a  larger  sum  of  ready  cash 
for  use  than  can  easily  be  obtained  in  any  other  way. 

Supposing  then,  by  way  of  example,  that  A  requires  a 
sum    of  money,   say   $100,    he   or  she   then    (for   women 
engage  more  largely  in  these  Associations  even  than  men) 
invites  a  number  of  friends  or  acquaintances  to  join  with 
him  or  her  in  forming  a  Money  Loan   Association,  they 
becoming  members  or  shareholders  while  A  is  the  Head  of 
the   Association.      Should    the    sum    fixed    upon    as    the 
amount  of  the  periodical  contribution  or  share  be  $5,  then 
A,  having  invited  twenty  others  to  join  as  members,  will 
get  the  sum  of  money  he  requires,  for  twenty  times  $5  is 
$100.     A  enrols  the  names  of  all  in  a  book,  with  amounts 
and    dates    of    payments,   totals,  and    particulars  of  the 
Association.     Sometimes  a  page  of  this  book  is  devoted  to 
each    meeting   of  the  Association  and  the  accounts  con- 
nected therewith.      Each    member   has    likewise   a   small 
book,  a  pass-book,  supplied  by  A,  who  fills  it  up.     Each 
member  is  expected  to  bring  his  little  book  with  him  to 
each   meeting  so  that  the  necessary  particulars  may  be 
entered    in    it,  in  the  event  of  his  obtaining  the  money. 
The  date  is  written  in  the  centre  of  the  yellow  cover  of  the 
book,   or   at   least  the  year   and    month,  and    the  words 
'  started  on  a  lucky  day '  below  the  last,  while  at  the  left- 
hand  end  of  the  cover  is  put  the  name  of  the  person  to 
whom  the  book  belongs.     The  Head  has  a  similar  book. 
These  books  have  printed  forms  at  the  beginning,  contain- 
ing  a   preamble,  giving,  in   rather   a  vague   manner,  the 

633 


Things  Chinese 

origin  of  these  Associations,  followed,  for  the  guidance  of 
those  entering  into  them,  by  the  rules,  with  blanks  for  the 
insertion  of  the  amount  of  the  contribution  or  share,  and 
any  other  matters  incident  to  each  particular  Association. 
At  all  events,  whatever  else  may  be  omitted,  a  list  of 
members  appears  in  the  book,  a  name  being  allotted  to 
each  column  and  placed  at  the  top  of  the  column.  A 
number  of  blank  pages  follow  for  the  entries  of  dates  and 
contributions,  or  subscriptions,  as  they  might  be  termed, 
or  payments.  In  well-kept  books,  by  careful  persons  for 
instance,  the  drawing  is  sometimes  put  just  below  the 
name  of  the  person  who  draws,  at  times,  in  the  following 
manner :  '  Second  drawing,  interest  money  80  cents. 
Received  small  shares  (that  is  payments  from  persons  who 
have  not  yet  drawn),  twelve  shares  (besides  the  drawer's 
own  share),  and  one  large  share '  (that  is  a  payment  from 
some  one  who  has  already  drawn). 

One  of  the  most  common  times  for  the  periods  of 
payments  is  by  the  month,  though  fortnightly  Associa- 
tions are  not  uncommon  :  quarterly  ones  are  known,  and 
even  annual  ones  are  formed  by  wealthy  men  for  large 
sums  of  money. 

Let  it  be  supposed  that  the  one  which  A  forms  is  a 
monthly  one.     A  certain  day  of  the  month  is  fixed  upon 
for    the    future    meetings,   and    no   alteration    is   allowed 
subsequently,  '  no   matter   how  unfavourable   the  weather 
may  be,'  as  the  Chinese  rule  puts  it.     Intercalary  months 
are  not  counted,  though  sometimes  an  exception  is  made 
to  the  rule.     In  that  case   the   rule  should  be  expunged 
from   the   book.     The    members   are   apprised    by   notice 
being   sent   to   them    by   the    Head,   requesting   them    to 
prepare  their  share  and  take  it  to  the  meeting  for  collec- 
tion.    The    money    is    examined    in    the    presence   of  the 
members.     No  set-off  of  private  debts  is  allowed  or  any- 
thing in  the  nature  of  a  pledge,  but  the  money  must  be 
actually   paid.      '  Should    any   of  the    members    be    kept 
back  by  any  important  business,  he  must  send  one  of  his 
friends  to  represent  him  and  pay  his  share  of  the  money.' 

634 


Societies 

Each  of  the  members  then  pays  to  A  the  sum  of  $5,  the 
nominal    amount  of  their  monthly  contribution,  and   for 
the  first  month  the  actual  amount.     On  the  first  occasion 
A    keeps  the  money,  viz.  $100,  as  that  is  the  reason  he 
has  formed  the  Association,  and  it  is  the  prerogative  of  the 
Head    of  the  Association    to   have   the   use   of  the   first 
monthly  amount  of  money  subscribed,  or  paid   in.     Also 
by  virtue  of  his  being  the  Head,  he  gets  this  money  with- 
out needing  to  pay  any  interest  on  it — in  short,  he  gets  the 
full    amount   of  $5    from    each    of  the   twenty    members. 
What  follows  will  explain  more  fully  what  is  meant  here. 
This  privilege  is  accorded  to  him  as  a  set-off  for  the  work 
to  be  done,  and  trouble  to  be  taken,  by  him,  on  behalf  of 
the  Association.     The  money  is  his  for  any  use  to  which 
he  likes  to  apply  it.     In  fact,  it  is  a  loan  made  to  him  by 
all    of  the  twenty  members,  each    contributing   his  share 
($5)   to    it ;    but  having  thus  secured  the   loan,  he   com- 
mences   the   very    next    month    to    repay  it,   in    monthly 
instalments  of  $5.     He  does  not,  however,  hand   this  $5 
separately  to  a  separate  creditor  each  month  until  he  has 
paid  the  whole  twenty ;  but  he  does  what  is  tantamount 
to  the  same  thing,  he  pays  in  $5  each  month  into  the  funds 
of  the  Association — the  funds  are,  of  course,  the  aggregate 
of  the  monthly  payments  in   by  the  Head  and  members 
of  the  Association,  which  A  as    Head   is  responsible  for, 
and  holds  in  trust  for  the  members.     It  is  equivalent  to  a 
personal   payment  of  his  debt  to  each  member,  because 
each  member  obtains   the    loan  of  all  the  monthly  con- 
tributions of  that  month  in  which  he,  the  member,  draws 
the    money,  consequently   this     5    goes   each    month    to 
liquidate  in  rotation  every  member  for  the  $5  originally 
paid  in  to  A,  and  which  A  drew  out  for  his  own  use ;  for 
each    member,  as    has   already   been    said,   draws   out   in 
rotation  the  monthly  sum  made  up  of  all  the  payments  in. 
In  other  words,  when   B  draws  out  the  amount  of  money 
in   the  second  month,  in  that  sum,  made  up  of  the  pay- 
ments in  by  the  other  members,  is  also  the  sum  of  85  paid 
in  by  the  Head,  which  item  of  $5  is  in  repayment  of  the 

635 


Things  Chinese 

» 

$5  he,  B,  paid  in  the  first  month  to  A,  the  Head,  which, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  A  drew  out  for  his  own  use  along 
with  all  the  other  items  of  $5  paid  in  by  the  other 
members.  A  and  B  are  therefore  quits — his,  B's,  loan,  has 
been  refunded  to  him  ;  and  the  same  thing  happens  with 
C  the  next  month,  that  is  the  third  month,  and  the  same 
with  D  the  month  after,  and  so  on  with  all  the  members, 
till  all  are  repaid ;  and,  in  fact,  at  the  end  of  twenty 
months  A  has  repaid  the  whole  of  the  $100. 

But  what  makes  the  matter  appear  complicated  is  that 
B,  C,  and  D,  and  all  the  rest,  get  loans,  and  on  their  part 
repay — in  reality  each  one,  except  the  Head,  lends  to 
everyone  else,  and  each  one,  including  the  Head,  borrows 
from  everyone  else,  and  as  soon  as  each  one  borrows,  each 
one,  except  the  last,  then  commences  to  repay  everyone 
else.  This  seems  confusion  worse  confounded,  and  the 
maze  appears  too  intricate  to  the  European  observer,  as  he 
sees  in  his  mind's  eye  each  member  transformed,  after  the 
first  month,  one  by  one,  from  a  lender  into  a  receiver,  a 
borrower,  and  a  payer-back.  It  is,  however,  simple 
enough  ;  and  the  clue  to  the  maze  is  to  be  found  in  fixing 
on  one  member  at  a  time,  as  we  have  done  with  the  Head, 
and  following  this  one  member  through  all  the  intricacies 
until,  with  the  close  of  the  Association,  his  accounts  are  all 
settled,  at  the  same  time  resolutely  closing  our  eyes  to  the 
action  of  the  Head  and  other  members,  except  inasmuch 
as  they  affect  the  actions  and  money  of  the  one  member 
we  are  following. 

Let  us  then  take  B.  How  does  he  get  his  loan  ?  He 
is  not  the  Head :  he  cannot  draw  the  money  as  the  Head 
would  at  the  very  start  without  paying  any  interest  for  it, 
but,  by  virtue  of  being  a  member,  he  is  entitled  to  the 
loan.  All  the  members  are,  however,  equally  entitled. 
What  shall  decide  the  respective  times  at  which  they  are 
permitted  to  draw  ?  The  rule  is,  after  the  Head  has  had 
his,  that  the  drawings  of  loans  every  month  shall  be  by 
tender,  and  the  highest  bidder  shall  get  it.  This  seems  a 
very  fair  rule,  as  the  man  or  woman  most  in  want  of  money 

636 


Societies 

is  likely  to  offer  the  most  for  it.  These  tenders  are  then 
put  in  at  every  meeting  by  the  members  desirous  of 
drawing  the  money,  except  at  the  first  and  last  meetings. 
At  the  first,  as  has  already  been  seen,  the  Head  has  it  by 
right,  at  the  last  it  devolves,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  the 
residuary  member,  as  all  the  rest  have  drawn.  The  tenders 
for  the  loan  are  written  on  any  kind  of  paper.  If  sent  by 
another's  hand  they  are  enclosed  in  an  envelope,  and  the 
name  should  be  written  on  the  paper  as  well  as  the  price 
tendered.  If  the  member  is  present  in  person  he  may 
write  it  at  the  time  of  handing  it  in,  but  in  that  case  he 
need  only  write  the  amount  on  it  without  his  name,  and  no 
envelope  is  required.  The  Head  of  the  Association  opens 
the  tenders,  which  are  placed  on  the  table  before  him,  in 
the  presence  of  the  members,  who  see  them.  The  highest 
tender  is  taken,  and  should  two  be  equal  in  amount  the 
first  opened  is  considered  as  the  successful  one.  It  is  not 
compulsory  on  all  the  members  to  tender  each  time,  but 
the  tendency  is  for  most  to  do  so,  as,  if  there  is  a  demand 
for  the  money,  one  who  is  in  actual  want  of  it,  seeing  so 
many  present,  will,  though  he  may  not  know  what  the 
others  have  offered,  make  a  big  bid  in  order  to  overtop 
theirs,  and  thus,  though  the  others  may  not  have  cared  for 
the  money,  yet,  by  their  presence  and  tendering,  they  have 
raised  the  interest  which  they  will  each  obtain  for  that 
loan.  In  short,  a  monthly  loan  is  given  by  the  Association 
in  rotation  to  each  of  its  members,  and  this  rotation  is 
conditioned  by  the  highest  bid  offered  on  each  occasion, 
as  explained  above.  In  the  second  month  we  will  suppose 
then  that  B  writes  on  a  piece  of  paper — '  Offers  interest,  50 
cents,'  and  hands  this  in  ;  we  will  further  suppose  that  this 
is  the  highest  amount  offered,  consequently  B  obtains  the 
loan.  Sometimes  three  days  of  grace  are  allowed  for 
payment  in  of  the  money  after  the  tenders  have  been 
opened,  but  it  often  happens  that  the  contributions  have 
to  be  paid  in  immediately  after  the  tendering  is  over.  In 
this  case  then  B  pays  nothing  in,  as  he  is  obtaining  a 
loan :  the  Head  pays  his  $5,  as  he  does  every  month 

637 


Things  Chinese 

after;  but  all  the  other  members  pay,  not  $5,  the  nominal 
amount  of  their  contributions,  but  $4.50,  that  is  to  say,  they 
each  deduct  the  fifty  cents  offered  as  interest.  (Looking 
at  it  in  one  way,  they  thus  get  their  interest  in  advance,  as 
it  were,  and,  should  the  Association  come  to  grief,  their 
loss,  if  they  do  not  recover  their  money,  is  not  quite  so 
great,  though,  as  will  be  seen  from  what  is  said  further  on, 
it  would  be  better  to  say  they  each  only  lend  $4.50,  the 
borrower  having  to  pay  $5  for  each  of  these  sums  of  $4.50, 
thus  repaying  principal  and  interest.)  These  amounts  are 
handed  to  the  Head,  who,  after  collecting  them,  pays 
them  over  to  B  along  with  his,  the  Head's  own  $5,  making 
a  total  of  $4.50  x  19 +  $5  =$90.50.  This  then  is  the  loan 
that  B  draws.  On  each  occasion  after  this  B  pays  the 
full  amount  of  the  contribution,  $5.  It  will  thus  be  seen 
that  by  doing  so  he  pays  the  interest  on  his  loan  ;  for 
every  subsequent  drawing  by  a  member  contains,  of  course, 
amongst  the  different  items  of  which  it  is  made  up,  one  of 
85  from  B  ;  and  as  the  subsequent  drawer,  however,  only 
paid  into  the  Association  84.50  on  the  occasion  that  B 
drew,  he,  the  subsequent  drawer,  consequently  has  got  paid 
back  to  him  $5  for  the  $4.50,  i.e.,  the  50  cents  for  interest 
that  B  offered,  and  which  was  accepted,  as  his,  B's,  tender 
was  the  highest  on  that  occasion.  It  will  be  remembered 
though  that  B  originally  paid  $5  to  A  on  the  first  drawing 
when  A  took  the  drawing  by  right  of  being  the  Head.  As 
we  have  already  said,  A  pays  85  every  time  after  the  first, 
consequently  B  has  got  his  $5  back  from  A,  the  exact  sum 
he,  as  one  of  the  members,  had  loaned  to  him  through  the 
Association,  for,  as  we  have  already  said,  A,  being  the 
Head,  pays  no  interest,  so  it  will  be  seen  A's  and  B's 
accounts  are  settled  as  regards  each  other.  B,  again,  by 
paying  in  85  every  month,  subsequent  to  the  one  in  which 
he  got  the  loan,  virtually  pays  the  other  members  back  the 
amounts  due  to  them  with  interest  as  above,  viz.,  nineteen 
monthly  instalments  of  85  ;  counting  in  that  he  has  already 
paid  $5  to  A,  as  we  have  just  pointed  out,  his  whole 
payments  therefore  are  85  *  19  +  85  =8100,  that  is  for  the 

638 


Societies 

$90.50,  and  its  use,  he  has  paid  $100,  i.e.,  $9.50  of  interest, 
which  is  a  very  cheap  rate  of  interest  for  China. 

With  regard  to  C.  Let  us  suppose  that  C  offers  25 
cents  interest,  and  his  tender,  being  the  highest  in  the 
third  month,  is  necessarily  accepted.  He  will  receive  A's 
$5,  and  he  receives  from  B  $5,  as  B  commences  this  month 
(see  above)  to  pay  85  ;  for  after  each  loan  obtained  each 
member  pays  the  full  amount  of  the  subscription.  From 
the  others,  eighteen  in  number,  C  receives  $4.75x18  = 
$85.50 ;  add  to  this  the  $10  above  and  it  makes  $95.50,  the 
whole  amount  which  the  Head  of  the  Association  hands  to 
him.  His  payments  are  as  follows  : — 

ist  month  to  A          ....  $5.00 

2nd  month  to  B         .         .         .         .  4.50 
3rd  month  nothing    . 

4th  to  2 ist  month,  18  months  @  85  =  90.00 

Total      ....     $99.50 

He  thus  pays  899.50  for  the  use  of  895.50,  i.e.,  $4  of 
interest. 

Let  us  now  take  T's  case,  the  twentieth  man  :  to  use 
an  Irishism  he  repays  his  loan  before  obtaining  it,  or,  in 
other  words,  he  pays  in  a  varying  sum  each  month,  after 
the  first  month,  dependent,  as  has  already  been  shown  in 
the  cases  of  B  and  C,  upon  the  amount  of  interest  offered. 
Of  course,  the  higher  the  interest  has  been  the  better  for  T, 
as  well  as  for  all  the  other  members  in  a  varying  degree. 
Suppose  the  interest  deducted  averaged  25  cents,  a  month, 
T's  payments  would  then  be  85  to  A  the  first  month,  and 
nineteen  payments  of  $4.75  =  890.25,  add  to  this  the  85  to  A 
=  895.25.  He  pays  that  amount  and  gets  8100  for  it.  In 
short,  the  other  members  have  been  using  his  money  and 
he  gets  paid  interest,  84-75,  f°r  its  use-  He  does  not  need 
to  tender  for  the  8100,  but  gets  it,  as  no  one  else  is  entitled 
to  it  but  him,  all  having  previously  drawn.  The  Associa- 
tion ends  with  him,  for  it  only  runs  as  long  as  there  are 
members,  as  soon  as  these  have  each  had  their  turn  at  a 

639 


Things  Chinese 

loan  the  Association  is  finished.  The  Society  has  thus  a 
twofold  character  :  that  of  a  borrowing  club  ;  and  that  of  a 
lending  club  :  for  there  is  a  regular  succession  of  borrowers, 
beginning  with  A,  and  a  body  of  lenders,  decreasing  in 
number  with  each  meeting.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  this 
Mutual  Loan  Benefit  Association  is  most  ingeniously 
arranged,  and  that  it  affords  exceptional  facilities  for 
obtaining  a  loan  on  easy  terms,  with  the  chances  to  the 
members  of  good  interest  and  easy  payments,  in  small 
sums  distributed  over  a  long  period.  It  needs  only  to  be 
added  that,  should  a  member  delay  his  payment,  the  Head 
of  the  Association  may  pay  it  for  him,  if  he  likes,  or  it  may 
stand  over  if  the  members  are  friendly  with  the  defaulting 
member  ;  should  any  member  die  before  drawing  his  loan, 
his  wife  or  children,  or,  in  default  of  them,  nearest  of  kin, 
may  continue  to  go  on  with  the  Association  in  the  place  of 
the  deceased,  on  condition  that  the  Head  of  the  Associa- 
tion approves  of  them  doing  so ;  but  if  the  Head  is  un- 
willing, then  the  heirs  must  wait  till  the  winding  up  of  the 
whole  affair,  when,  on  the  accounts  being  made  up,  it  will 
be  seen  how  many  payments  the  dead  man  had  made,  and 
a  sum  equivalent  to  an  equal  number  of  $5  payments  will 
be  made  to  them  :  should  he  already  have  obtained  his 
drawing  before  his  death,  his  heirs  are  required  to  make  the 
usual  monthly  payments  of  $5  to  repay  the  Association  ;  if 
they  are  not  able  to  do  so,  it  is  accepted  as  a  misfortune, 
the  Head  is  not  considered  liable,  as  a  Head  of  the 
Association,  and  the  members  only  suffer.  Should  it  be 
written  on  the  top  margin  of  the  book  that  '  should  any 
member  abscond,  the  principal  is  to  be  refunded  but  not 
the  interest,  any  accidents,  etc.,  are  to  be  taken  as  the  will 
of  God,'  then  the  Head  of  the  Association  has  to  conform 
to  this  rule,  but  otherwise  a  principle  of  practical  equity, 
much  practised  by  the  Chinese,  when  circumstances  over 
which  they  have  no  control  occur,  is  brought  into  play,  and 
the  Head  of  the  Association  makes  good  one-half  of  what 
the  absconding  member  ought  to  have  paid  ;  or,  rather,  he 
makes  good  half  of  the  principal,  the  other  half  being  a  loss 

640 


Societies 

to  the  members,  and  this  holds  good  in  both  the  Yf-wu/ 
now  written  about,  and  the  Te^-p'6-wuf  (pronounced  Tay 
p'o  wooee)  to  be  mentioned  later  on.  Whether  the  above 
words  are  written  or  not,  the  Head  is  not  responsible  for 
the  subscriptions  of  a  dead  member. 

With  regard  to  the  subscriptions  to  the  Association,  it 
may  be  remarked  that,  in  practice,  it  seems  often  to  be 
considered  sufficient  if  the  money  is  paid  into  the  hands  of 
the  Head  of  the  Association  at  any  place  somewhere  near 
the  time  that  it  should  be  paid,  i.e.,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  money  should  be  paid  absolutely  punctually. 

The  members  have  no  redress  when  the  Head  of  the 
Association  absconds  while  the  Association  is  in  progress. 
Those  who  have  had  their  drawing  are  content,  of  course, 
to  let  the  matter  rest,  as  they  have  had  all  their  benefit  and 
cannot  be  called  upon  by  the  other  members  who  have  not 
had  the  loan  to  continue  their  payments,  as  the  contract 
is  not  between  member  and  member,  but  is  a  contract 
between  each  separate  member  of  the  Association  and  the 
Head.  On  the  latter  absconding,  the  Association  is  broken 
up.  This  can  be  seen  by  the  fact  that  in  the  poorer 
Associations — where  the  contributions  are  confined  to  a 
few  dollars,  and  where  the  members  do  not  meet  for 
dinners — the  members  may  not  even  see  each  other  or 
know  anything  at  all  about  each  other.  (This  view  of  the 
matter  has  been  held  in  the  Hongkong  Courts  in  an  appeal 
case.  See  report  of  Judgment  by  the  Full  Court  in  The 
Hongkong  Daily  Press,  of  the  ipth  March  1892.)  The 
Head  in  some  of  such  Associations  sometimes  goes  round 
to  each  of  the  members  at  their  own  houses,  etc.,  with  an 
earthenware  money-box,  and  the  members  drop  their 
tenders  into  it.  After  the  collection  of  tenders  is  thus 
made,  the  crock  is  broken  and  the  tenders  taken  out. 

In  the  more  important  Associations,  when  the  amount 
of  the  subscription  is  $100  or  so,  the  Head  of  the  Associa- 
tion, having  asked  his  friends  to  join,  and  got  their  consent, 
follows  it  up  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  with  invitation 
cards  to  a  dinner  or  wine-party  at  some  eating-house,  and 

641  2  S 


Things  Chinese 

they  are  asked  to  bring  their  subscriptions  with  them.  All 
who  respond  to  the  invitations  become  members  ;  from  five 
to  ten  days  after,  their  names  are  all  entered  by  the  Head 
into  the  books,  with  rules,  amount  of  subscription,  etc.,  and 
one  is  given  to  each  member.  The  expenses  of  the  first 
dinner  are  paid  by  the  Head  ;  and  the  same  individual,  on 
behalf  of  the  members,  provides  a  dinner  again,  issuing  in- 
vitation cards  the  previous  day,  as  before,  but  on  each 
occasion  subsequent  to  the  first  it  is  the  member  who 
obtains  the  loan  who  pays  the  expenses  of  the  dinner  ;  the 
money  (a  certain  sum  at  the  very  first  being  fixed  for  its 
cost)  for  it  being  deducted  out  of  his  loan ;  the  dinner, 
however,  is  ordered  by  the  previous  drawer.  One  who  does 
not  attend  the  dinner,  or  dinners,  is  not  exempted  thereby 
from  his  share  of  the  expenses,  and  one  who  wishes  to 
enjoy  the  feast  must  come  to  it,  as  no  portion  will  be  sent 
to  the  absentee.  When  the  dinners  are  given  in  connection 
with  these  Associations,  the  business  is  attended  to  first, 
and  after  that  the  members  have  their  feasting :  business 
first  and  pleasure  afterwards.  This  feasting,  however,  does 
not  take  place  in  the  smaller  Associations  where  the  shares 
are  only  a  few  dollars  each.  A  member  in  an  Association 
is  not  confined  to  one  share,  but  may  have  two  or  more  if 
he  chooses. 

There  is  another  kind  of  these  associations  called  the 
T6{-p'6-wuf,  '  Spread  on  the  Ground  Association,'  so  called 
because  it  is  said  the  original  starter  was  too  poor  to  have 
any  place  to  receive  his  friends,  and  had  to  spread  a  mat  on 
the  ground  to  collect  the  amounts  subscribed.  The  Te"i- 
p'6  are  slightly  different  from  the  Yi'-wui,  though  in  many 
of  the  details  they  are  the  same,  the  differences  being  so 
slight  that  the  same  book  is  used.  The  chief  point  of 
difference  is  that  the  Head  of  the  Association,  as  Head,  is 
out  of  it  altogether,  that  is  to  say,  he  or  she  does  not  obtain 
a  loan.  At  the  same  time,  in  the  Te'f-p'o-wuf,  the  Head 
may  be  a  member  of  the  Association  or  not  as  he  (or  she, 
as  it  is  very  often  a  woman  who  is  Head  in  these  societies) 
chooses.  If  the  latter,  he  then  has  no  share  in  the  matter 

642 


Societies 

at  all.  He  is  in  fact  a  paid  servant  of  the  members,  that  is 
to  say,  he  does  all  the  work  that  the  ordinary  Head  does 
and  gets  half  the  value  of  one  share  paid  to  him  by  the 
successful  drawer.  Under  these  circumstances  the  Head 
does  not  get  the  first  drawing  as  in  the  Yf-wiii,  but  the 
first  drawing  is  balloted  for  as  well  as  the  others.  All 
his  other  duties  are  just  the  same  as  those  assigned  to 
the  Head  of  the  Yi'-wuf,  and  he  is  responsible  for  the 
money.  The  position  occupied  by  the  Head  is  more 
analogous  to  that  of  a  paid  servant,  though  no  salary  is  his 
reward  ;  but  he  gets  a  commission,  as  it  were,  to  recoup 
him  for  his  trouble,  the  amount  of  the  commission  being 
fixed  at  one-half  of  the  subscription,  i.e.,  if  the  periodical 
subscription  paid  were  85,  the  Head  would  get  82.50;  and 
this  is  paid  to  him  by  the  person  who  obtains  the  drawing 
on  each  occasion.  In  the  Te'i-p'o-wui  no  dinners  or  wine 
parties  are  given.  The  Head  goes  round  personally  and 
informs  the  members  of  the  meetings,  which  are  held  in 
his  house.  Some  bring  written  tenders,  but  the  majority, 
being  women  and  unable  to  write,  bring  sticks  of  bamboo 
of  different  lengths  with  them,  to  represent  the  amounts 
they  are  willing  to  offer  as  interest.  These  sticks  of 
bamboo  are  unburnt  ends  of  incense-sticks,  and  the  women 
break  them  into  the  right  lengths,  perhaps  in  a  corner  of 
the  room  where  no  one  can  see  them,  the  owner  telling  the 
Head  what  each  bamboo  stick  stands  for  :  the  longer  ones, 
say  one  dollar,  the  shorter  ones  may  be  fifty  cents,  and  the 
still  shorter  ones,  perhaps,  ten  cents.  After  all  are  laid 
down,  and  before  opening,  sometimes  the  tenderer  may 
say,  '  I  add  verbally  so  many  cents  to  my  tender.' 

Claims  in  connection  with  these  Associations  have  been 
ruled  out  of  Court  in  Hongkong,  should  the  numbers  of 
those  forming  them  exceed  twenty,  as,  by  the  laws  of  the 
Colony,  every  company,  if  twenty  in  number,  must  be 
registered  as  a  public  company  ;  if  less  in  number,  they 
have  been  tried  upon  their  merits.  In  the  case  of  an 
Association,  not  completed,  Sir  James  Russell  ruled  that 
the  Head  of  the  Association  could  be  sued  for  the  money 

643 


Things  Chinese 

had.  As  in  the  T^i'-p'o  the  Trustee  (or  Head)  gets  a 
commission  on  each  drawing,  but  in  the  Yf-wuf  he  gets 
the  first  drawing,  it  was  held  by  one  of  the  Hongkong 
Judges  (the  Hon.  F.  Snowden)  that  in  the  latter  case  the 
Trustee  is  responsible  for  the  future  payments,  but  not  in 
the  Te(-p6-wuf,  as  in  that  the  Head  only  puts  himself,  or 
herself,  to  the  trouble  of  collecting,  and  does  not  make 
himself,  or  herself,  responsible  for  the  members  paying  it, 
merely  drawing  a  commission  for  the  trouble  of  collecting. 
It  seems  strange  to  find  what  one  thought  was  an 
entirely  Chinese  institution  in  use  amongst  factory  girls 
in  England,  as  the  following  extract  will  show.  Has 
someone  from  China  introduced  it  into  the  West,  or  can 
it  be  one  of  those  old-world  customs  handed  down  through 
the  ages  ?  This  is  an  account  of  one  : — 

'While  we  stand  watching,  I  am  struck  by  a  knot  of  girls  who  are 
in  hot  dispute  or  discussion  over  some  point.  "Oh,  it's  only  'Liz,'" 
says  my  guide,  "holding  a  club.  Her  mother's  in  a  bit  of  trouble 
about  the  rent,  and  so  she's  getting  the  money  this  way.  .  .  ."  The 
girls  all  do  it,  and  photograph  clubs,  clothing  clubs,  money  clubs, 
abound  on  every  side.  This  special  one  held  by  "  Liz"  happens  to  be 
a  guinea  club.  ..."  Liz  "  and  twenty  other  girls  have  joined  together 
for  twenty-one  weeks,  each  girl  subscribing  one  shilling  per  week. 
Their  names  are  written  on  papers,  and  then  drawn  in  rotation.  The 
girl  who  draws  out  No.  i  is  entitled  to  her  guinea  at  once,  and  in  this 
case,  as  "  Liz,"  for  holding  the  club,  is  entitled  to  be  No.  i,  she  has 
her  money  wherewith  to  pay  off  the  rent.  No.  2  gets  her  guinea  in 
two  weeks,  No.  3  in  three  weeks,  and  so  on  till  No.  21  gets  hers,  after 
the  twenty-one  weeks.  All  pay  their  shilling  per  week,  whether  they 
receive  their  guinea  first  or  later,  so  that  the  only  advantage  of  the 
club  is  that  a  girl  may  draw  an  early  number,  and  have  a  sum  of 
money  at  once.' 

It  will  be  noticed  that  this  is  a  simpler  form  of  the 
Money  Loan  Association  than  that  found  in  China,  as  no 
interest  is  paid  and  the  rather  complicated  system  of  the 
Chinese  form  does  not  come  into  play. 

'  China  is  a  land  of  associations  which  are  as  numerous  and  the 
objects  of  which  are  as  varied  as  the  needs  of  man.  Their  formation 
is  simple  and  easy.  Certain  villagers,  \\hatever  their  object  maybe, 
meet  in  a  temple,  ancestral  hall,  or  private  house,  to  deliberate  over 
some  scheme.  If  it  is  approved,  a  fund  is  raised,  to  which  the  members 
contribute  equally,  their  contributions  being  devoted  to  the  purchase 
of  a  piece  of  land,  landed  property  in  China  being  considered  the 
safest  investment.  The  rent  derived  from  this  land  may  be  used  for 

644 


Societies,  Secret 

the  burial  of  a  member  of  the  association  when  he  dies,  or  may  be 
let  out  on  interest,  or  may  be  used  to  assist  members  to  emigrate  to 
California  and  Australia,  or  for  any  other  enterprise  or  good  object 
that  may  be  desired.' 

SOCIETIES,  SECRET.  —  A  book  dealing  with 
'  Things  Chinese '  would  scarcely  be  complete  without  some 
reference  to  secret  societies,  as  these  combinations  are 
so  common,  not  only  in  their  own  native  land,  but  they 
often  obtain  a  more  powerful  position  and  even  exert  at 
times  a  greater  influence  when  transplanted  to  foreign  soil. 

There  seems  to  be  a  world-wide  similarity  between 
secret  societies,  in  many  respects.  In  their  fundamental 
principles  there  is  a  wonderful  likeness,  as  well  as  in  many 
points  of  practice,  ceremonial,  and  ritual.  When  we  come, 
however,  to  examine  into  them,  it  seems,  as  a  general  rule, 
to  be  a  family  likeness,  perhaps  the  result  of  heredity, 
and  not  a  servile  imitation  of  one  another  during  recent 
times. 

Especially  is  this  true  of  some  of  the  Chinese  secret 
societies.  Of  them  it  may  be  said  that  they  are  founded 
upon  a  spirit  of  fraternity,  devotion,  filial  piety,  and 
religion.  At  least  this  is  the  case  with  the  most  famous, 
the  Sam  H6p  Wui,  or  Triad  Society,  though  it  has  shown 
itself  in  the  terrible  rebellion  that  was  carried  on  for  many 
years  under  its  banners  in  opposite  aspects  to  these.  In 
its  'Words  of  Exhortation'  we  find  it  written,  'If  people 
insult  you,  injure  you,  revile  you,  abuse  you, — how  ought 
you  to  take  it?  You  ought  to  bear  it,  suffer  it,  endure  it, 
and  forgive  it.'  How  then,  it  may  be  asked,  is  revolt  and 
rebellion  against  the  Government  compatible  with  such 
principles  ?  They  are  quite  in  harmony  according  to  the 
Chinese  idea  ;  for  it  is  the  duty  of  the  good  to  upset  the 
government  of  the  bad.  In  such  a  case  it  is  not  rebellion, 
but  the  raising  of  the  standard  of  righteousness  against 
tyranny  and  oppression.  We  must  give  the  leaders  of  the 
great  T'di-p'ing  rebellion  credit  for  motives  of  this 
character  at  their  inception  of  the  rebellion,  though  some 
of  them  may  have  had  their  heads  turned  eventually  by 

645 


Things  Chinese 

lust  of  power,  while  the  rag-tag  and  bobtail  which  followed 
in  their  train  had  no  higher  motives  than  plunder  and  loot. 
The  origin  of  the  Hung  league,  one  of  the  names  of 
the  Triad  Brotherhood,  is  shrouded  in  the  mists  of 
uncertainty.  They  claim,  like  the  Freemasons,  a  high 
antiquity,  but  it  is  impossible,  as  far  as  researches  have 
been  carried  at  present,  to  say  with  any  certainty  whence 
they  sprang.  There  would  appear  to  be  some  slight 
indications  or  possibilities  of  the  existence  of  this  society 
in  some  form  or  another  in  previous  times,  but  it  was  only 
during  the  rule  of  China  by  the  Tartars  that  it  appeared 
as  a  regular  political  body.  The  two  provinces  of  Canton 
and  Fuhkien,  which  most  energetically  resisted  the 
Tartar  sway,  were  the  cradles  of  the  Triad  Society.  In 
course  of  time  the  Triads  awoke  the  displeasure  of  the 
Government.  Unfortunately,  the  followers  of  the  Society 
'  degenerated  into  a  band  of  rebels  and  robbers,  that 
seemed  to  have  lost  every  notion  of  the  proper  spirit  of 
its  association.'  But  a  change  came  over  them,  for  one  of 
their  members,  Hung  Sau-ts'iin,  had  obtained  some  know- 
ledge of  Christianity,  which  he  engrafted  on  the  old  stock  ; 
and  it  is  a  matter  of  recent  history,  how,  the  standard  of 
rebellion  raised,  the  forces  of  the  insurgents  were  increased 
by  ever  swelling  bands  of  recruits,  while  many  were  forced 
to  join  their  ranks  in  the  hopes  of  escaping  immediate 
death  ;  all  hopes  of  desertion  were  denied  them  in  some 
cases  by  the  words  T'af  P'ing  being  branded  on  their 
cheeks,  a  positive  proof,  if  found  by  the  Imperialists,  that 
they  were  rebels.  Their  leader  took  the  title  of  '  King  of 
the  Heavenly  Realm  of  Universal  Peace,'  and  he  had 
associated  with  him  several  co-kings.  Under  their  leader- 
ship many  of  the  finest  provinces  were  overrun  ;  death  and 
destruction  dealt  out  to  the  inhabitants  ;  the  idol  temples 
demolished,  and  the  idols  mutilated  ;  the  fair  land  turned 
into  a  desert ;  Nanking,  the  ancient  capital  of  China, 
captured,  and  the  new  dynasty  started  its  reign  within 
the  old  walls  of  the  '  Southern  Capital,'  for  such  is  the 
meaning  of  the  name.  In  fact  it  looked  much  as  if  the 

646 


Societies,  Secret 

Manchu  Tartars  were  doomed,  and  doubtless  they  might 
have  been,  had  not  foreign  aid  come  chiefly  in  the  person 
of  General  Gordon,  and  the  '  Ever  Victorious  Army/ 
which  so  effectually  assisted  the  Imperial  forces  that  they 
gained  the  day,  and,  after  many  a  hard-fought  battle,  the 
rebellion  was  quelled  and  the  then  effete  Manchu  dynasty 
bolstered  up  on  the  throne.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
so  much  of  corruption  and  evil  in  the  ranks  of  the  rebels 
that  it  is  questionable,  had  they  succeeded,  whether  their 
rule  would  have  been  any  better,  or  even  as  good,  as  that 
of  those  they  endeavoured  to  overthrow  ;  for,  with  the 
great  mass  of  their  followers,  murder,  rapine,  and  plunder 
were  the  aims,  while  the  leader  developed  into  a  visionary 
of  a  curious  type  ;  he  was  possessed  by  a  most  extra- 
ordinary craze,  giving  out  that  he  was  the  younger  brother 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  number  of  other  blasphemies.  These 
were  published  in  books  and  pamphlets  issued  from  the 
press.  The  author  possesses  a  collection  of  these  books, 
and  most  wonderful  productions  they  are.  The  diplomas, 
or  certificates,  are  curious  documents  ;  they  are  written  on 
white  linen.  There  is  much  paraphernalia  connected  with 
the  Lodges,  such  as  numerous  flags,  banners,  state  umbrellas, 
warrants,  working  tools,  etc. 

Each  Lodge  in  the  Society — how  many  there  are  we 
are  unable  to  say — is  governed  by  a  President,  two  Vice- 
Presidents,  one  Master,  two  Introducers,  one  Fiscal,  who  is 
styled  '  The  Red  Stick '  from  the  red  staff  with  which  he 
punishes  offenders  ;  thirteen  Councillors,  amongst  whom 
are  a  Treasurer,  a  Receiver,  and  an  Acting  Treasurer ; 
there  are  also  Agents  and  minor  officials  who  wear  flowers 
in  their  hair.  Some  of  the  brethren,  who  are  styled  Horse- 
leaders,  are  appointed  to  act  as  recruiters  of  new  members. 
Besides  these,  four  brethren  summon  the  others  to  the 
meetings.  The  officials  are  appointed  by  the  vote  of  the 
whole  Lodge.  After  one  year,  a  brother  can  be  promoted 
to  be  an  Introducer ;  after  two,  to  be  a  Vanguard  ;  after 
three,  to  be  a  Master,  if  a  vacancy  occurs.  The  Meetings 
are  generally  held  on  the  25th  day  of  the  Chinese  month. 

647 


Things  Chinese 

(Ten  days'  notice  has  to  be  given,  by  summons,  of  each 
Meeting  of  Lodge.)  The  author  has  in  his  possession  one 
of  these  calls  to  Lodge  used  in  Hongkong.  It  consists  of  a 
slip  of  bamboo  on  which  is  written  the  name  of  the  Lodge, 
and  the  other  particulars  requisite.  Contributions,  varying 
in  amount,  are  made  at  the  usual  Chinese  festivals,  etc. 
Recruits  for  the  society  are  got  by  persuasion,  but,  failing 
that,  notices  are  put  into  the  houses  of  those  they  wish  to 
have  join  them,  instructing  them  to  go  to  a  certain  spot  at 
a  given  time,  and  threats  are  held  out  that,  if  the  authorities 
are  informed,  destruction  will  overtake  them  and  their 
relations  and  property.  Arrived  at  the  rendezvous  they 
are  conducted  to  the  Lodge ;  at  other  times  they  are 
assaulted  and  decoyed  on  till,  overpowered  by  numbers, 
they  are  put  into  a  sack  and  carried  there.  The  candidates 
for  initiation  present  themselves  barefooted  with  dis- 
hevelled hair  and  with  the  lappets  of  their  coats  hanging 
open.  Five  incense-sticks  are  taken  in  their  hands  and 
four  quatrains  repeated  by  them,  after  which  they  swear  to 
their  certificates  of  birth,  while  the  Introducer,  acting  as 
Herald,  gives  their  names,  so  that  all  the  brethren  may 
hear  them.  Having  arrived  at  the  gate  an  incense-stick  is 
taken  in  both  hands  and  the  candidates  salute  the  two 
Generals.  On  entering  the  first  gate  of  the  camp  their 
names,  surnames,  ages,  and  times  of  birth  are  all  carefully 
entered  in  a  book  by  the  Vanguard.  An  arch  of  steel  is 
then  formed — one-half  of  the  swords  being  of  copper, 
however — and  the  candidates  are  led  under  it ;  sometimes  a 
red  cloth  does  duty  for  the  arch  of  steel.  The  candidates, 
holding  three  red  stones  in  their  hands,  have  to  pay,  after 
passing,  twenty-one  cash  as  first  entry  money,  and  find 
themselves  before  the  Hung  Gate,  which  is  guarded  by  two 
Generals ;  here  they  kneel  thrice.  Their  names  are 
demanded  from  the  Vanguard,  who  gives  them  ;  the 
Generals  then  go  in  to  obtain  the  Master's  permission  for 
them  to  enter, -after  which  they  are  allowed  to  pass  'and 
are  brought  to  the  Hall  of  Fidelity  and  Loyalty,'  where 
two  more  Generals  are  on  guard,  who  also  ask  their  names 

648 


Societies,  Secret 

and  the  candidates  kneel  four  times.  There,  at  last,  they 
are  instructed,  in  the  objects  of  the  Society  ;  and  '  are 
exhorted  to  be  faithful  and  loyal  to  the  league  to  which 
they  are  about  to  be  affiliated.'  The  grievances  'against 
the  Tartar  dominion  are  enumerated,  and  promises'  made 
to  '  those  who  shall  accomplish  their  duties  faithfully ; 
whilst  fearful  threats  are  pronounced  against  those  who 
should  dare  to  refuse  to  enter  the  league.'  '  The  last 
enclosure  before  the  Lodge'  is  the  Heaven  and  Earth 
Circle,  which  is  again  guarded  by  two  Generals.  '  After 
having  passed  through,  and  gone  across  the  surrounding 
moat  or  ditch,  they  reach  the  East  Gate  of  the  City  of 
Willows,  guarded  by  Han-plangJ  The  candidates  here  kneel 
twice.  They  are  led  to  the  Council  Room,  called  '  The 
Lodge  of  Universal  Peace,'  where  the  whole  of  the  council 
is  assembled.  '  Two  Generals  keep  guard  at  the  door  of 
this  room.'  The  Vanguard  speaks  to  them  and  requests 
permission  for  T'ien-yu-hung  (the  candidates  are  supposed 
to  personate  him)  to  enter,  which  the  Master  grants.  The 
Vanguard  then  enters  the  Council  Room,  after  which  a 
number  of  questions  are  asked,  which  are  answered,  a 
quatrain  or  some  verses  being  repeated  after  each  state- 
ment as  a  proof.  Next  to  each  candidate  stands  a  member 
who  answers  for  him.  There  are  333  questions,  and  they 
refer  to  the  objects  of  the  Society,  its  different  working 
tools,  banners,  parts  of  the  Lodge,  historical  and  legendary 
history,  etc. 

After  the  examination  is  through,  the  Master  is  satis- 
fied, and  those  who  wish  to  proceed  with  their  Initiation 
have  further  ceremonies  to  go  through,  while  those  who 
refuse  to  join  the  brotherhood  are  taken  to  the  West  Gate 
and  have  their  heads  cut  off.  The  next  thing,  for  those 
who  are  proceeding  with  the  ceremony,  is  the  cutting  off  of 
the  queue,  the  queue  being  a  sign  of  subjection  to  the 
Manchu  rule ;  but  this  cannot  always  be  carried  out,  as 
it  would  be  a  sign  of  rebellion  to  be  seen  without  one, 
though  it  is  sometimes  done  and  a  false  queue  braided 
on  again.  The  candidates  are  shaved  and  their  hair 

649 


Things  Chinese 

done  up  as  under  the  Ming  dynasty,  and  they  would 
appear  to  be  clothed  in  sackcloth  and  mourning.  The 
next  ceremony  is  that  of  washing  the  faces  of  the  candi- 
dates, emblematical  of  cleansing  traitorous  hearts,  after 
which  the  outer  garments  are  taken  off,  as  they  are  cut 
after  the  Manchu  style.  This  ceremony  of  '  undressing ' 
having  been  gone  through,  they  are  clothed  in  long 
white  robes  and  a  red  handkerchief  wrapped  round  the 
head,  and  later  on  a  pair  of  straw  mourning  shoes,  in 
place  of  the  ordinary  shoes,  is  put  on  ;  during  the  course  of 
all  these  ceremonies  numerous  quatrains  are  recited  bear- 
ing on  them.  These  preliminaries  being  ended,  the  candi- 
dates are  led  before  the  altar,  on  which  is  a  censer  of 
white  porcelain.  The  whole  of  the  brethren  present  take 
nine  blades  of  grass  in  their  hands  to  pledge  fidelity,  in 
commemoration,  it  is  said,  of  the  plan  employed  by  the 
original  founders  ;  two  quatrains  are  repeated,  the  oath, 
written  on  large  sheets  of  yellow  paper,  is  next  laid  on  the 
censer,  and  incense-sticks  taken  in  the  hands  of  all  present, 
verses  again  being  recited  ;  the  incense  is  offered  and  a 
blade  of  grass  is  put  by  each  member  into  the  ashes  of  the 
censer,  and  a  verse  repeated  ;  a  second  and  third  are  placed 
in,  in  the  same  way.  After  this,  three  sticks  of  fine  incense 
are  stuck  into  the  censer,  one  by  one,  a  verse  being  re- 
peated with  each  ;  '  two  candles  of  dry  wood  are  now  lighted,' 
— and  another  quatrain  recited,  followed  by  the  lighting  of  a 
red  candle  in  the  same  manner.  All  this  being  through 
a  silver  wine-jug  and  three  jade  stone  wine-cups  are  brought 
in,  and  the  brethren  worship  Heaven  and  Earth  'by  pledging 
three  cups  of  wine,'  with  the  usual  accompaniment  of 
verses.  After  the  wine  has  been  offered,  the  Seven  Starred 
Lamp  is  lit,  followed  by  the  lighting  of  the  '  Lamp  of  the 
Gemmeous  Ruler'  and  the  Hung  Light,  all  accompanied 
by  verses.  All  the  lamps  being  thus  lit  and  the  incense 
giving  forth  its  fragrant  odours,  a  solemn  prayer,  read 
slowly  and  reverentially,  is  offered  to  the  gods — Buddhist, 
and  Taoist,  as  well  as  to  the  deified  Spirits  of  Nature  and  of 
Heroes.  After  rising  from  this  prayer,  eight  salutations  on 

650 


Societies,  Secret 

bended  knee  are  made,  to  Heaven,  Earth,  the  Sun,  the 
Moon,  'the  Five  Founders,  Wan-yun-lung,  the  Brethren, 
and  the  renowned  amongst  their  companions,'  a  verse 
again  being  recited.  One  of  the  members  then  takes  the 
oath,  which  has  been  lying  on  the  censer  all  this  time,  and 
reads  it  to  the  candidates  'who  remain  kneeling  during  the 
reading.'  It  is  in  thirty-six  articles,  and  enjoins  the 
practice  of  equity  and  justice  amongst  the  members  ;  the 
shielding  of  the  brethren  in  times  of  trouble  ;  the  chastity  of 
a  brother's  wife  or  concubine,  and  of  his  child,  are  to  be 
strictly  respected  ;  and,  besides,  the  members  are  told  '  you 
must  consider  the  father  of  a  brother  as  your  own  father, 
his  mother  as  your  mother,  his  sister  as  your  sister,  and  his 
wife  as  your  sister-in-law.' 

After  reading  the  oath,  the  brethren  rise  from  their 
knees  and  proceed  to  the  ceremony  of  confirming  it  by 
shedding  blood,  first  making  and  drinking  tea  to  cleanse 
the  mouth,  with  the  usual  recitations.  A  large  bowl  is 
next  filled  with  wine,  and  another  quatrain  repeated.  The 
brethren  prick  themselves  in  the  middle  finger  and  thus 
mingle  some  of  their  own  blood  with  the  wine,  all  drinking 
of  it,  several  quatrains  bearing  on  the  subject  being  recited 
at  the  time.  Sometimes  a  cock's  blood  is  used  instead. 
'The  Drinking  of  the  Bloody 'Wine'  being  over,  a  white 
cock's  head  is  chopped  off,  to  the  usual  accompaniment, 
followed  by  an  execration,  solemnly  pronounced,  begin- 
ning : — '  The  white  cock  is  the  token,  and  we  have  shed  its 
blood  and  taken  an  oath.  The  unfaithful  and  disloyal 
shall  perish  like  this  cock.' 

'  The  new  members  are  now  led  without  the  West  Gate 
where  a  furnace  is  burning ' ;  there  the  oath  is  burned,  thus 
being  sent  into  the  spirit  world  and  coming  to  the  know- 
ledge of  the  gods,  who  will  punish  any  perjurers. 

The  President  then  presents  the  new  members  with 
their  certificates,  on  the  back  of  which  their  names  are 
written  in  a  secret  manner.  '  The  book,  containing  the 
oath,  laws,  regulations,  secret  signs,  etc.,  is  also  given  to 
them,'  and  sometimes  a  pair  of  daggers.  Besides  keeping 

651 


Things  Chinese 

their  certificates  on  their  persons,  they  also  keep  three  of 
the  T'clf-p'ing  coins,  as  signs  of  recognition  ;  for  all  of 
these  things  they  pay  fees. 

They  are  next  led  round  the  building,  to  have  the  flags 
and  working  tools  shown  to  them,  to  the  accompaniment 
of  quatrains. 

The  banners  are  then  consecrated,  three  cups  of  wine 
being  poured  on  the  ground  at  the  same  time,  as  a  liba- 
tion to  the  gods,  a  prayer  is  offered,  and  another  quatrain 
recited.  After  this  prayer,  the  spear-heads  are  dipped  in 
the  blood  of  a  white  horse  and  a  black  ox,  which  are 
slaughtered  as  offerings  to  the  solar  and  telluric  principles 
respectively ;  they  are  then  cooked  and  a  supper  eaten, 
during,  and  after,  which  theatricals  take  place.  As  dawn 
approaches  the  members  reclothe  themselves  in  their 
present,  everyday  attire,  and  return  home. 

There  is  a  code  of  laws  and  statutes,  the  articles  of  law 
being  seventy-two  in  number,  and  the  regulations  twenty- 
one  ;  besides  these  there  are  ten  prohibitory  Bye-laws 
relating  to  Meetings  of  Lodge.  All  these  laws  and 
regulations  inculcate  brotherly  kindness,  assisting  of 
brethren  in  time  of  need,  shielding  them  from  the 
authorities,  and  abstaining  from  giving  evidence  against 
them  in  the  Courts  of  Law ;  the  trial  of  all  cases  in 
which  brethren  alone  are  concerned  is  to  be  held  before 
the  Lodge,  and  not  to  be  brought  before  the  magistrates ; 
letters  are  to  be  carried  from  foreign  countries  for  the 
brethren,  and  any  brother  found  purloining  money 
entrusted  to  him  by  a  brother  is  severely  punished. 
The  infraction  of  each  of  the  regulations  is  followed  by 
imprecations  or  threatened  punishments,  among  which 
may  be  noted  those  of  having  the  head  cut  off",  an  ear 
chopped  off,  etc.  We  cannot,  however,  give  even  a  short 
resumt  of  all  the  offences  provided  for ;  but  amongst 
these  laws,  as  can  well  be  imagined,  the  divulgence  of 
the  secrets  in  any  way  is  a  most  serious  offence. 

The  brethren  have  besides  a  perfect  system  of  secret 
signs  adapted  for  all  times  and  seasons  and  conditions. 

652 


Societies,  Secret 

We  will  just  instance  a  few  of  them  : — '  If  people  ask  you 
on  the  road,  "  Whence  come  you  ?  "  Answer,  "  I  come  from 
the  East."  If  they  ask  you,  "Whither  are  you  going?" 
Answer,  "  I  want  to  go  to  the  place  where  I  can  join  the 
myriads  of  brethren." '  In  entering  the  house  of  a  brother, 
one  is  directed  to  stop  for  a  moment  and  enter  with  the 
left  foot  first.  In  sitting  down,  the  points  of  the  grass  shoes 
are  turned  towards  each  other,  while  the  heels  are  separate: 
this  is  a  sign  that  one  is  a  brother.  The  queue  so  done  up 
as  to  have  the  end  hanging  down  behind  the  left  ear  denotes 
business.  Another  sign  in  use  is  the  tucking  up  the  right 
leg  of  the  trousers  while  the  left  leg  is  allowed  to  hang 
down.  The  brethren  have  different  signs,  passwords,  and 
quatrains  for  use  if  attacked  by  robbers  and  pirates  who 
may  chance  to  be  Triad  men ;  and  though  they  are  not 
allowed  to  divulge  the  secrets  to  outsiders,  yet  they  are 
permitted  to  teach  their  sisters  and  wives  certain  verses 
for  their  protection  under  similar  circumstances.  All 
contingencies  appear  to  be  provided  for,  amongst  others, 
directions  are  given  how  to  put  up  a  secret  sign  over  one's 
door  in  case  of  a  revolt.  The  author  knows  that  this  is 
not  a  part  of  a  mere  system,  but  is  of  practical  use,  because 
a  house  he  once  lived  in,  in  a  Chinese  city,  was  thus  pro- 
tected, when  it  was  feared  that  the  T'ai'-p'ing  rebels  would 
attack  the  place.  Numerous  signs  and  counter-signs,  forms 
of  recognition,  and  wishes  expressed  secretly,  are  all  re- 
vealed by  the  manipulation  of  tea-pots,  tea-cups,  wine-cups, 
tobacco  and  opium  pipes,  chop-sticks,  white  fans,  and  betel 
nuts,  by  placing  them  in  different  positions,  holding  them 
in  different  ways,  and  presenting  them  to  one  another. 

The  Triad  Society  has  brought  itself  prominently  into 
notice  in  the  English  and  Dutch  colonial  possessions,  where 
its  members  have  exerted  a  great  influence,  and  almost 
absolute  power  at  times,  over  their  fellow-countrymen. 
Their  membership  in  some  places  is  enormous :  in  the 
Straits  Settlements  it  would  appear,  if  we  are  to  judge  by 
the  figures,  that  at  one  time,  at  all  events,  their  number 
was  equal  to  that  of  the  Chinese  population  ;  for  in  1887 

653 


Things  Chinese 

the  census  returns  the  Chinese  population  as  less  than  the 
Triad  members,  which  were  156,440. 

The  Ghee  Hin,  a  Hokkien,  or  Fuhkien,  Society,  had  a 
membership  in  the  year  1889,  m  Singapore,  of  18,973 
members  with  478  office-bearers  ;  the  total  membership  of 
the  ten  Societies  registered  in  1889  was  68,316,  an  increase 
of  5,000  on  the  previous  year,  making  a  total  since  1877  of 
68,316,  while  there  was  an  approximate  increase  of  9,000 
in  Penang,  the  total  number  of  113,300  being  the  approxi- 
mate membership.  One  Society,  named  the  Ghi  Hing, 
having  an  approximate  membership  of  75,000. 

A  new  Societies  Ordinance  came  into  force  in  1890,  in 
the  Straits  Settlements.  Its  chief  object  was  to  abolish 
the  Triad  Society,  as  well  as  other  Dangerous  Societies, 
'some  of  which  have  existed  in  Singapore  since  1821,  and 
in  Penang  for  a  much  longer  period ' ;  one  or  two  of  the 
Penang  Societies  are  very  wealthy,  but  the  Singapore  ones 
only  own  the  Kong-si,  or  Club-houses.  The  Singapore 
and  Penang  Societies  delivered  up  their  chops  and  books, 
and  the  diplomas  of  the  six  Triad  branches  were  formally 
renounced  and  burnt  in  the  presence  of  two  English 
officials.  Chinese  Advisory  Boards  have  been  instituted 
to  assist  the  officials. 

There  would  seem  to  be  no  Grand  Master  of  the  whole 
Triad  body ;  but  a  central  government  is  in  existence, 
composed  of  the  five  Grand  Masters  of  the  five  Grand 
Lodges  of  Fuhkien,  Kwangtung,  Yunnan,  Hunan,  and 
Chekiang.  This  governing  body  then  has  some  sort  of 
control  over  millions  of  Chinese,  not  only  in  China  itself, 
but  throughout  the  world. 

One  writer  says  of  this  organisation  : — 'These  principles,  the 
repudiation  of  all  jurisdiction,  and  the  assumption  of  their  power  by 
an  irresponsible  tribunal,  constitute  an  imperiiim  in  imperio,  the 
foulest,  the  bloodiest,  the  most  oppressive  of  which  there  is  record  on 
such  a  scale.'  Another  says  : — '  The  Hung  League  has  carried  civil 
war  and  murder  wherever  it  has  gone.'  Yet  another  says  : — '  They 
engage  to  defend  each  other  against  the  police,  to  hide  each  other's 
crimes,  to  assist  detected  members  in  making  their  escape  from 
justice.'  And  yet  again  another  says  : — That  it  is  a  'combination  to 
carry  out  private  quarrels,  and  to  uphold  the  interests  of  the  members 

654 


Societies,  Secret 

in  spite  of  law,  and  lastly,  to  raise  money  by  subscription  or  by  levying 
fees  on  brothels  or  gaming-houses.' 

Born  in  bloodshed  when  the  famous  Wu  San-kuei  lived 
(who,  as  has  happened  before  now  in  the  West,  lost  the 
empire  to  a  foreign  prince,  invited  to  aid  in  driving  out 
some  unwelcome  aspirant  to  the  throne),  the  Triad  Society 
was  almost  extinguished  in  blood  in  our  own  day.  But 
though  not  only  scotched  but  receiving  terrible  punishment, 
the  Association  has  not  lost  its  vitality.  Unable  to  snatch 
the  sceptre  even  from  the  weak  and  nerveless  hands  that 
hold  it,  though  its  aspirations  are  as  high  as  ever  and  its 
watchwords  ring  with  the  cry  of  battle  as  grandly  as  of 
yore,  it  perforce  has  to  content  itself,  instead  of  being  the 
wholesale  conqueror  and  marauder,  the  inspiriting  force 
that  has  carried  on  the  hosts  of  rebels,  grand  robbers,  to 
victory  against  the  erstwhile  hordes  of  imperial  and  pro- 
vincial troops — instead  of  this  it  has  had  to  descend  to  the 
role  of  being  the  nexus  which  has  bound  together  the 
'  little  robbers '  who  prey  on  the  home  and  cottage  for  the 
paltry  sums  which  the  night  thief  may  find  when  he  has 
overcome  a  few  startled  women,  old  men,  and  children  :  it 
only  breaks  out  into  spasmodic  eruptions  of  political,  or 
rather  military,  energy,  when  a  fitting  opportunity  presents 
itself. 

Here  then  is  sufficient  reason  for  their  suppression  ;  and, 
owing  to  the  misuse  of  their  power,  and  the  rioting  and 
murders  committed  by  them  in  the  Straits  Settlements, 
they  have  been  forbidden  there  as  secret  unregistered 
Associations.  The  most  recent  legislative  enactment 
against  them  in  Hongkong  is  Ordinance  No.  8  of  1887,  by 
which  the  Triad  Society  is  declared  to  be  unlawful,  and 
the  managers  and  office-bearers  are  liable  to  a  fine  of  a 
thousand  dollars  and  to  imprisonment  for  one  year ;  the 
former  Ordinances  which  related  to  them  were  Nos.  I  and 
12  of  1845,  which  meted  out  more  drastic  punishment  than 
the  last  one  mentioned  above.  Some  of  the  prominent 
members  of  the  Society  have  been  deported  by  the 
Hongkong  Government,  when  necessity  arose  for  it,  for 

655 


Things  Chinese 

unfortunately  in  this  colony,  they  have  degenerated  into 
nests  of  thieves  and  bands  of  robbers. 

In  the  United  States  they  have  done  great  injury  to  the 
well-being  of  those  who  did  not  belong  to  their  societies. 

This  account  of  the  Triad  Society  will  show  what 
Chinese  secret  societies  are  capable  of  both  in  China  and 
abroad.  There  are  hundreds  of  these  secret  societies  in 
China  itself,  but  they  are  not  all  political  in  their  aim  ; 
some  are  merely  sects  of  Buddhists ;  one  in  the  North, 
'  The  T'sai  Li,'  or  Temperance  Society,  forbids  the  use 
of  tobacco,  wine  and  spirits,  amongst  its  other  tenets  and 
prohibitions,  and  has  a  large  membership,  there  being  nearly 
50,000  in  the  province  of  Chihli  and  in  Peking.  Its  doings 
were  exposed  some  years  ago  '  by  certain  members  of  the 
society,  by  which '  it  was  hoped  that  '  a  serious  outbreak  in 
the  capital  might  possibly  be  averted.'  The  Government 
tried  to  keep  matters  secret.  It  is  said  that  80,000  members 
of  it  were  to  be  found  under  Li  Hung-chang's  rule  a  few 
years  ago. 

An  association  which  has  attracted  some  attention 
lately  is  the  K6-16-wui,  which  has  its  headquarters  in  the 
province  of  Hunan,  the  army  being  quite  honeycombed  by 
this  political  Association  which,  like  the  Triad,  has  for  its 
object  the  overthrow  of  the  present  dynasty.  It  is  said  to 
have  its  emissaries  in  every  province,  who  travel  under  the 
assumed  character  of  doctors,  disseminating  news  and 
gathering  in  members  as  they  go.  It  was  believed  by  some 
to  be  answerable  for  the  riots,  a  few  years  ago,  directed 
against  foreigners  in  Central  China.  (See  Article  on  Riots). 
Its  organisation  is  in  all  probability  on  somewhat  similar 
lines  to  that  of  the  Triad  Society,  for  there  are  five  Heads, 
Certificates  printed  on  linen  (a  fac-simile  of  one  is  given  in 
The  China  Review,  vol.  xv.  p.  129),  etc.,  and  an  elaborate 
initiation  ceremony  is  said  to  be  employed.  It  is  described 
as  resembling  Freemasonry,  and  not  essentially  seditious  ; 
but  opportunties  for  a  thorough  study  of  it  have  not  yet 
been  afforded  to  those  interested  in  such  subjects.  It  took 
its  rise  at  the  time  of  the  T'ai-p'ing  rebellion,  General 

656 


Societies,  Secret 

Tseng  Kvvo-fan  himself,  so  it  is  reported,  having  established 
it  at  the  siege  of  Nanking  ;  but  this  body,  instead  of  seek- 
ing to  re-establish  the  Ming  dynasty,  would  appear  to 
look  further  back,  even  as  far  as  to  the  T'ang  dynasty,  and, 
probably,  if  their  chance  ever  comes,  some  one  will  be  put 
forward  as  of  reputed  Imperial  descent  from  rulers  of  that 
dynasty,  though  the  house  of  T'ang  is  supposed  to  be 
extinct  long  since. 

'  The  Kolao-hwei  Society  is  known  to  have  been  in  existence  for 
the  past  twenty  years,  and  there  are  great  numbers  of  men  connected 
with  it,  distributed  over  the  provinces  of  Kiangsu,  Anhui,  Hunan, 
Hupeh,  Kiangsi,  and  Kwangtung.' 

A  secret  society  which  committed  the  massacres  on  the 
missionaries  at  Kucheng  in  1895,  styled  itself  vegetarian. 
One  of  the  members  appears  to  have  cured  eight  opium 
smokers.  The  Vegetarians  were  divided  into  nine  com- 
panies. As  to  their  worship,  they  say  :— 

'  When  worshipping  we  present  the  following  eight  kinds  of  things : — 
melon  seeds,  candy,  red  dates,  black  dates,  pea-nuts,'  oranges,  dried 
melons,  and  dried  lengkeng,  or  dragons'  eyes.  (The  lengkeng  is  the 
symbol  of  the  vegetarians).'  The  ceremony  of  saluting  the  flag  is  as 
follows  : — '  We  bring  our  palms  together,  and  kneel  down  five  times 
before  it,  to  worship  Heaven,  Earth,  the  Emperor,  our  parents,  and 
teachers,  after  which  we  kneel  three  times,  to  salute  our  brothers,  other 
relatives  and  friends.' 

The  dreadful  Boxers  which  created  such  disturbances 
in  the  North,  and  were  encouraged  by  the  Chinese  Officials, 
were  also  a  secret  society,  based  to  some  extent  on  the  same 
principles  and  ceremonials  as  the  Triads.  They  believed 
largely  in  hypnotism,  and  one  of  their  tenets  was  that  they 
could  render  themselves  invulnerable  in  fight.  They  im- 
posed on  numbers  of  people,  who  joined  them  in  crowds. 

'The  Boxers  include  not  only  boys  of  from  12  to  15,  but  girls  of  the 
same  age,  and  they  form  different  branches.  The  branch  to  which 
the  girls  belong  is  known  as  the  Hing  Tong  Chin,  or  Red  Lantern 
Shrines  ;  they  carry  about  with  them  red  lanterns,  and  they  profess 
that  they  have  only  to  throw  the  lanterns  up  into  the  air  and  they  will 
alight  on  any  house,  whether  near  or  far,  which  they  wish  to  set  on 
fire.  The  boys'  branch  is  called  the  I  Wo  Tun.  On  a  man  joining  the 
Boxers  he  commences  to  bow  to  the  south-east,  and  says  a  prayer 
daily.  When  he  has  done  this  about  a  hundred  times  he  becomes 
possessed  of  the  power  to  hypnotise  himself  at  the  right  moment,  any 

657  2    T 


Things  Chinese 

time  he  likes.  He  makes  a  bow  to  the  south-east,  says  a  prayer,  and 
next  begins  to  shiver,  and  he  can  then  take  up  a  sword  and  play  with 
it.  It  is  usual  for  them  to  hypnotise  themselves  before  commencing  to 
fight.  .  .  .  Most  of  them  are  between  12  and  16  or  1 8  years  of  age,  and 
are  farmers  and  farmers'  children.  .  .  .  When  anyone  joins  the  Boxers 
he  puts  pieces  of  red  cloth  round  his  head,  stomach,  and  legs,  and 
dons  two  shoulder-straps,  on  which  are  characters  which  mean, 
"  Protect  China  and  kill  the  foreigners."  ' 

Books  recommended  : — '  The  Thian  Ti  Hwui,'  by  G.  Schlegel,  contains  the 
fullest  account  of  the  Triad  Society  that  has  yet  been  published,  and  is  recom- 
mended to  the  student  who  wishes  to  enter  into  a  knowledge  of  its  mysteries. 
It  is  illustrated  with  diagrams  of  diplomas  and  flags,  etc.  For  the  general 
reader,  a  short  article  in  Harper's  Magazine  for  September  1891,  entitled, 
'  Chinese  Secret  Societies,'  by  F.  Boyle,  will  be  found  interesting.  A  paper 
in  the  transactions  of  the  Missionary  Conference,  held  at  Shanghai  in  1890, 
contains  a  list  of  a  good  many  of  these  societies,  in  the  province  of  Shan- 
tung, with  some  little  account  of  them.  In  that  province  alone  it  is  stated 
that  there  are  over  a  hundred  secret  societies.  An  account  of  the  workings 
of  these  Secret  Societies  in  the  United  States  amongst  the  Chinese,  appears  in 
a  recent  number  of  the  California  Illustrated  Magazine. 

STAMPS. — Owing  to  the  want  of  a  general  postal 
system  in  China  under  the  auspices  of  the  Government 
(such  as  is  now  being  introduced),  there  has  been  a  great 
variety  of  stamps  in  use  in  the  country.  In  fact  the  want 
of  this  general  governmental  system  of  posts  in  the  past  has 
given  rise  to  rather  an  anomalous  condition  of  things 
with  regard  to  the  use  of  postage  stamps.  In  Shanghai, 
letters  may  be  posted  at  the  French  Consulate  for  convey- 
ence  to  Hongkong  or  foreign  countries,  by  the  Messageries 
Maritimes  (the  French  Mail)  steamers,  French  postage 
stamps  being  used,  at  first  unsurcharged,  but  afterwards 
with  the  word  '  Chine '  on  them.  In  the  same  way  letters 
are  posted  at  Shanghai  at  the  German  Consulate,  for 
conveyance  by  German  mail  steamers  to  similar  destinations, 
German  stamps,  latterly  surcharged  '  China,'  being  affixed 
on  the  envelopes.  If  we  are  not  mistaken,  American  stamps 
are  used  in  a  similar  way  in  Shanghai,  as  well  as  possibly 
Japanese  stamps,  and  this  obtains  to  a  more  or  less  degree 
at  a  few  of  the  other  Treaty  Ports.  The  Russian,  French, 
and  German  Governments,  as  well  as  the  British,  and  the 
Customs,  all  had  Post  Offices  at  Tientsin. 

The  first  issue  of  stamps  in  China  was,  in  Hongkong, 
by  the  British  Colonial  Government  of  the  Colony.  These 

658 


Stamps 

stamps  are  not,  however,  confined  in  their  use  to  the  small, 
but  important  island  of  Hongkong  ;  but  the  British  Govern- 
ment, for  the  convenience  of  its  own  and  other  foreign 
residents  in  China,  was  compelled,  no  other  facilities 
existing,  to  establish  Branch  Post  Offices  of  its  own  (under 
the  control  of  the  Hongkong  General  Post  Office)  at  each 
of  the  treaty  ports — in  fact  wherever  there  was  a  British 
Consulate — and  the  Hongkong  postage  stamps  have  been 
employed  for  many  years  in  paying  the  postages  between 
the  different  treaty  ports,  and  between  them  and  foreign 
countries.  These  British  Branch  Post  Offices  had  under 
their  control  only  the  mails  conveyed  in  foreign-built  ships 
running  between  the  places  mentioned  above.  For  all  letters 
into  the  interior,  the  foreign  resident,  if  he  wished  to  send 
any,  a  very  rare  occurrence  usually,  had  to  depend  upon  the 
private,  local,  native  posts,  until  the  establishment  a  few 
years  since  of  the  Imperial  Chinese  Postal  Service. 
Though  these  stamps  were  British  colonial  stamps,  they 
have  been  more  used  in  China,  as  above,  than  any  other 
postage  stamps.  There  have  been  numbers  of  different 
issues  and  surcharges,  the  first  being  in  1862. 

The  Hongkong  Jubilee  stamp  was  only  issued  for  three 
days,  on  the  anniversary  of  the  jubilee  of  the  colony,  22nd 
to  24th  January  1891  ;  it  was  a  two-cents  rose-coloured 
stamp,  surcharged  with  the  words  (in  four  lines,  over  the  face 
of  the  stamp)  '  1841 — Hongkong — Jubilee — 1891.'  There 
have  been  several  mistakes  made  by  the  Chinese  printer  in 
printing  this  surcharge,  such  as  a  small  J,  etc. ;  so  that 
there  are  about  four  or  five  of  these  varieties,  and  they  are 
highly  priced.  Two  other  rare  stamps  are  a  twelve-cents 
surcharged  on  a  ten-dollars  revenue  stamp,  and  a  two-cents 
revenue  stamp.  They  appear  to  have  been  used  but  a 
short  time  for  purposes  of  postage.  Embossed  envelope 
stamps  of  different  denominations,  as  well  as  embossed 
registered  envelope  stamps,  have  been  added  lately  ;  and 
there  have  been  a  number  of  different  issues  of  post-cards. 

In  connection  with  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs 
Post  Office  mentioned  in  our  article  on  Posts,  a  series  of 

659 


Things  Chinese 

stamps  was  issued  in  1878.  The  stamps  were  rather  large, 
the  centre  contained  a  dragon  ;  '  China '  was  the  device  at 
the  top,  flanked  in  the  top  corners  by  the  two  Chinese 
characters  T'ai  Ts'ing,  meaning  'Great  Pure,'  that  being 
the  name  taken  by  the  present  dynasty.  The  word 
'  Candarin,'  or  '  Candarins,'  appeared  at  the  bottom  of  the 
stamp,  and  in  the  two  lower  corners  were  the  Arabic  figures 
giving  the  number  of  candarins  the  stamp  stood  for.  A 
candarin  is  a  tenth  of  a  mace,  a  mace  being  worth  about 
fourteen  cents,  say  nearly  threepence  halfpenny  ;  ten  mace 
make  one  tael.  On  the  right-hand  side  (on  the  left  of  the 
dragon)  and  running  down  the  stamp  are  the  three  Chinese 
characters,  Yau  Ching  Kuk,  standing  for  Official  Post 
Office,  while  the  opposite  column  of  Chinese  (Chinese 
printing  or  writing  is  in  vertical  columns,  not  in  horizontal 
lines  like  ours)  were  composed  of  the  three  Chinese 
characters  representing  the  value  of  the  stamp,  viz.,  Yat 
(or  Yi  or  Sam,  as  the  case  was)  Fun  Ngan,  one  candarin 
(or  three  or  five,  as  the  case  was)  for  the  denominations 
were  one,  three,  and  five  candarins.  The  colours  were 
green,  lilac,  and  yellow  respectively. 

The  1878  issue  also  contained  the  same  denominations 
of  stamps,  but  they  were  somewhat  smaller,  being  about 
the  size  of  the  British  stamps,  the  colours  being  green,  rose, 
and  yellow  respectively.  In  other  respects  the  stamps  are 
very  similar,  the  general  features  of  the  two  issues  being 
the  same.  There  seemed  to  be  some  slight  difference  in 
the  shades  of  colour  of  some  of  the  stamps,  but  whether  it 
was  due  to  fading,  or  a  different  ink  being  used,  we  cannot 
say. 

Out  of  this  Customs  Post  has  developed  a  Chinese 
Imperial  Postal  Service.  Several  issues  of  stamps,  and  sur- 
charges and  post-cards  as  well,  have  been  provided  for  this 
department  during  the  few  years  it  has  been  in  existence. 
They  are  distinguished  by  the  Chinese  dragon,  and  have 
their  denominations  on  them  in  English  and  Chinese. 

Some  years  ago  (in  1889)  postage  stamps  were  prepared 
for  use  in  Formosa.  They  were  rather  large,  had  a  dragon 

660 


Stamps 

and  a  horse  on  them  and  the  word  '  Formosa.'  There  were 
two  issues,  twenty  cash  rose,  and  twenty  cash  green  (say 
about  the  value  of  one  penny,  English  money).  They  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  much  used  for  postage  purposes  ; 
but  were  made  to  do  service  at  one  time  as  railway  tickets 
— being  surcharged — on  the  short  line  of  rail  in  Formosa. 
They  are  now  of  great  value,  and  collectors  consider  them 
great  rarities.  We  have  heard  thirty  dollars  mentioned  as 
a  price  asked  for  two. 

There  is  a  Municipal  Council  in  Shanghai  which  had  a 
local  Post  Office.  In  1865,  a  series  of  five  stamps  was 
issued  with  a  dragon  in  the  centre,  and  '  Shanghai '  at  the 
top,  in  English  and  Chinese.  On  the  right-hand  side  the 
words  in  Chinese,  Shii  Sun  Kwun,  Post  Office,  and  on  the 
other  side  the  denomination,  in  some  cases  in  cash,  in 
others  in  candarins.  There  have  been  a  number  of  issues 
since,  and  of  surcharges,  the  devices  in  their  general 
features  being  very  similar. 

With  regard  to  this  Local  Post  Office,  the  following 
statement  may  be  of  interest : — 

'The  Shanghai  Local  Post  Office  was  taken  over  by  the  Imperial 
Post  in  November  1897,  and  thoroughly  reorganised,  but  Local 
Postage  rates  have  been  maintained.' 

Many  years  after  the  Shanghai  Local  Post  issued  its 
first  stamps,  a  number  of  the  small  foreign  municipalities  at 
some  of  the  other  treaty  ports  followed  the  example  of 
Shanghai,  and  started  Local  Post  Offices  and  issued  sets  of 
stamps.  Hankow  seems  to  have  led  the  way  amongst  the 
riverine  ports,  Kiukiang  following  at  a  little  distance,  after 
which  Chinkiang  and  Wuhu  followed  suit,  and  finally, 
Ichang  and  Chungking  and  Nanking.  The  coast  ports 
have  also  not  been  behindhand  with  regard  to  these  local 
issues,  Chefoo,  Foochow,  and  Amoy  all  having  sets  of 
stamps.  Post-cards  were  also  prepared  and  used  in  some 
of  these  places,  and  in  one  or  two  ports  taxed  stamps 
appeared.  Different  issues  also  succeeded  one  another 
from  more  than  one  of  these  local  post  offices.  These 
ventures  in  many  cases  proved  pecuniarily  successful,  and 

66 1 


Things  Chinese 

the  money  thus  earned  was  applied  to  the  necessary  works 
in  connection  with  the  different  municipalities ;  unfortu- 
nately the  chief  authority  in  England  for  philatelists 
frowned  on  such  means  for  turning  an  honest  penny 
(as  many  of  the  issues  simply  were),  and  they  were 
soon  considered  as  outside  the  pale  of  legitimate  stamp 
collecting  in  that  country.  Many  of  the  stamps  were 
quite  unique,  pretty,  and  interesting — some  being  finely 
executed,  though  others  were  rather  rude  attempts. 

The  latest  is  the  issue  of  two  stamps  at  Weihaiwei, 
where,  there  being  no  post  office,  'a  private  firm  started 
a  courier  post  at  irregular  intervals.'  They  are  very 
rare,  and  command  a  high  price,  as  only  4,0x30  were 
printed. 

In  the  Portuguese  settlement  of  Macao,  there  have  been 
several  issues  of  stamps  by  the  Portuguese  Colonial 
Government,  commencing  in  1878.  The  old  issues  com- 
mand a  good  price.  A  number  of  surcharges  have  been 
used  at  different  times  ;  and  there  is  a  set  of  very  neat  post- 
cards, in  fact,  more  than  one  issue  of  post-cards.  The 
denominations  are  in  rets.  The  Timour  stamps  were  at 
first  Macao  stamps  surcharged.  A  Vasco  da  Gama 
Tricentenary  set  of  stamps  were  issued  a  few  years  since 
in  Macao. 

We  have  already  noted  the  French  stamps  in  use 
in  the  French  post  office  at  Shanghai  ;  but  the  latest 
move  on  their  part  has  been  to  establish  post  offices  in 
Canton — on  Shamien,  and  in  the  native  city  as  well — and 
issue  a  complete  set  of  stamps,  surcharged  '  Canton.'  The 
Germans  have  also  had  stamps  for  their  post  offices  in 
China,  and  have  now  a  regular  issue  for  Kiautschau. 

SUICIDE. — We  have  already  remarked  that  China 
has  the  unenviable  notoriety  of  having  more  suicides  than 
any  other  country,  though  those  who  know  anything  about 
the  Chinese  will  not  be  surprised  when  we  state  that  it  is 
impossible  to  adduce  absolute  proof  of  such  a  statement. 
That  there  are  many  suicides  cannot  for  a  moment  be 

662 


Suicide 

doubted  by  those  who  have  paid  any  attention  to  this  grue- 
some subject. 

The  causes  which  lead  to  such  a  rash,  foolish,  and 
wicked  act  in  the  West  are  not  absent  in  China ;  and 
besides  those  common  to  all  states  of  civilisation  and  to 
all  countries  must  be  added  some  which  are  unknown  to 
our  modern  conditions  of  life.  Many  suicides  in  China 
have  their  fotis  et  origo  in  the  peculiar  marriage  relation- 
ships of  the  Chinese  ;  for  a  very  fruitful  source  of  marital 
trouble  in  China  is  the  much  married  state  of  many  of  its 
people — the  polygamy  sanctioned  by  the  all-powerful  '  olo 
custom  '  has  to  answer  for  not  a  few  suicides  of  women. 
Slighted  by  her  husband  for  some  new  favourite,  jealous  of 
the  influence  of  another  concubine,  the  Chinese  wife  flees 
from  ills  which  appear  to  have  no  redress.  Again,  an 
inferior  wife,  oppressed  and  ill-treated  by  a  superior  wife, 
has  also,  at  times,  recourse  to  such  a  misguided  act.  In 
some  districts  of  country  the  young  girls  so  dread  the 
matrimonial  state  that  they  band  together  against  being 
compelled  to  enter  it,  and  take  the  extreme  measure  of 
remonstrating  against  it  by  going  hand  in  hand  into  some 
pond  and  drowning  themselves.  (See  Article  on  Marriage.) 
Again,  in  some  districts  near  Foochow  a  species  of  suttee 
takes  place,  and  is  considered  to  be  a  highly  meritorious 
act,  having  even  a  quasi  sanction  of  Government.  A 
widow  in  other  parts  of  China,  who  refuses  to  live  after  the 
death  of  her  husband,  also  receives  a  meed  of  praise,  not 
only  from  officials,  but  from  friends  as  well. 

So  common  were  suicides  from  the  Bridge  at  Foochow 
that  a  society  was  formed  some  years  since  to  maintain 
four  boats  to  be  continually  on  the  watch  for  the  prevention 
of  it — two  to  be  in  attendance  above  the  bridge,  and  two 
below.  To  one  unacquainted  with  Chinese  life  it  may 
seem  strange  that  Buddhists,  as  so  many  of  the  Chinese 
are,  should  go  in  direct  contravention  of  one  of  the  express 
commandments  of  Buddhism — not  to  take  life  ;  and  yet  it 
is  possibly  due,  in  some  measure,  to  the  system  of  Buddhism 
that  prevails  in  China  that  some  of  the  suicides  take  place, 

663 


Things  Chinese 

for  the  doctrines  of  metempsychosis  is  one  of  the  prominent 
tenets  of  Buddhism  in  China.  Belief  in  a  religion  that  in 
its  popular  aspects  gives  a  leading  position  to  the  idea  of 
the  transmigration  of  souls,  and  holds  out  the  hope  that  the 
ill  deeds  of  this  life  and  its  good  actions  are  punished  or 
rewarded  by  future  avatars,  cannot  act  effectively  as  a 
deterrent  against  self-murder ;  such  a  religion  cannot 
thunder  out  as  strong  anathemas  against,  or  denounce 
with  as  equal  force,  the  crime  of  suicide,  as  a  religion  that 
is  based  on  a  different  and  more  rational  system  of  future 
rewards  and  punishments.  With  such  a  creed,  some 
Chinese  suicides  may  therefore  hope  to  return  to  this 
mundane  sphere  of  existence  again. 

Added  to  all  this  is  the  slight  esteem  in  which  human 
life  is  held,  as  for  instance,  with  regard  to  infanticide,  the 
neglect  of  beggars,  and  in  the  matter  of  the  death  penalty 
so  freely  exacted,  as  in  our  own  countries  fifty  or  a  hundred 
years  ago,  for  offences  so  trivial  when  weighed  against  the 
sacredness  of  human  life.  With  such  a  low  estimate  of  the 
worth  of  human  existence,  it  would  appear  to  take  but  little 
more  to  neglect  the  fostering  of  one's  own  existence  when 
a  sea  of  troubles  overwhelms  one — but  a  step  further  to 
shuffle  off  this  mortal  coil  one's  self — to  act  with  an  assump- 
tion of  power  unwarranted  by  the  facts,  and  to  usurp  the 
right  of  life  and  death  over  one's  own  mortal  being.  But, 
as  tending  often  to  the  comparatively  light  heart  with 
which  many  a  Chinaman,  of  his  own  accord,  leaves  this 
sublunary  stage  of  existence,  must  be  noted  the  curious 
feelings  about  revenge  that  they  hold.  One  of  the  most 
dreadful  things  that  can  happen  to  a  Chinese  is  to  have 
a  death  take  place  on  his  premises  or  at  his  door.  No 
enemy  thirsting  for  an  adequate  quid  pro  quo,  to  balance  up 
the  account  of  injury  done  him  in  the  past,  can  hope,  or 
desire,  to  have  his  enemy  brought  to  book  in  a  more 
effectual  manner  than  by  such  an  untoward  event  happen- 
ing to  his  adversary.  Here,  then,  is  the  chance  long  looked 
for  and  almost  despaired  of;  here  is  an  opportunity  too 
good  to  let  slip  of  doing  a  mortal  injury  to  the  hated  one ; 

664 


Suicide 

for  a  trumped-up  charge  of  murder  or  ill-treatment  can 
easily  be  laid  at  the  yamen,  and  all  the  minions  of  the  law 
— the  hosts  of  harpies  of  the  unjust  mandarin  with  all  the 
ungovernable  rapacity  that  they  are  infamous  for  will  be 
let  loose  on  the  unfortunate  householder.  Even  without  a 
formal  charge  being  laid  against  him,  the  ordinary  course 
of  procedure  must  be  followed  by  the  great  annoyance  of  a 
visit  from  the  equivalent  of  our  Coroner,  and  the  grand 
chances  for  all  his  underlings  of  having  squeezes,  pressure 
being  brought  to  bear  on  him  in  an  infinitude  of  ways 
never  dreamed  of  in  our  favoured  lands  of  the  West.  If 
the  dead  body  of  a  poor,  helpless,  unknown,  and  unbe- 
friended  beggar  will  start  the  whole  machinery  of  oppres- 
sion and  injustice,  and  bring  untold  miseries  upon  an 
unfortunate  householder  at  whose  door  the  corpse  has  been 
found,  to  the  delight  of  his  malicious  enemy — if  all  this  is 
the  resultant  of  such  a  simple  and  not  uncommon  accident — 
it  is  but  a  step  further  for  the  quick-witted  enemy,  or  man 
who  has  been  injured  and  who  has  no  other  means,  either 
on  account  of  poverty  or  insignificance,  of  avenging  himself 
on  his  foe,  it  is  then  but  a  step  further  for  such  an  one 
to  hit  upon  the  expedient  of  forcing  circumstances  in  his 
own  favour,  and,  as  even  dead  beggars  are  not  procurable 
at  a  moment's  notice,  or,  if  procurable,  the  difficulties  of 
transportation  offer  insuperable  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
their  employment — it  is  but  a  step  further  for  such  a  man 
to  offer  himself  as  a  substitute  for  the  dead  beggar,  a  sacri- 
fice on  the  altar  of  wounded  feelings  or  outraged  justice. 
In  China,  this  is  one  of  the  most  telling  modes  of  wiping 
out  one's  injuries,  for  besides  the  troubles  that  would  result 
from  any  dead  body  being  found  in  such  a  position,  they 
are  intensified  by  the  knowledge  that  the  dead  body  is  that 
of  one  injured  and  so  outraged  that  his  feelings  could  brook 
no  revenge  short  of  that  awful  act  that  his  silent  body 
testifies  to,  the  dead  and  solemn  witness  of  the  victim  of 
injustice  or  oppression.  There  seems  nothing  incongruous 
to  the  Chinese  mind  in  such  an  action.  The  only  draw- 
back is  that  the  act  once  committed  cannot  be  repeated  ; 

665 


Things  Chinese 

and  a  case  is  actually  known  of  a  man  on  the  point  of  thus 
committing  suicide  bewailing  the  inexorable  circumstance 
and  the  hard  fact  which  would  prevent  him  immolating 
himself  in  the  houses  of  two  enemies  instead  of  in  that  of 
one  alone.  Ghosts  to  annoy  the  man  ;  the  necessity  of 
purchasing  a  coffin  at  least,  and  trying  to  hush  up  the 
matter  with  the  relatives  by  money  freely  given,  the  dangers 
of  squeezes  from  official  underlings  and  of  the  interference 
of  the  officials  themselves,  as  stated  above  ;  and  lastly,  the 
trouble  which  may  be  brought  on  his  enemy  in  a  future 
state  of  existence — these  all  render  such  a  mode  of  revenge 
one  of  the  most  effective  that  can  be  taken.  The  chance,  or 
almost. certainty,  of  trouble  with  the  officials  has  also  given 
rise  to  the  custom  or  necessity,  of  generally  providing  a 
coffin  for  any  poor  beggar  who  may  have  chanced  to  crawl 
to  one's  door  when  in  extremis  and  expired  there.  At  the 
very  least  one  may  only  hope  to  escape  by  being  a  sub- 
scriber to  a  list,  should  the  people  of  the  neighbourhood 
be  willing  to  form  a  fund  for  the  burial  of  this  particular 
case. 

The  European,  therefore,  who  may  live  amongst  the 
Chinese,  may  thus  find  himself  called  upon  to  pay  for  a 
coffin. 

High  officials  who  are  condemned  to  death  have  some- 
times, as  an  act  of  Imperial  clemency,  a  silken  cord  sent  to 
them  by  the  Emperor  to  strangle  themselves  with,  instead 
of  having  the  indignity  offered  them  of  suffering  at  the 
hands  of  the  common  executioner. 

The  most  common  modes  of  suicide  are  by  opium- 
taking  and  drowning.  With  the  Chinese  superstition  as  to 
the  consequences  of  going  into  the  next  world  with  a 
mutilated  body  (for  they  believe  the  same  mutilation  will 
be  permanent,  in  a  future  state  of  existence,  and  it  is  for 
this  reason  that  decapitation  is  the  general  mode  of  capital 
punishment,  as,  once  beheaded,  the  ghost  would  be  a  head- 
less one),  they  do  not  inflict  on  themselves  bodily  injury  or 
wounds  such  as  would  result  from  the  use  of  a  razor  or  fire- 
arms for  the  purpose  of  suicide. 

666 


Suicide 

The  'swallowing  of  gold"  is  the  term  sometimes 
employed  for  suicide  amongst  wealthy  Chinese.  It  has 
been  the  universal  belief  that  gold  leaf,  or  gold,  was  actually 
swallowed  and  suffocated  the  victim,  and  such,  possibly,  or 
even  probably, does  happen  in  some  cases,  but  doubt  has  been 
thrown  on  the  whole  subject  of  late.  It  would  be  satisfactory 
before  deciding  against  the  belief  of  both  foreigners  and 
Chinese,  and  the  circumstantial  statements  of  the  latter,  to 
have  convincing  proofs  from  many  sources  that '  swallowing 
gold  '  is  only  another  of  those  euphemistic  phrases  the 
Chinese  are  so  fond  of. 

The  following  attempt,  made  by  one  resident  in 
Chaotong  in  the  West  of  China,  is  interesting  as  an 
attempt  to  arrive  at  the  number  of  suicides  in  the  whole 
of  China,  and  we  therefore  give  it  in  extenso.  It  was 
published  in  1898  :— - 

THE   LAND   OF  SUICIDES  :    500,000  CASES  A  YEAR. 

'  The  fourth  Chinese  moon  of  the  present  year  contained  thirty 
days,  and  ended  on  June  18.  In  those  thirty  days,  persons  came  to 
our  home  seeking  help  in  nineteen  cases  of  opium  suicide,  and  one  of 
opium  poisoning.  China  may  truly  be  called  the  land  of  suicides.  I 
have  gathered  statistics  from  five  cities  in  four  different  provinces. 
These  were  given  me  by  missionaries  working  in  these  cities,  who 
came  in  contact  with  the  cases  recorded. 

'  The  first  city  is  in  the  Province  of  Yunnan,  and  has  a  population 
of  100,000.  The  cases  of  opium  suicide  in  which  the  missionary's  help 
was  solicited  amounted  to  an  average  for  twelve  months  of  one  a  day. 
I  have  known  four  cases  in  one  day. 

'The  second  city  in  the  same  province  has  a  population  of  about 
50,000,  and  in  one  year  the  missionaries  were  called  to  seventy-two 
cases. 

'  The  third  city  is  in  the  Province  of  Kueichou,  and  has  about 
80,000  people.  In  one  year  three  hundred  cases  occurred  in  which 
the  missionaries'  help  was  sought.  Once,  eight  cases  of  suicide 
happened  in  one  day. 

'  The  fourth  city  is  in  the  great  Province  of  Szchuan,  and  has  a 
population  of  300,000.  When  the  statistics  were  taken  there  were 
two  missions  working  in  the  city.  In  one  year  the  missionaries  of 
one  of  these  missions  were  asked  to  save  life  in  four  hundred  cases 
of  opium  suicide.  I  have  no  record  of  what  the  other  mission  did. 

'  The  fifth  city  is  in  the  Province  of  Anhwei,  the  home  of  the 
notorious  Li  Hung-chang.  The  city  has  a  population  of  50,000,  and 
in  one  year  eighty  cases  were  brought  to  the  missionary's  notice. 

'Thus,  in  a  population  of  580,000  more  than  1,200  cases  of  opium 
suicide  occurred  in  twelve  months  in  which  the  help  of  missionaries 

667 


Things  Chinese 

was  sought.  It  is  rather  uncertain  work  to  argue  from  these  figures 
to  the  whole  of  China.  Most  of  these  statistics  refer  to  the  West 
of  China,  which  is  pre-eminently  the  opium-growing  district  of  China. 
The  drug  is  cheap  and  easily  obtained.  On  the  other  hand,  such 
vast  quantities  are  exported  from  these  provinces  that  in  many  other 
parts  more  than  80  per  cent,  of  the  adult  males  are  users  of  the  drug. 
In  nearly  the  whole  of  China  opium  can  be  readily  and  cheaply 
obtained. 

'  I  have  only  recorded  the  cases  in  which  the  help  of  the  mis- 
sionary was  requested.  There  are  many  cases  where  native  remedies 
are  successfully  used,  and  the  aid  of  the  hated  foreigner  is  not  called  in. 
We  have  noticed  on  many  occasions  that  the  missionary  is  not  sent 
for  till  all  other  help  has  failed.  Taking  these  figures  and  facts  into 
account,  I  do  not  think  any  one  who  understands  the  case  will  say  I 
exaggerate  when  I  reach  the  conclusion  that  in  China  every  year 
half  a  million  people  attempt  suicide  by  opium.  If  the  average  of  the 
figures  above  held  true  for  the  whole  of  China,  then  the  number  would 
be  one  million  of  attempted  suicides  every  year.  Surely  China  may  be 
termed  the  Land  of  Suicides !  The  majority  of  these  cases  are 
women,  who,  having  no  appeal  in  law  against  the  tyranny  and  cruelty 
of  husbands,  mothers-in-law,  or  brothers-in-law  make  their  appeal 
through  suicide  to  the  god  of  Hades.  In  many  a  case  a  woman  can 
only  escape  from  a  cruel  fate  by  death.  A  young  girl  of  about 
seventeen  summers  lived  three  doors  from  the  first  house  occupied  by 
the  missionaries  in  this  city.  Her  parents  sold  her  to  a  man  nearly 
three  times  her  age.  The  night  before  he  came  to  take  her  away  she 
swallowed  opium,  and  before  morning  had  escaped  his  lustful  clutches. 

'  Quite  a  number  are  double  suicides.  Two  persons  quarrel.  One 
carries  the  case  into  Hades  bysuicide,hoping  both  to  get  the  first  chance 
there  and  to  involve  the  surviving  one  in  trouble,  knowing  he  will  be 
accused  of  so  persecuting  the  first  one  that  there  was  no  help  for  it 
but  suicide.  The  second  resolves  to  stop  this  by  following  the  first, 
and  removing  the  whole  theatre  of  war  to  the  Land  of  Shades.  In 
one  such  case  in  this  city  one  of  the  patients  was  too  far  gone  to  be 
saved,  whereas  the  other  could  easily  be  restored.  The  friends,  seeing 
how  matters  stood,  said  :  "If  one  dies,  let  both  die,"  and  refused 
absolutely  to  render  any  help.  I  have  before  now  saved  the  husband 
in  one  room  and  the  wife  in  another. 

'We  are  successful  in  about  80  per  cent,  of  the  cases.  Sometimes 
the  suicides  struggle  like  demons  before  they  will  be  saved.  A  friend 
of  mine  was  called  to  a  strong  man  who  resisted  all  efforts  to  make 
him  take  an  emetic.  At  last,  with  the  aid  of  some  of  the  friends,  he 
was  pinioned  on  a  table  and  held  there  by  the  weight  of  a  big  door 
placed  on  him.  This  was  indeed  dragging  a  man  by  force  from  the 
jaws  of  death.  After  the  paroxysm  is  over  the  patient  is  usually 
amenable  to  all  reasoning. 

'  On  one  occasion  I  was  alone  with  a  strong  young  fellow  who 
resisted  all  my  efforts  to  do  what  his  mother  begged  me  to  do.  He 
dashed  my  medicine  away  in  a  furious  rage  and  refused  to  be  saved. 
Not  feeling  equal  to  tying  him  up  and  saving  him  by  force,  I 
appealed  to  his  superstitions  by  opening  my  eyes  wide  and  roaring 
at  him  as  a  "  foreign  devil "  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  roar.  The  result 
was  a  quiet,  easy  cure.  Later  on  the  victim  thanked  me  heartily. 

668 


Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars 

Sometimes  we  are  not  called  in  till  the  patient  is  dead,  and  even 
then  we  are  expected  to  succeed.  One  strong  man,  the  only  son  of 
his  mother,  lost  all  his  money  in  a  gambling  bout.  He  came  home 
and  swallowed  opium.  When  too  late  his  mother  asked  our  help. 
On  seeing  the  case  we  told  the  poor  woman  her  son  was  dead 
and  beyond  our  assistance.  Thereupon  her  tears  fell  like  the  rain, 
and  she  dashed  her  head  furiously  against  the  wall  again  and  again, 
crying  in  agony,  "  My  son  !  My  only  son  !  " 

'  What  a  sarcastic  misnomer  to  term  this  land  of  suicides  the 
Celestial  Land  ! 

This  would  make,  with  the  round  figures,  a  population 
of  400,000,000,  one  in  every  400  of  the  people.  When 
any  opportunity  for  an  attempt  at  statistics  presents  itself, 
the  results  are  most  appalling,  but  it  will  be  many  years 
before  a  certainty  on  the  subject  can  be  attained. 

Book  recommended. — For  an  account  of  Chinese  suttee,  prevalent  in  the 
country  near  Foochow,  see  Sir  Walter  Medhurst's  '  The  Foreigner  in  Far 
Cathay,'  p.  105. 

SUN,  MOON,  AND  STARS.— The  sun,  moon,  and 
stars,  with  that  fondness  for  numerical  categories  which 
possesses  the  Chinese,  are  classed  together  as  '  The  Three 
Lights.'  The  first  is  supposed  to  be  four  thousand  miles 
distant  from  the  earth,  and  the  heavens,  by  one  writer,  to 
be  seventy-three  thousand  miles  off.  After  this  it  would 
be  superfluous  to  adduce  any  more  instances  of  the  know- 
ledge, or  rather  want  of  knowledge,  of  the  Chinese  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  A  raven  in  a  circle  represents  the  sun. 

The  Chinese  are  more  gallant  than  we  are  with  regard 
to  the  moon.  They  do  not  see  any  man  in  the  moon,  but 
their  legend,  instead  of  being  that  of  a  man  gathering 
sticks  on  the  Sabbath,  and  being  sent  to  the  moon  as  a 
punishment,  is  of  a  female  beauty,  Chang-ngo  by  name, 
who  drank  the  elixir  of  immortality  and  went  to  the  moon, 
where  she  was  transformed  into  a  toad,  which  Chinese  eyes 
still  trace  in  the  shadows  visible  on  that  luminary's  surface. 
One  of  the  most  popular  festivals  is  that  of  the  moon,  which 
is  worshipped  in  autumn,  and  moon-cakes  are  made  and 
exposed  for  sale  everywhere.  These  are  circular  indi- 
gestible cakes,  elaborately  decorated  in  the  more  expensive 
varieties,  and  enclosed  in  circular  pasteboard  boxes  with  a 

669' 


Things  Chinese 

piece  of  netting  over  the  top.  The  children  go  wild  about 
them,  and  each  little  youngster  is  provided  with  one  to 
admire  to  his  heart's  content  and  gloat  over. 

The  stars  are  arranged  in  constellations  which  would 
quite  puzzle  the  Western  astronomer,  though  we  question 
if  their  combinations  into  nominal  clusters  are  any 
more  arbitrary  than  our  system  of  grouping  them. 

The  five  planets,  according  to  the  Chinese  system, 
are  Mercury,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Venus,  and  Saturn.  A  most 
wonderful  system  is  evolved  from  the  elementary  corre- 
spondences of  these  planets  with  water  (Mercury),  fire 
(Mars),  wood  (Jupiter),  metal  (Venus),  and  earth  (Saturn)  : 
the  combinations  and  permutations  of  which  are  the  cause 
of  the  different  effects  produced  in  the  visible  universe. 
The  above  are  supposed  to  be  intimately  connected  with 
the  five  colours,  black,  carnation,  azure,  white,  and  yellow ; 
with  the  five  human  viscera  ;  and  with  the  five  tastes,  etc. 
To  descend  from  the  wild  visionary  ideas  of  this  scheme  of 
philosophy,  falsely  so  called,  we  next  find  ourselves  in  the 
mazes  of  superstition  as  regards  the  stars  ;  for  not  a  few  of 
them  are  objects  of  worship,  some  of  the  most  popular 
being  the  Seven  Sisters,  for  the  Chinese,  in  common  with 
the  ancient  Greeks,  represent  the  Pleiades  as  such.  At 
their  festival  a  paper  tray  filled  with  seven  imitation 
mirrors,  and  other  objects  in  sets  of  seven,  are  burned  as 
offerings  to  these  star  spirits. 

Eclipses  are  a  source  of  terror  to  the  mass  of  the 
Chinese,  who  believe  that  a  celestial  dog  has  the  sun  or 
moon  in  its  jaws  and  is  about  to  swallow  it.  Gongs  are 
beaten  to  frighten  away  the  monster :  even  the  Govern- 
ment lends  its  sanction  to  this  absurd  superstition,  and  the 
high  officials  offer  worship  and  add  their  official  gongs  to 
the  general  din  of  the  ignorant  populace.  See  '  Fetichism  : 
A  Contribution  to  Anthropology  and  the  History  of 
Religion,'  by  F.  Schultze,  Dr.  Ph.,  Chap.,  6,  Sect.  3  ;  and 
Sir  John  Lubbock's  '  The  Origin  of  Civilisation  and  the 
Primitive  Condition  of  Man,'  Fourth  Edition,  pp.  229-233, 
for  similar  beliefs  and  practices  amongst  other  nations. 

670 


Taoism  and  its  Founder 
TAOISM  AND  ITS  FOUNDER.- 

'  Taoism  embraces  the  primeval  religion  of  China  and  all  the 
intellectual  tendencies  which  did  not  find  satisfaction  in  Confucianism. 
To  these  belong  the  various  experiments  in  natural  philosophy,  and 
in  connection  with  them  the  belief  in  the  possibility  of  overcoming 
death  by  means  of  the  elixir  of  immortality.  By  this,  man  enters 
the  everlasting  life,  leads  a  higher  existence  above  the  range  of 
material  laws,  in  beautiful  grottoes,  on  the  sacred  mountains,  or  on 
the  islands  of  the  blessed,  and  so  on.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  such 
a  belief,  which  bears  some  faint  resemblance  to  the  Christian  belief 
of  the  Resurrection,  should  have  found  acceptance  from  the  earliest 
to  most  recent  times  among  the  sober  Chinese.  There  is  a  record  of 
the  names  of  thousands  of  people  who  are  supposed  to  have  reached 
this  condition  of  immortality,  and  the  life  history  of  many  of  these 
is  preserved.  It  has  even  been  asserted  that  more  than  100,000  had 
reached  this  goal.' 

Thus  writes  Dr.  Faber  about  this  religion  which  in- 
fluences the  lives  of  almost  all  of  the  Chinese  people  to 
a  greater  or  lesser  extent. 

At  about  the  same  time  that  Confucius,  the  great  Sage 
of  China,  was  endeavouring  to  get  his  principles  adopted, 
there  lived  another  of  China's  great  men  whose  views  were 
diametrically  opposed  to  those  of  Confucius,  and  whose 
opinions,  or  whose  reputed  opinions,  formed  the  foundations 
of  a  system  as  powerful  over  masses  of  the  Chinese  as  Con- 
fucianism itself.  Of  Lao-tsz  our  ignorance  is  profound  :  his 
birth  is  mystified  with  legend  ;  of  his  life,  little  is  known  ; 
and  his  death  is  hidden  in  obscurity.  Amongst  all  the  un- 
certainty and  doubt  is  found  a  short  treatise,  his  one  \vork, 
'  The  Tao  Teh  King ' ;  its  translation  has  taxed  the  best 
endeavours  of  several  eminent  sinologists.  Amidst  its  short, 
terse,  ringing  sentences,  flash  jewels  of  the  first  water,  set  in 
much  that  is  obscure  to  the  foreign  reader,  who  longs  to  know 
what  this  ancient  worthy,  China's  Grand  Old  Man,  really 
meant.  In  this  Lao-tsz,  the  founder  of  Taoism,  we  have 
one  of  those  men  whose  writings,  life,  and  reputed  actions, 
have  exerted  an  untold  influence  on  the  course  of  human 
life  in  this  world,  but  of  whom  the  world,  during  his  life- 
time, took  so  little  account  that  all  that  is  authentically 
known  about  him  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  lines  :  '  Even 
his  parentage  is  surrounded  with  uncertainty,  of  his  life  we 

671 


Things  Chinese 

know  nothing  except  one  or  two  facts,  and  we  are  ignorant 
of  the  manner  of  his  death  and  of  the  place  of  his  burial. 
And  yet  he  was  one  of  the  deepest  thinkers  China  has 
produced.'  This  much  appears  to  be  certain,  that  he  held 
some  Government  appointment,  Keeper  of  the  Archives,  or 
Treasury  Keeper,  or  Keeper  of  the  Imperial  Museum,  as  it 
has  been  variously  rendered  into  English.  This  was  in  the 
state  of  Chou,  and,  foreseeing  its  inevitable  downfall,  he 
'  resigned  his  office  and  went  into  retirement,  cultivating 
Tao  and  virtue.'  The  disorders  increased  in  the  state  of 
Chou,  and,  though  living  '  a  life  of  retirement  and  oblivion,' 
his  place  of  retreat  was  not  secure  from  violence.  So  he 
started  on  that  mysterious  journey  of  which  we  have  no 
record,  to  some  bourne  from  whence  the  old  traveller  never 
returned ;  lost  to  mortal  ken,  he  left  behind  him  (with  the 
Keeper  of  the  Pass,  with  whom  he  stopped  some  time  before 
disappearing  into  obscurity)  the  small  book  mentioned 
above,  the  only  literary  remains  we  have  of  one  who  has 
exerted  such  an  influence  on  the  Chinese  nation. 

Besides  these  facts,  we  are  told  that  Confucius  met  him  ; 
and  a  son  of  the  philosopher  is  mentioned  who  became  a 
General  in  the  state  of  Wei,  but  in  a  few  generations,  as  far 
as  we  are  aware,  the  line  seems  to  have  gone  out  in  obscure 
darkness. 

Legend  has  gathered  round  the  few  facts  until  quite  a 
halo  has  surrounded  the  old  philosopher :  myth  and  fable 
have  crystallised  round  the  short  and  simple  story  of  his 
life  till  his  whole  being  and  actions  are  glorified  ;  they 
gleam  and  glitter  with  the  splendour  of  the  marvellous,  and 
are  magnified  into  the  wonderful  and  miraculous ;  added 
glories  are  borrowed  from  the  meretricious  charms  of  a 
debased  and  idolatrous  Buddhism  until  the  whole  system 
is  transformed,  aided  by  the  vagaries  of  its  own  professors, 
into  a  monstrous  mass  of  charlatanism  and  thaumaturgic 
mysteries  which  would  shock  Lao-tsz  himself  were  another 
avatar  granted  him  ;  for  different  incarnations  are  ascribed 
to  him  in  the  past,  and  attributes  pertaining  to  the  Deity 
are  freely  given  to  him  to  raise  him  in  popular  estimation 

672 


Taoism  and  its  Founder 

— attributes  which  in  the  Protestant  West,  being  reserved 
for  One  alone,  greaten  Him,  but  which,  in  the  polytheistic 
East,  are  belittled  by  being  the  common  property  of 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  heroes  and  saints  innumer- 
able. But  to  return  to  our  present  philosopher  :  being  thus 
metamorphosed  into  one  amongst  hosts  of  the  demigods  of 
China's  pantheon,  his  birth  is  made  to  take  place  amidst 
the  marvellous — the  sight  of  a  falling  star  caused  his  con- 
ception, but  he  appears  to  have  experienced  reluctance  in 
entering  into  the  world,  for  he  was  81  years  of  age  when 
he  was  born,  being  an  old  grey-beard,  hence  the  names,  or 
titles,  by  which  he  is  known,  Lao-tsz,  '  The  Old  Boy,'  or 
'  The  Ancient  Philosopher,'  and  '  The  Venerable  Prince.' 

The  Chinese  always  give  their  sages  most  extraordinary 
characteristics.  As  a  sample  of  them  we  will  give  those 
which  Lao-tsz  was  said  to  possess : — 

'  His  complexion  was  white  and  yellow ;  his  ears  were  of  an 
extraordinary  size,  and  were  each  pierced  with  three  passages.  He 
had  handsome  eyebrows,  large  eyes,  ragged  teeth,  a  double-ridged 
nose,  and  a  square  mouth  ;  on  each  foot  he  had  ten  toes,  and  each 
hand  was  ornamented  with  ten  lines.' 

The  small  book  which  Lao-tsz  left  behind  him  contains 
only  5,000  words.  It  has  been  well  said  of  it  : — 

'  Probably  no  widely-spread  religion  was  ever  founded  on  so  small 
a  base.  Like  an  inverted  pyramid  the  ever-increasing  growth  of  Taoist 
literature  and  superstitious  doctrines,  which  make  the  sum  of  modern 
Taoism,  rests  on  this  small  volume  as  its  ultimate  support.  We  say 
"  ultimate "  advisedly,  for  other  works  have  long  surpassed  it  in 
popularity.  Its  philosophical  speculations  are  far  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  ordinary  reader,  and  even  scholars  are  obliged  to  confess  that  they 
have  but  a  general  idea  of  the  meaning  of  the  old  recluse.  "It  is  not 
easy,"  says  one  of  the  best-known  commentators,  "  to  explain  clearly 
the  more  profound  passages  of  Lao-tsz  ;  all  that  science  is  able  to  do 
is  to  give  the  general  sense."  To  European  scholars  the  difficulty  is 
even  greater.  As  Remusat  remarks  in  his  Memoire  de  Lao-tseu  '.  "The 
text  is  so  full  of  obscurity,  we  have  so  few  means  of  acquiring  a  perfect 
understanding  of  it,  so  little  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  to  which 
the  author  makes  allusion  ;  we  are,  in  a  word,  so  distant  in  all  respects 
from  the  ideas  under  the  influence  of  which  he  writes,  that  it  would  be 
temerity  to  pretend  to  reproduce  exactly  the  sense  which  he  had  in 
view,  when  that  sense  is  beyond  our  grasp."  It  is,  however,  always  easy 
to  affix  a  plausible  interpretation  to  that  which  is  not  susceptible  of 
any  definite  explanation,  and  consequently  a  host  of  commentators 

673  2   U 


Things  Chinese 

and  translators  have  arisen,  who  find  in  the  Tao  Teh  King  confirmation 
of  their  preconceived  theories  of  his  meaning  and  of  their  preconceived 
wishes  on  his  behalf.' 

The  Jesuit  missionaries  found  in  these  mystical  utter- 
ances of  the  first  Taoist  philosopher  a  knowledge  of  the 
Triune  God,  revealed  five  centuries  before  Christ,  and  the 
mystic  name  of  Jehovah.  These  fanciful  speculations, 
based  probably  on  a  misapprehension  of  a  book  most 
difficult  of  comprehension,  are  not  now  received  with 
seriousness. 

'  In  the  Tao  Teh  King,  Lao-tsz  has  elaborated  his  idea  of  the 
relations  existing  between  the  Universe  and  that  which  he  calls  Taou.' 
'  The  primary  meaning  of  this  name  of  a  thing,  which  he  declares  to 
be  "without  name,"  is  "The  Way,"  hence  it  has  acquired  the  symbolic 
meanings  of  "the  right  course  of  conduct,"  "reason,"  and  it  also 
signifies  "the  word"  (Logos).  By  all  these  meanings  it  has  been 
severally  rendered  by  the  translators  of  Lao-tsz's  celebrated  work.  In 
support  of  each  rendering  it  is  possible  to  adduce  quotations  from  the 
text,  but  none  is  the  equivalent  of  Lao-tsz's  Tao,  The  word  Tao  is 
hot  the  invention  of  Lao-tsz.  It  was  constantly  in  the  mouth  of 
Confucius,  and  with  him  it  meant  the  "Way."  The  Buddhists  also 
used  it  in  the  sense  of  "  Intelligence,"  and  called  their  co-religionists 
Tao-jin,  or  "  Men  of  Intelligence."  If  we  were  compelled  to  adopt  a 
single  word  to  represent  the  Tao  of  Lao-tsz,  we  should  prefer  the  sense 
in  which  it  is  used  by  Confucius,  "  The  Way,"  that  is  /«?0o3oj.  "  If  I 
were  endowed  with  prudence,  I  should  walk  in  the  great  Tao.  .  .  . 
The  great  Tao  is  exceeding  plain,  but  the  people  like  the  footpaths," 
said  Lao-tsz  (chapter  53).  But  it  is  more  than  the  way.  It  is  the  way 
and  the  way-goer.  It  is  an  eternal  road  ;  along  it  all  beings  and 
things  walk,  but  no  being  made  it,  for  it  is  Being  itself;  it  is  every- 
thing and  nothing,  and  the  cause  and  effect  of  all.  All  originate  from 
Tao,  conform  to  Tao,  and  to  Tao  they  at  last  return. 

'  Tao  is  impalpable.  You  look  at  it  and  you  cannot  see  it.  You 
listen  and  you  cannot  hear  it.  You  try  to  touch  it  and  you  cannot 
reach  it.  You  use  it  and  cannot  exhaust  it.  It  is  not  to  be  expressed 
in  words.  It  is  still  and  void  ;  it  stands  alone,  and  changes  not ;  it 
circulates  everywhere,  and  is  not  endangered.  It  is  ever  inactive,  and 
yet  leaves  nothing  undone.  From  it  phenomena  appear,  through  it 
they  change,  in  it  they  disappear.  Formless,  it  is  the  cause  of  form. 
Nameless,  it  is  the  origin  of  heaven  and  earth  ;  with  a  name  it  is  the 
mother  of  all  things.  It  is  the  ethical  nature  of  the  good  man  and  the 
principles  of  his  action.  If  we  had  then  to  express  the  meaning  of 
Tao,  we  should  describe  it  as  (i)  the  Absolute,  the  totality  of  Being 
and  Things  ;  (2)  the  phenomenal  world  and  its  order  ;  and  (3)  the 
ethical  nature  of  the  good  man  and  the  principle  of  his  action.' 

To  the  English  reader  this  book  is  one  of  the  most 
delightful  of  Chinese  books  of  that  class. — 'The  deepest 

674 


Taoism  and  its  Founder 

thought  is  to  be  found  in  the  Taoist  classical  works.' — It 
seems  to  approach  nearer  to  the  grand  truths  so  magnifi- 
cently expressed  in  parts  of  our  own  incomparable  Bible. 
Its  diction  is  simple  ;  its  sentences  terse  ;  but  its  style 
enigmatic  ;  the  Westerner  feels,  though  unable  to  put  him- 
self in  complete  rapport  with  the  grand  old  philosopher, 
more  in  sympathy  with  him  than  with  the  more  highly 
lauded  Confucius.  In  the  words  of  one  writer :  '  In  such 
utterances  as  these  Lao-tsz  showed  himself  to  be  as 
superior  to  Confucius  as  the  Christian  dispensation  is  to 
the  Mosaic  law.' 

As  the  first  purity  of  Christianity  was  sullied  by  the 
superstitions  and  idolatry  of  the  mediaeval  times,  so  a 
system  of  charms,  idolatry,  exorcism,  elixirs  of  immortality, 
masses  of  superstition,  et  hoc  genus  omne,  have  gathered 
round  the  original  Taoism.  This  growth  of  centuries  forms 
what  is  now  known  as  Taoism,  and,  in  common  with 
Buddhism  and  an  adhesion  to  Confucianism,  stands  for 
religion  to  the  average  Chinaman.  It  is  believed  in,  in 
moments  of  danger  and  death,  but  laughed  at  in  their 
sceptical  hours  by  the  better  educated,  who  then  profess 
themselves  Confucianists  alone ;  it,  however,  receives  only 
formal  acknowledgment  from  many,  though  its  thaumaturgic 
priests,  in  harmony  with  those  of  the  Buddhists,  are  relied 
on  by  all  to  rescue  the  souls  of  their  relatives  from  the 
punishments  of  Hades  by  the  performance  of  masses. 

Earlier  Taoism  boasts  of  two  philosophers,  Lieh-tsz  and 
Chwang-tsz,  who  have  been  latinised  as  Licius  and  Chancius. 
We  have  not  the  space  to  go  into  a  dissertation  on  all  their 
opinions. 

Suffice  it  to  say  of  Licius  that  '  the  belief  in  the  identity  of 
existence  and  non-existence,  and  the  constant  alternations  from  the 
one  to  the  other  observable  in  all  nature,  assumed  in  his  eyes  a 
warrant  for  the  old  doctrine,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we 
die."' 

'The  vanity  of  human  effort'  was  Chancius's  'main  theme,  and  the 
Confucianists  were  the  principal  objects  of  his  denunciations.'  '  The 
fussy  politician  who  boasts  of  having  governed  the  empire  is  given  to 
understand  that  the  empire  would  have  been  very  much  better 
governed  if  it  had  been  left  alone,  and  the  man  who  seeks  to  establish 

675 


Things  Chinese 

a  reputation  is  told  that  reputation  is  but  "  the  guest  of  reality.'1 
He  was  at  one  with  the  code  of  Menu,  and  pronounced  the  waking 
state  one  of  deceptive  appearances, .  .  .  but  though  there  was  this 
unreality  in  existence,  life  was  yet  a  thing  to  be  cared  for.  .  .  .  This 
care  for  life  was  quite  compatible  .  .  .  with  an  indifference  for  death.' 
Of  his  own  funeral,  he  said  : — '  I  will  have  heaven  and  earth  for 
my  sarcophagus,  the  sun  and  moon  shall  be  the  insignia  when 
I  lie  in  state,  and  all  creation  shall  be  the  mourners  at  my 
funeral.' 

The  mass  of  Chinese  have  cast  aside  the  philosophical 
and  metaphysical  speculations  of  the  old  philosopher  and 
his  immediate  followers,  and  on  the  small  foundations  of 
the  Tao  Teh  King  a  superstructure  of  hay,  stubble,  rubbish, 
and  rottenness  has  been  raised.  They  appear  to  have 
started  off  at  a  tangent  from  his  ideas,  and  evolved  some 
elaborate  systems,  wandering  off  into  empty  space.  The 
craving  of  man  for  immortality  degenerated  into  a  fruitless 
search  for  plants,  which,  when  eaten,  would  confer  it ;  for 
charms  which  would  bestow  it ;  for  elixirs,  the  quaffing  of 
which  would  send  it  coursing  through  one's  veins.  So 
strong  were  these  beliefs  that  Taoist  books  were  spared  in 
the  general  destruction  by  the  hated  Ts'in  Shih  Huang-ti 
(B.C.  200) ;  and  the  same  monarch,  who  was  a  Taoist  him- 
self, dispatched  a  naval  expedition  to  discover  the  '  golden 
isles  of  the  blest,  where  dwelt  genii,  whose  business  and 
delight  it  was  to  dispense  to  all  visitors  to  their  shores  a 
draught  of  immortality,  compounded  of  the  fragrant  herbs 
which  grew  in  profusion  around  them.' 

Magicians  arose  under  the  iegis  of  Taoism  who  '  professed  to  have 
mastered  the  powers  of  nature.  They  threw  themselves  into  fire 
without  being  burned,  and  into  water  without  being  drowned.  They 
held  the  secret  of  the  philosophers  stone,  and  raised  tempests  at  their 
will.' 

So  soon  was  the  original  Taoism  of  Lao-tsz  forgotten,  that  all  the 
vagaries  of  these  mystic  jugglers  were  believed  in,  'and  the  attention 
of  all  his  professed  followers  was  directed  to  obtaining  the  elixir  of 
immortality  and  the  philosopher's  stone.  .  .  .  The  mania  for  these 
magical  arts  among  the  Chinese  during  the  Ts'in  and  Western  Han 
dynasties  seems  to  have  been  as  general  and  as  acute  as  the  South 
Sea  Scheme  madness  among  our  forefathers.  From  the  emperors 
downwards,  the  people  devoted  their  lives  to  seeking  immunity  from 
death  and  poverty.  Business  of  every  kind  was  neglected,  fields  were 
left  untilled,  the  markets  were  deserted,  and  the  only  people  who 
gained  any  share  of  the  promised  benefits  were  the  professors  of 

6/6 


Taoism  and  its  Founder 

Taoism  who  trafficked  with  the  follies  of  their  countrymen,  and  who 
fattened  on  the  wealth  of  the  credulous.' 

One  of  the  votaries  is  said  to  have  been  the  Emperor  Woo.  '  "  I 
know,"  said  Le  Shaou-keun  to  the  Emperor,  "how  to  harden  snow 
and  to  change  it  into  white  silver  ;  I  know  how  cinnabar  transforms  its 
nature  and  passes  into  yellow  gold.  I  can  rein  the  flying  dragon  and 
visit  the  extremities  of  the  earth  ;  I  can  bestride  the  hoary  crane  and 
soar  above  the  nine  degrees  of  heaven,"  and  in  return  for  these 
imaginary  powers  he  became  the  chosen  adviser  of  the  Emperor,  and 
received  the  most  exalted  honours.'  After  this  reign,  however,  the 
Taoism  of  this  character  lost  favour  and  '  the  ethics  of  Confucius  and 
the  mysticism  of  Lao-tsz'  grew  in  estimation. 

Later  on,  Imperial  sacrifices  were  ordained  to  the 
philosopher ;  and  Buddhism  exerted  its  influence  on 
Taoism.  With  regard  to  the  latter  it  is  almost  amusing  to 
notice  the  plagiarism  of  the  writers  of  Taoist  books  in 
adopting  into,  and  adapting  to,  their  religion  the  legends 
and  tales  of  the  idols  of  Buddhism  ;  for  in  modern  Chinese 
thought  and  practice  the  saints  and  the  deified  dogmas  of 
Buddhism  really  form  a  pantheon  of  that  religion. 

Taoism  not  only  basked  in  Imperial  favour  at  times, 
but  also  suffered  the  withering  scorn  of  those  rulers  who 
pinned  their  faith  exclusively  to  the  tenets  of  the  politico- 
ethical  Confucianism.  '  Asceticism  and  public  worship 
soon  became  engrafted  on  the  doctrine  of  Lao-tsz ' ;  the 
Buddhists  and  Taoists,  however,  were  sworn  enemies,  the 
one  party  taunting  the  other  with  being  jugglers,  while  the 
other  retorted  that  the  Buddhists  were  strangers  in  the 
land.  With  the  accession  of  the  T'ang  dynasty  the 
delusions  of  the  elixir  of  immortality  and  the  philosopher's 
stone  began  to  exercise  their  influence  over  the  minds  of 
men.  Lao-tsz  was  canonised,  and  one  of  the  Emperors 
actually  went  so  far  as  to  introduce  his  writings  into  the 
syllabus  for  literary  competitive  examinations.  The 
Taoists  flourished  and  suffered  alternately  under  different 
sovereigns  and  dynasties,  until  the  time  of  the  Sung 
dynasty.  In  A.D.  859,  one  of  the  Emperors  found  his  death 
instead  of  eternal  life  in  the  elixir  of  immortality.  Two  of 
the  sovereigns  had  already  succumbed  to  it  in  A.D.  824  and 
846.  Shortly  after  that,  in  another  150  years,  Taoism  lost 
its  hold  in  the  Imperial  Court.  A  Chinese  poem  sums  up 

677 


Things  Chinese 

this  phase  of  Taoism  and  '  gives  a  concise  view  of  the  craze 
which  seized  on  Chinese  alchemists  two  thousand  years 
ago,  of  which  the  search  for  the  elixir  of  life  and  the 
philosopher's  stone  in  Europe  was  a  mere  echo.'  Dr. 
Martin  thus  puts  it  into  English  : — 

'  A  prince  the  draught  immortal  went  to  seek  ; 
And  finding  it  he  soared  above  the  spheres. 
In  mountain  caverns  he  had  dwelt  a  week  ; 
Of  earthly  time  it  was  a  thousand  years.' 

The  priests  of  Lao-tsz  married,  and  were  like  the  common 
people  in  all  points  but  in  the  matter  of  paying  taxes  from 
which  they  were  exempt,  though  by  their  law  or  custom,  in 
imitation  of  Buddhism,  they  were  supposed  to  be  celibates  ; 
but  'under  the  first  Emperor  of  the  Sung  dynasty 
(A.D.  960-976),  however,  a  return  to  a  stricter  system  was 
enforced,  and  they  were  forbidden  to  marry.'  At  the 
present  day  the  Taoist  priests,  who  have  become  such  since 
their  marriage,  retain  their  wives,  nor  are  those  who  have 
not  hitherto  been  married  prevented  from  marrying,  thus 
presenting  a  striking  contrast  to  the  Buddhist  priests. 

One  of  the  books  which  exerts  the  greatest  influence 
over  the  mass  of  the  Chinese  people  is  the  '  Book  of  Rewards 
and  Punishments,'  which  is  based  upon  Taoism  ;  it  leaves 
untouched  the  abstruse  philosophy  of  Lao-tsz,  but  elaborates 
a  system  of  morality  for  everyday  life  upon  the  foundation 
of  his  sayings.  Amidst  much  chaff  and  modern  superstition 
there  are  many  grains  of  truth  and  good  advice,  enforced 
by  the  promises  of  rewards  for  good,  virtuous  actions,  and 
the  threatening  of  evil-doers  with  present  and  future 
punishment. 

Another  book  must  be  mentioned  in  this  connection  as  exerting  an 
influence  on  the  Chinese  mind  :  it  is  '  The  Book  of  Secret  Blessings,' 
which  has  been  described  as  having  'no  reference  whatever  to  the 
doctrines  of  Taoism,  but  only  a  number  of  moral  injunctions  of  great 
ethical  purity.'  'These  two  works  may  fairly  be  taken  to  represent 
the  moral  side  of  modern  Taoism.  Few  professing  Taoists  trouble 
themselves  at  the  present  day  about  the  musings  of  Lao-tsz  or  the 
dreamy  imaginings  of  his  early  followers.  They  pursue  only  their  own 
good,  mainly  temporal,  but  also  moral.  To  secure  the  former  they 
have  recourse  to  the  magical  works  of  the  sect,  and  to  the  expounders 

678 


Taoism  and  its  Founder 

of  these,  the  Taoist  priests.  They  buy  charms  and  practise  exorcisms, 
at  the  bidding  and  for  the  profit  of  these  needy  charlatans,  and  they 
study  with  never-failing  interest  the  advice  and  receipts  contained  in 
the  numberless  books  and  pamphlets  published  for  their  benefit.  Into 
some  of  these,  Buddhist  ideas  are  largely  imported,  and  the  doctrine 
of  the  existence  of  hell,  which  finds  no  kind  of  canonical  sanction,  is 
commonly  preached.  Liturgies,  also  framed  on  Buddhist  models, 
abound,  and  in  some  cases  not  only  the  form,  but  even  the  phraseology, 
of  Hindoo  works  is  incorporated  into  these  prayer-books.' 

At  the  head  of  the  Taoist  pantheon  stands  a  trinity,  in 
imitation  of  the  Buddhist  trinity — that  of  the  '  Three  Pure 
Ones ' — and  though  Taoism  originally  was  not  an  idolatrous 
system,  the  baneful  influence  of  latter-day  Buddhism  on  the 
Chinese  mind  has  induced  the  votaries  of  the  Chinese  system 
(for,  as  has  already  been  seen,  Taoism  is  of  native  origin) 
to  pander  to  the  material  instincts  of  the  idolatrous  mind, 
and  a  whole  host  of  superior  and  inferior  deities — gods, 
genii,  heroes,  good  men,  and  virtuous  women,  the  spirits  of 
stars  and  the  visible   manifestations  of  nature  and  of  the 
elements,  such  as  thunder  and  lightning,  as  well  as  dragons 
—have  all   been  classed   together   as  objects  of  worship, 
while  the  God  of  Literature,  and  Gods  and  Goddesses  of 
Disease,   all  receive   their   share  of  attention.     Below  the 
trinity  of  Three  Pure  Ones,  and  above  the  others,  presides 
the  Gemmeous  Supreme  Ruler,  and  one  of  the  strongest 
objections   to   the   use   of   the   words    Shangti    (Supreme 
Ruler)  as  the  equivalent  in  Chinese  for  the  Christian  God  is 
that  this  title  is  by  common  usage  that/wr  excellence  of  that 
idol,  and  the   common  people  instinctively  think   of  the 
Taoist    Shangti    when    the  words  are   used,  though    it    is 
employed   in   the   ancient  Chinese  classics  in    a  different 
sense.     After  these  hierarchal  deities  come  hosts  of  other 
gods : — 

'Star  gods,  the  28  constellations,  the  60  cycle-stars,  the  129  lucky 
or  unlucky  stars  ;  then  the  gods  of  the  five  elements,  of  natural 
phenomena,  of  sickness  and  of  medicine  ;  the  animal  gods,  such  as 
the  fox,  tiger,  dragon,  etc.  ;  the  gods  of  literature,  specially  the  in- 
numerable local  divinities,  at  the  head  of  which  stand  the  city  gods.' 

The    Pope  of  Taoism,  who  lives  in  the  '  Dragon  and 
Tiger   Mountains '  in   the  province   of  Kiangsi,  is  styled 

679 


Things  Chinese 

'  Heavenly  Teacher,'  a  title  bestowed  on  his  first  predecessor 
by  one  of  the  Chinese  Emperors  in  A.D.  423.  Since  then 
this  dignity  has  been  hereditary  in  the  family. 

'The  Chinese  believe  that  this  pope  is  head  over  the  gods  and 
spirits  which  are  worshipped  throughout  the  realm,  that  he  instals  or 
suspends,  exalts  or  degrades  them  according  to  imperial — not  divine  ! 
— command.  He  grants  an  audience  to  the  gods  on  the  first  of  every 
month,  and  all  attend,  those  of  the  heavens,  the  nether  world,  the 
ocean,  etc.  He  has  possession  of  the  magic  sword  with  which  he 
controls  the  demons  and  shuts  them  up  in  earthen  pitchers.  He 
rules  as  the  representative  on  earth  of  the  Jasper-god  [the  Gemmeous 
Ruler  mentioned  above]  and  grants  the  Taoist  monasteries  their 
licence.'  'Although  popes  have  existed,  for  nearly  1,500  years,  there 
is  no  record  in  Chinese  history  of  any  one  of  them  opposing  an  imperial 
libertine  or  of  causing  any  wild  rebel  to  relinquish  his  cause  and 
settle  down  peacefully.' 

Another  writer  thus  sums  up  Taoism  : — describing  its 
position  in  the  Chinese  eclecticism  which  stands  for  religion 
amongst  this  curious  people  : — 

'  In  early  Chinese  records  we  find  many  references  to  the  worship 
of  Supernatural  Beings  ;  the  Emperor  worships  Heaven,  the  people 
worship  the  gods  of  each  particular  spot  of  land  ;  Mountains  and 
Streams  are  worshipped,  and  the  Spirits  of  Departed  Men.  In  fact 
they  seem  always  to  have  been  free — they  now  are — to  picture  in  their 
minds  and  worship  just  what  Supernatural  Beings  they  chose.  There 
was  then  in  the  Chinese  mind,  as  there  is  now,  a  vague  image  of  a 
Supernatural  World  consisting  of  countless  Beings  who  were  behind 
and  controlled  phenomena.  The  chief  of  these  Beings  was  called 
Shangti,  the  Supreme  God,  who  seems  to  have  been  pictured  as 
ruling  the  Supernatural  World,  much  as  the  Feudal  Lord  or  Emperor 
ruled  the  Kingdoms  of  which  China  then  consisted.  To  this  state 
of  things  came  Confucius  who  summed  up  the  practical  philosophy 
and  ethics  of  the  day  and  occupied  with  his  teaching  the  sphere  of 
human  relations — man's  duty  to  his  neighbour — but  left  the  rest  much 
as  he  found  it.  Then  followed  Buddhism  from  India,  and  occupied 
the  sphere  of  man's  relations  to  a  future  life,  with  fixed  tenets  and 
teaching,  in  fact  a  Religion — and  the  first  China  had  heard  of.  That 
she  had  no  religion  of  her  own  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  she  has  no 
word  with  that  meaning,  kiao,  the  word  in  use,  meaning  no  more 
than  "doctrine."  Taoism  was  the  attempt  of  the  native  scholars  to 
make  out  of  the  heterogeneous  materials  of  Nature  Worship  a  religion 
after  the  model  of,  and  to  seme  as  a  rival  to,  Buddhism.  .  .  . 
But  to  the  above  a  correction  must  be  applied,  tending,  however,  to 
make  the  subject  matter  of  Taoism  more  mixed  still.  There  is  (i) 
Lao  Tzu's  teaching  about  Tao,  the  way ;  and  there  is  (2)  the  Black 
Art,  the  search  for  the  elixir  of  life  and  the  philosopher's  stone — these 
two  have  both  been  important  elements  in  Taoism  and  cannot  be 
disregarded  :  the  second  requires  no  explanation.  Chinese  alchemy 

680 


Tea 

seems  to  have  followed  much  the  same  course  as  in  the  West.  In 
regard  to  Tao,  we  will  venture  a  word  of  explanation,  for  it  is  far  the 
most  important  term  in  Chinese  philosophy  and  seems  to  embrace 
a  valuable  idea.  What  does  it  mean  ?  The  way  or  right  course.  But 
whither?  Suppose  the  universe  of  mind  and  matter  to  be  subject  to 
immutable  forces  and  laws  from  the  effects  of  which  man  has  abso- 
lutely no  hope  of  escape  ;  and  suppose  a  man  contemplated  doing 
something,  whether  with  hands  or  with  his  brain,  there  is  one  best 
way  to  effect  his  object  and  that  best  way  is  Tao.  It  is  true  that  the 
word  is  often  very  vaguely  used,  but  in  its  abstract  sense  it  usually 
means  either  (i)  the  immutable  laws  of  the  universe  themselves  when 
it  corresponds  to  nattira,  of  the  Stoics  (See  Walter's  learned  disquisi- 
tion on  this  word  "  Essays  in  the  Chinese  Language,"  page  229),  or  (2) 
the  right  way  to  act  with  regard  to  those  laws  as  explained  above. 

'  Clearly  this  idea  of  Tao  is  for  the  learned,  and  alchemy  being 
long  ago  dead,  there  remains  only  Nature-worship — and  that  is  what 
Taoism  is  for  the  mass  of  the  people,'  combined  with  the  worship  of 
a  host  of  idols. 

Books  recommended. — Professor  Douglas's  'Confucianism  and  Taoism,' 
contains  an  interesting  monograph  on  this  religion,  from  which  we  have 
largely  quoted  in  the  above  article.  Specimens  of  the  tales  of  Taoism  will  l>e 
found  in  '  Scraps  from  Chinese  Mythology,'  by  Rev.  Dyer  Ball,  M.A.,  M.D. 
Annotated  by  J.  Dyer  Ball,  printed  in  vols.  ix.,  xi.,  xii.,  xiii.,  of 
The  China  Heineir.  See  also  'China  in  the  Light  of  History,' a  series  of 
papers  translated  from  the  German  and  published  in  The  Chinese  Pecorder 
and  Afissionai-y  Journal,  vol.  xxvii.  pp.  387-390,  Article  'Taoism.'  Also 
see  Books  recommended  at  the  end  of  the  Article  on  Philosophy.  '  The  L6  Fan 
Mountains :  An  Excursion,'  by  F.  S.  A.  Bourne,  pp.  27,  28  and  29. 

TEA. — The  names  for  tea  in  the  West  are  amongst 
the  few  words  derived  from  Chinese,  and  were  introduced 
with  the  leaf  into  Europe.  These  names,  though  they 
seem  dissimilar  in  some  languages,  are  all  originally  from 
the  same  words,  the  differences  being  due  to  the  particular 
Chinese  speech  (or  so-called  dialect)  from  which  they  have 
been  borrowed.  In  the  Fuhkienese  type  of  languages,  tea 
is  known  by  the  word  te  (pronounced  teJt],  and  it  is  from 
this  source  that  the  French  word  //A/,  the  Italian  te,  the 
Spanish  te,  German  thee,  Dutch  thee,  Danish  the,  Gaelic  // 
(pronounced  tay),  and  Malay  teh,  are  all  derived,  as  well  as 
our  English  word  tea.  In  the  greater  part  of  the  Chinese 
empire  the  word  for '  the  cup  that  cheers  but  not  inebriates  ' 
is  ch'd  (pronounced  ch'ah),  and  it  is  from  this  pronunciation 
of  it  that  the  names  used  in  Russia  (tshai},  in  Portugal 
(cha),  and  in  Italy  (cia)  are  derived.  Strange  to  say,  the 
Italians,  however,  have  two  names  for  tea,  cia  and  tc,  the 

68 1 


Things  Chinese 

latter,  of  course,  is  from  the  Chinese  word  te,  noticed  above, 
while  the  former  is  derived  from  the  word  ch'd.  It  is  curious 
to  note  in  this  connection  that  an  early  mention,  if  not 
the  first  notice,  of  the  word  in  English  is  under  the  form  cha 
(in  an  English  Glossary  of  A.D.  1671):  we  are  also  told 
that  it  was  once  spelt  tcha — both  evidently  derived  from  the 
Cantonese  form  of  the  word  ;  but  thirteen  years  later  we  have 
the  word  derived  from  the  Fokienese  te,  but  borrowed 
through  the  French  and  spelt  as  in  the  latter  language  the"; 
the  next  change  in  the  word  is  early  in  the  following  century, 
when  it  drops  the  French  spelling  and  adopts  the  present 
form  of  tea,  though  the  Fokienese  pronunciation,  which  the 
French  still  retain,  is  not  dropped  for  the  modern  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  now  wholly  Anglicised  word  tea  till  comparatively 
lately.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  we,  like  the  Italians,  might 
have  had  two  forms  of  the  word,  had  we  not  discarded  the 
first,  which  seemed  to  have  made  but  little  lodgment  with 
us,  for  the  second. 

The  tea-bush  belongs  to  the  botanical  family  of  the 
Ternstroemiace&i  to  which  the   camellia   likewise  belongs. 
It  is  an  evergreen,  and  '  has  come  lately  to  be  looked  upon 
by    many   as    only    a    particular    species   of    the    genus 
camellia,   since   there   are   no  generic   differences  (e.g.,  in 
Bentham    and   Hooper's  "  Genera    Plantarum ").'     It  does 
not  grow  in  the  northern  provinces  of  China,  but  ranges 
between     the    twenty-third    and     thirty-fifth    degrees    of 
latitude.     Though  tea  will  grow  on  poor  soil,  it  has  been 
proved,  by  experiments  in  India,  that  the  best  soil  for  it  is 
a  friable,  light-coloured,  porous  one  with  a  fair  proportion  of 
sand  and  a  superabundance  of  decaying  vegetable  matter 
on  the  surface.     To  produce  good  tea,  high  cultivation  is 
necessary :   a  small   plantation  with  such  cultivation  will 
pay  better  than  one   twice  the  size  with  low  cultivation. 
Tea,  especially  the  China  variety,  will  grow   in    varying 
climates  and  soils,  but  it  will  not  flourish  in  all  of  them. 
'  The  rainfall  should  not  be  less  than  80  to  100  inches  per 
annum.'     It  can  grow  where  the  thermometer  falls  below 
freezing-point,  but  it  '  cannot  be  too  hot  for  tea  if  the  heat 

682 


Tea 

is  accompanied  with  moisture.'  The  yield  is  double  in  a 
hot  and  moist  climate  from  what  it  is  in  a  comparatively 
dry  and  temperate  one,  for  it  yields  most  abundantly  with 
hot  sunshine  and  showers  and  with  the  rain  equally 
diffused.  Fogs,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year,  in  the 
morning,  and  a  considerable  amount  of  rain  in  February, 
March,  and  April,  benefit  the  plant.  Hot  winds  combined 
with  a  dry  temperature  do  not  suit  it.  These  observations 
on  the  right  climate  for  tea  are  the  results  of  experiments 
in  India  ;  and  any  one  knowing  that  of  Southern  China 
will  see  that  these  are  just  the  climatic  conditions  of  that 
part  of  the  world. 

Some  Botanists  seem  to  be  in  doubt  as  to  '  whether 
China,  the  land  where  it  has  been  so  long  cultivated,  is  its 
original  home,  and,  if  so,  which  part  of  China.'  '  No 
accounts  have  come  to  us  of  the  tea-shrub  being  cultivated 
for  its  infusion  till  A.D.  350.'  The  tea-plant  in  China  is  the 
common  tea-bush.  In  Assam,  where  it  was  discovered 
fifty  years  ago,  it  has  been  looked  upon  as  an  indigenous 
plant 

'The  home  of  the  China  tea-plant  is  now  [1900]  believed  to  have 
been  Upper  Assam,  although  its  existence  in  this  region  was  not 
generally  known  until  1834.  Professor  A.  Kratsnow  of  Kharkoff, 
Russia,  decides  further  that  the  tea-plant  must  be  indigenous  to  the 
whole  monsoon  region  of  Eastern  Asia,  as  he  has  found  it  growing 
wild  in  dense  uncultivated  forests  as  far  north  as  the  island  of 
Southern  Japan.  He  believes  that  it  existed  in  China  and  Japan  long 
before  the  cultivated  form  was  introduced  from  the  south-west.  The 
period  of  cultivation  having  been  too  short  to  produce  the  modifica- 
tion existing,  he  concludes  that  the  peculiar  properties  of  the  Chinese 
plant  have  resulted  from  changes  of  climate  in  Eastern  Asia  since  the 
Tertiary  Epoch,  instead  of  from  cultivation  in  a  colder  climate  or  from 
exhausted  soil.  He  traces  the  two  varieties — Assam  and  Chinese — to 
remote  times,  finding  the  first  still  growing  wild  in  India  and  the  other 
occurring  still  wild  in  Southern  Japan.' 

The  China  plant  grows  to  be  six  or  seven  feet  in  height 
in  India,  while  the  Assam  plant  becomes  a  little  tree  (but 
it  is  said  if  the  China  tea-plant  is  allowed  to  grow  it 
also  attains  considerable  size)  and  grows  to  the  height  of 
fifteen  or  eighteen  feet.  In  China,  the  tea-plants  seldom 
exceed  three  feet,  '  most  of  them  are  half  that  height, 

683 


Things  Chinese 

straggling,  and  full  of  twigs,  often  covered  with  lichens,' 
but  the  ground  round  them  is  well  hoed  and  clean. 
Unlike  the  large  tea-gardens  in  India,  the  Chinese  planta- 
tions are  simply  little  patches,  often  on  the  slopes,  or  at 
the  foot  of  hills,  where  both  drainage  and  moisture  are 
easily  provided.  The  tea-growers  either  pick  the  leaves 
themselves  or  sell  them  to  middle-men.  The  leaf  of  the 
China  tea-plant  is  four  inches  long  at  the  most,  and  of  a 
dull  dark-green  colour,  while  the  lowest  branches  grow 
out  close  to  the  ground.  '  The  tea  flower  is  small,  single, 
and  white,  has  no  smell,  and  soon  falls.  .  .  .  The  seeds  are 
three  small  nuts,  like  filberts  in  colour,  in  a  triangular 
shell  which  splits  open  when  ripe,  with  valves  between  the 
seeds.'  All  the  varieties  of  the  Chinese  tea-plant  have 
probably  arisen  from  culture.  When  ripe,  in  October,  the 
nuts  are  put  in  a  mixture  of  damp  sand  and  earth ;  they 
are  thus  preserved  fresh  till  spring,  when,  in  March,  they 
are  sown  in  a  nursery  ;  a  year  after,  the  shoots  are  trans- 
planted, being  put  in  rows  about  four  feet  apart.  The 
leaf  is  first  plucked  when  the  shrub  is  three  years  old,  and 
the  picking  is  continued  till  the  eighth  year,  on  an 
average. 

The  first  picking  of  the  tea  leaf  is  that  over  which  the 
most  pains  is  taken,  and  consists  of  the  young  leaves,  a 
great  many  of  which  are  not  fully  grown.  There  is  a 
whitish  down  on  these  leaves,  and  from  this  circumstance 
comes  the  name/m^,  the  words  in  Chinese  from  which  it 
has  been  derived  meaning  '  white  down.'  In  this  connec- 
tion it  may  be  interesting  to  give  the  derivation  of  some  of 
the  other  names  of  tea.  Hyson,  so  we  are  told,  is  a 
corruption  of  two  Chinese  words, yii-ts^in,  'before  the  rain,' 
the  young  hyson  being  half-opened  leaves  plucked  in  April 
before  the  spring  rains  ;  but  with  regard  to  this  explanation 
it  may  be  said  that  the  Chinese  have  a  variety  of  teas 
known  a.syu-tsl{n,  so  named  for  the  reason  given  above. 
We  also  read  that  hyson  is  derived  from  the  name  Hi'-chun. 
H{-chun,  so  the  story  goes,  was  a  maiden  living  about  two 
hundred  years  ago,  who  introduced  a  better  method  of 

684 


Tea 

sorting  her  father's  tea,  which  so  increased  his  business 
that  the  tea  was  named  after  her.  Of  this  pretty  story  it 
may  be  remarked,  se  non  &  vero,  e  ben  trovato.  The 
meaning  of  the  Chinese  characters  used,  viz. :  hl-ctitin 
'  felicitous  spring,'  though  perhaps  more  prosaic  than  the 
above  explanations  of  the  derivation  of  the  name,  is  still 
sufficiently  poetical  to  satisfy  one  without  searching 
further.  Sou-chong  means  small>  or  rare  variety.  Congou 
means  work  or  worked^  from  being  well  worked,  while 
Bohea  is  the  name  of  the  hills  in  the  Fuhkien  province 
where  that  variety  of  tea  is  grown.  The  same  province 
also  gives  the  well-known  tea  name,  oo-long,  i.e.,  black 
dragon.  Here  we  have  another  story  to  account  for  the 
origin  of  this  name : — A  black  snake  (and  snakes  are 
sometimes  looked  upon  as  dragons  in  China)  was  coiled 
round  a  plant  of  this  tea,  and  hence  the  name. 

But  to  return  to  the  tea-pickings  :  care  has  to  be  exercised 
in  plucking  so  as  not  to  injure  the  plant  and  prevent 
a  supply  of  future  '  flushes,'  as  they  are  technically 
called.  After  the  spring  rains  the  second  plucking  is 
made ;  this  takes  place  in  different  latitudes  at  different 
times,  say  from  I5th  May  to  June  :  it  is  then  that  the  tea- 
plant  is  in  full  leaf.  Women  and  children  strip  the  twigs, 
and  fifteen  pounds  picked  in  a  day  by  one  person  is 
considered  good  work,  but  the  pay  is  only  six  or  eight 
cents.  One  tea-tree  will  yield  from  eight  or  ten  to  sixteen 
or  twenty-two  ounces  of  leaf.  This  second  picking  only 
lasts  ten  or  twelve  days.  The  curing  is  done  as 
follows : — 

The  leaves  are  first  'thinly  spread  on  shallow  trays  to  dry  off  all 
moisture  by  two  or  three  hours'  exposure '  to  the  air  by  day,  or  they  are 
left  out  over-night.  '  They  are  thrown  into  the  air  and  tossed  about  and 
patted  till  they  become  soft  ;  a  heap  is  made  of  these  wilted  leaves 
and  left  to  lie  for  an  hour  or  more,  when  they  become  moist  and  dark 
in  colour.  They  are  then  thrown  on  the  hot  pans  for  five  minutes  and 
rolled  on  the  rattan  table,  previous  to  exposure  out-of-doors  for  three 
or  four  hours  on  sieves,  during  which  time  they  are  turned  over  and 
opened  out.  After  this  they  get  a  second  roasting  and  rolling  to  give 
them  their  final  curl.  When  the  charcoal  fire  is  ready,  a  basket, 
shaped  something  like  an  hour-glass,'  but  about  three  feet  high,  'is 
placed  endwise  over  it,  having  a  sieve  in  the  middle,  on  which  the 

685 


Things  Chinese 

leaves  are  thinly  spread.  When  dried  five  minutes  in  this  way  they 
undergo  another  rolling,  and  are  then  thrown  into  a  heap,  until  all  the 
lot  has  passed  over  the  fire.  When  this  firing  is  finished,  the  leaves 
are  opened  out,  and  are  again  thinly  spread  on  the  sieve  in  the  basket 
for  a  few  minutes,  which  finishes  the  drying  and  rolling  for  most  of  the 
heap,  and  makes  the  leaves  a  uniform  black.  They  are  now  replaced 
in  the  basket  in  greater  mass,  and  pushed  against  its  sides  by  the 
hands  in  order  to  allow  the  heat  to  come  up  through  the  sieve  and  the 
vapour  to  escape  ;  a  basket  over  all  retains  the  heat,  but  the  contents 
are  turned  over  until  perfectly  dry  and  the  leaves  become  uniformly 
dark.' 

The  green  tea  is  subjected  to  somewhat  similar  opera- 
tions, with  the  exception  of  the  fermentation  process. 
'  While  the  leaves  of  each  species  of  the  shrub  can  be  cured 
into  either  green  or  black  tea,  the  workmen  in  one  district 
are  able  by  practice  to  produce  one  kind  in  a  superior 
style  and  quality ;  those  in  another  region  will  do  better 
with  another  kind.'  '  The  colour  of  the  green  tea,  as  well 
as  its  quality,  depends  very  much  on  rapid  and  expert 
drying.'  The  sea  air  is  a  sworn  enemy  to  all  delicately  fired 
leaves,  and  tea,  to  be  perfection,  requires  to  be  lightly  fired. 
The  caravan  teas,  so  called  from  being  transported  over- 
land through  cold,  dry  countries,  were  able  to  dispense 
with  '  the  final  thorough  heating  in  the  drying  establish- 
ments of  the  ports,'  accorded  to  that  shipped,  and  the  aroma 
was  consequently  not  dissipated,  but  such  a  long  land 
journey  is  expensive.  We  look  forward  with  interest  to 
its  transportation  on  a  trans-Asiatic  railway,  as  it  is 
possible,  when  carried  in  that  way  the  tea  will  stand  the 
transit  to  the  West  better  than  it  does  now. 

Brick  tea  used  to  be  sent  overland  to  Siberia  ;  but  an 
experiment  which  was  attended  with  success  was  tried  in 
1897,  the  tea  being  shipped  from  Hankow  to  London,  and 
thence  transhipped  by  steamers  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yenisei 
River,  and,  after  a  further  water  journey,  finally  reaching 
the  Siberian  Railway. 

But  comparatively  few  foreigners,  even  in  China  itself, 
drink  anything  but  the  excessively  fired  teas ;  for  having 
been  used  to  them  from  infancy  in  England  and  other 
countries,  they  do  not  appreciate  the  lightly  fired  kinds, 
and  often  are  not  even  aware  of  their  existence,  while  the 

686 


Tea 

Chinese,  believing  foreigners  like  the  exported  varieties, 
supply  them  with  it.  Good  tea  should  be  of  a  light  brown  ; 
the  water,  to  pour  on  the  leaves,  should  be  quite  boiling, 
and  only  just  boiling  ;  and  the  tea  should  not  be  allowed 
to  draw  for  half  an  hour  or  more,  as  the  tannin  is  thus 
drawn  out  of  the  leaves.  Far  better  a  fresh  infusion,  if  re- 
quired, some  time  after  the  first  drawing,  thus  following 
the  Chinese  fashion  of  making  a  fresh  brew  for  each  visitor 
that  calls. 

Another  excellent  plan  of  the  Chinese,  with  regard  to 
tea,  is  that  of  sometimes  using  large  cups  containing  almost 
as  much  as  a  large  breakfast  coffee-cup.  Leaves,  sufficient 
for  a  cup  of  tea,  are  thrown  into  the  bottom  of  this,  and 
the  boiling  water  poured  on.  The  cup  has  a  lid  which 
covers  it  up  for  the  first  few  minutes  that  it  is  drawing,  and 
the  tea  is  handed  piping  hot  and  freshly  made  to  each 
one ;  the  lid  also  serves  to  saucer  a  few  sips  of  it  at  a  time 
and  cool  it  when  drinking,  while  at  the  bottom  of  the  cup, 
covered  by  the  delicate  almost  amber-coloured  fluid,  lie  the 
leaves,  uncurled  by  the  heat  of  the  water. 

In  Swatow  and  neighbourhood,  tiny,  toy  tea-cups  and 
tea-pots  are  used,  the  cups  containing  scarcely  more  than 
two  or  three  sips  of  tea.  It  looks  very  ridiculous  to  see 
grown-up  people  produce  a  small  tray  with  this  lilliputian 
ware  on  it.  The  ordinary  tea-cups  used  by  the  Cantonese 
are  small  enough,  but  they  are  much  larger  than  these 
Swatow  ones. 

Though  green  tea,  i.e.,  natural  green  tea,  may  be,  and 
is,  produced,  the  danger  of  fermentation  on  the  voyage, 
and  its  unmarketable  state,  if  fired  sufficiently  to  stand  the 
sea  air,  has  probably  given  rise  to  the  practice  of  colouring 
tea  to  cause  it  to  retain  its  green  colour;  there  is  no 
necessity  for  doing  so  with  tea  for  home  consumption  in 
China,  the  Chinese  are  not  so  foolish  as  to  drink  an  in- 
fusion of  Prussian  blue,  for  this  is  the  substance  that  is 
used,  mixed  with  gypsum,  to  colour,  or  face,  the  green 
tea. 

The  well-known  character  of  the  Chinese  for  temper- 

687 


Things  Chinese 

ance  has  been  ascribed  to  their  universal  use  of  tea,  and  it 
would  be  well  for  many  in  Western  lands  if,  instead  of 
soaking  themselves  with  beer,  they  would  copy  the 
example  of  the  abstemious  Chinese  in  this  respect 

Different  kinds  of  flowers  are  used  to  scent  tea,  such 
as  roses,  tuberoses,  oranges,  jasmines,  gardenias,  azaleas, 
as  well  as  the  olea  fragrans ;  only  the  petals  are  used 
for  the  purpose.  Some  choice  brands  of  tea  are  grown 
on  small  plots  of  ground,  and  command  almost  a  fabulous 
price :  such  as  in  some  of  the  gardens  near  monasteries, 
owned  by  the  priests  and  attended  to  by  their  inferior 
followers. 

Tea  for  many  years  furnished  the  greatest  article  of 
commerce  in  China. 

'  China  has  been  the  fountain-head  whence  the  tea  culture  has 
spread  to  other  countries.'  It  is  only  within  recent  years  that  tea 
cultivation  has  been  undertaken  in  other  lands,  where  it  '  is  assuming 
large  proportions.  .  .  .  The  Spanish  authorities  have  tried  to  raise 
it  in  the  Philippines  ;  the  Dutch  in  Sumatra,  Java,  and  Borneo  ;  the 
English  in  the  Straits  Settlements  ;  and  the  French  in  Cochin  China. 
Nearly  all  these  experiments  have  been  failures,  the  only  successes 
reported  being  from  mountainous  countries,  where  there  was  moisture, 
good  soil,  and  not  an  excess  of  warmth.  The  Dutch  have  turned 
this  discovery  to  account,  and  now  confine  their  efforts  to  the  high 
mountainous  districts  with  which  their  .olonial  possessions  abound  ; 
good  tea  has  been  produced  in  a  number  of  places  under  these  condi- 
tions, but  the  quality  has  been  very  inferior  to  the  fine  growths  of 
Formosa  and  Foochow.' 

The  above  quotation  does  not  mention,  however,  all  the 
places  where  tea  is  cultivated,  or  where  attempts  have  been 
made  to  do  so  ;  we  may  add  to  the  list  the  well-known 
names  of  Ceylon,  India,  Assam,  Japan,  and  the  lesser 
known  experiments  in  Johore,  the  United  States,  Natal, 
Fiji,  Borneo,  Servia,  Mexico,  and  South  Carolina ;  doubt- 
less, in  other  places  as  well,  trial  has  been  made  of  the 
cultivation  of  this  useful  shrub.  The  troops  in  Java  are 
supplied  with  local  tea.  The  attempts  to  grow  it  in  the 
Trans-Caucasian  territory  have  turned  out  a  success, 
flourishing  plantations  are  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Batoum, 
and  during  the  last  few  years  Natal  has  developed  into  a 
tea-producing  country,  the  output  in  1898  amounting  to 

688 


Tea 

over  1,000,000  Ibs.,  one  estate  alone  producing  more  than 
one  half  of  this. 

'Successful  attempts  have  been  made  this  year  [1901] 
to  grow  tea  in  America.  Experts  declare  it  to  be  equal  in 
flavour  and  aroma  to  the  best  imported  product.' 

Machinery  would  appear  to  have  been  largely  used  of 
late  years  in  the  manufacture  of  Indian  teas ;  electricity 
has  even-  been  yoked  in  the  service  of  man  for  the 
preparation  of  tea  ;  but  the  Chinese  still  retain  their  old 
style,  and  object,  probably  from  prejudice,  to  any  innova- 
tions, and  as  long  as  their  tea  sells  they  are  content,  though 
attempts  have  been  made  to  influence  them  in  the  favour 
of  machinery. 

'Whether  China  tea,  if  and  when  it  is  prepared  by  machinery, 
will  retain  its  present  advantage  in  the  time  that  it  will  last  in  com- 
parison with  the  short  period  that  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  keep,  is 
a  question  that  can  only  be  answered  when  we  have  had  actual 
experience.  It  is  notorious  at  present  that  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas 
go  off  a  few  months  after  arrival  in  this  country  (England),  whilst 
China  tea,  as  hitherto  prepared,  could  be  kept  for  considerable 
periods  of  time  without  showing  any  decided  signs  of  having  "gone 
off.'" 

A  trial  of  preparation  of  tea  by  machinery  has  been 
made  by  the  '  Foochow  Tea  Improvement  Company,'  and 
some  parcels  of  this  tea  were  put  on  the  London  market, 
and  all  concerned  were  very  sanguine  of  success,  but  the 
venture  has  not  been  able  to  make  its  way. 

This  experiment  has  unfortunately  proved  a  failure  on 
account,  so  we  are  told,  of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  a 
sufficiency  of  tea  to  keep  the  machinery  going. 

In  fact,  machine  rolling  has  been  tried  in  several  places 
— two  at  least,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it,  or  something 
else  to  be  discovered,  will  resuscitate  the  dying  China  tea 
trade.  One  of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  will  be  shown  by 
the  following  :— - 

'  It  is  the  custom  in  this  country  [this  is  written  at  Hankow  in 
1897]  often  to  keep  the  newly  picked  leaf  for  a  day  or  so,  in  hopes  of 
obtaining  a  higher  price  for  it,  or  it  is  passed  on  in  bags  from  one 
district  to  another  where  a  better  sale  is  looked  for.  This  of  course 
entirely  spoils  it  for  the  London  taste  of  the  present  day — that  is, 
Strength  and  rankness,  which  is  obtained  only  through  immediate 

689  2   X 


Things  Chinese 

firing.  So  long  as  quotations  of  taels  50  or  so  continue  for  fine  teas 
suitable  for  Russia,  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  a  change  will  be  made. 
The  old  fashion  pays  well  enough.' 

That  this  should  be  so  seems  unfortunate,  as  it  is  stated 
that  :— 

'  Machine-rolling  gives  the  leaf  a  more  even  twist  and  causes 
less  breakage  than  by  hand  ;  but,  more  important  still,  the  even  re- 
gulated pressure  of  the  machine  keeps  the-  sap  of  the  green  leaf 
working  among  the  rolling  leaf,  and  it  is  not  expressed,  as  is  the 
case  with  teas  prepared  by  the  Chinese  method.  The  use  of  the 
roller,  too,  brings  out  the  small  Pekoe  leaves  with  a  bright  golden 
appearance,  whereas  the  Chinese  method  of  preparation  causes  the 
leaves  to  turn  black.'  .  .  .  The  first  small  shipment  of  these 
teas  to  Melbourne  gave  a  result  of  some  Taels  7  per  picul  more 
than  was  obtained  by  native-made  tea  selling  side  by  side  with  it  ; 
such  teas  '  received  most  favourable  notice  in  the  London  reports,' 
and  'some  "Golden  Pekoe"  sold  at  iofd.' 

To  those  who  like  a  good  article,  the  'darker  liquor 
which  brews  out  from  Indian  and  Ceylon  tea'  with  its 
greater  pungency  will  be  no  recommendation  in  its  favour ; 
for  softness  of  flavour  is  to  be  found  in  China  teas  ;  but 
cost  seems  to  be  the  point  round  which  the  struggle  will  be 
maintained  ;  and  if  China  will  only  listen  to  the  suggestions 
of  those  who  are  able  to  advise  her,  and  send  home  as 
good  an  article  as  she  used  to  ship  so  largely,  the  victory 
may  yet  be  hers. 

The  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  are  offering  a  serious  com- 
petition to  China,  the  original  tea-producing  country.  The 
trade  is  declining,  and  some  vigorous  efforts  will  have  to 
be  made  to  retain  what  they  already  possess  ;  but,  un- 
fortunately, the  Chinese  do  not  appear  to  be  alive  to  the 
importance  of  taking  steps  to  hold  their  own  in  the 
world's  market  against  the  stronger  article  produced  in 
India,  neither  have  they  yet  learned  the  wisdom  of  putting 
up  smaller  '  chops '  (brands)  of  tea,  as  is  the  practice  in 
India,  nor  have  they  entered  into  the  combinations  which 
the  Indian  planters  have  formed  to  push  their  productions 
into  notice  wherever  a  chance  of  doing  so  presents  itself. 

'Americans  having  acquired  a  taste  for  green  tea  which  is  now 
chiefly  supplied  by  China,  and  the  crusade  to  push  Indian  and  Ceylon 
black  teas  in  the  United  States  not  having  met  with  the  .success 
anticipated,  a  few  Indian  planters  have  turned  their  attention  to  the 

690 


Tea 

manufacture  of  green  tea  for  the  American  market.     The  first  con- 
signment of  this  tea  has  now  arrived  in  Calcutta.' 

There  is  necessity  for  improvement,  at  some  places  in 
China,  in  the  manufacture  of  tea  prepared  for  the  foreign 
market ;  and  some  endeavours  have  been  made  to  meet 
the  competition  of  Indian  and  other  teas,  and  the  heavy 
burden  of  Chinese  taxation,  by  lessening  the  costs  of  pro- 
duction. Both  Foochow  and  Shanghai  foreign  merchants 
have  recommended  more  careful  cultivation  and  packing. 

'  If  China  were  to  remove  the  export  duty  on  tea  and  sweep 
away  the  various  local  burdens  that  hamper  the  planter,  then  indeed 
Chinese  tea  might  be  regarded  as  a  formidable  competitor  with  the 
product  of  India  and  Ceylon,  but  so  long  as  it  is  weighted  with  a 
burden  of  taxation  that  leaves  no  reasonable  margin  of  profit,  the  tea 
trade  of  China  will  continue  on  the  down  grade.' 

Were  it  not  for  the  heavy  taxation  on  the  China  leaf 
by  the  Chinese  Government,  in  the  way  of  likin  and  export 
Duties,  Chinese  tea,  when  carefully  manufactured  and 
cultivated,  could  easily  stand  the  competition  of  India, 
Ceylon  and  other  countries,  and  '  would  be  always  able  to 
command  a  good  market.' 

'  "  I  fear  that  unless  the  Chinese  can  produce  stronger  and  more 
Indian  and  Ceylon-like  tea,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  to  see  their 
total  exclusion  from  foreign  markets  ;  and  the  only  chance  for  China 
now  is,  in  my  opinion,  to  produce  a  good,  wholesome,  sweet  article  at 
a  low  price  —something  that  can  be  mixed  with  Indian  and  Ceylon 
teas." 

'These  remarks,  confirmed  as  they  are  by  all  our  local  [Kiukiang] 
experts,  make  it  appear  that  two  requirements  are  specially  wanted 
to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the  China  tea  trade — improved  cultivation 
and  manipulation  (so  as  to  produce  "a  good,  wholesome  article") 
and  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  production.  So  long,  however,  as  the 
present  heavy  taxation  exists  in  China  all  along  the  route  from  the 
place  of  origin  to  the  point  of  shipment— a  taxation  amounting  to 
about  25  per  cent,  of  the  cost — whilst  the  teas  of  other  countries 
(India,  Ceylon,  etc.)  are  free  of  duty,  neither  the  improvement  of  the 
leaf  nor  the  reduction  of  the  original  cost  can  be  reckoned  as  prime 
factors  in  the  question.  The  wonder  is  that  an  article  so  heavily 
handicapped  as  China  tea  is  in  the  matter  of  duty  and  taxes  should 
still  hold  a  respectable  place  in  the  world's  markets  and  still  retain 
such  a  large  share  of  foreign  patronage.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if, 
even  without  any  other  alteration  in  the  present  state  of  affairs, 
China  tea,  with  a  wise  removal  of,  say,  half  its  fiscal  burdens,  could 
hold  its  own  with  its  modern  rivals,  to  the  immense  benefit  of  the 
Chinese  Government  and  people.' 

691 


Things  Chinese 

'The  China  tea  is  undoubtedly  the  best  tea  in  the  world  naturally, 
but  no  pains  are  taken  to  maintain  the  stock,  and  the  lower  qualities 
exported  were  so  mixed  with  dust  and  rubbish  that  much  harm  was 
done  and  the  way  effectually  prepared  for  the  competition  of  the 
Indian  leaf.' 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  interesting  to  give  the 
results  of  the  analyses  of  different  teas. 

'The  following  table,  taken  from  a  number  of  analyses  recently 
made  by  the  late  Professor  Dittmar,  shows  clearly  the  effect  of 
allowing  the  water  to  stand  on  the  tea  leaves  5  minutes  and  10  minutes 
respectively,  and  the  varying  amount  of  theine  and  tannin  given  off  by 
China,  Ceylon,  and  Indian  teas  : — 

FIVE  MINUTES  INFUSION.  TEN  MINUTES  INFUSION. 

Theine.  Tannin.  Theine.  Tannin. 

China    .        .       2.58        3.06  China  .  .       2.79          3.78 

Ceylon  .        .      3.15         5.87  Ceylon  .  .       3.29          7.30 

Indian   .        .      3.63  6.77  Indian  .  .       3.73          8.09 

'  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  though  Indian  tea  contains  25  per 
cent,  more  theine  than  China  tea,  it  also  contains  100  per  cent,  more 
tannin.  Indian  teas  are  much  more  widely  used  in  England  than 
China  teas,  and  the  "  strong  syrupy  teas  "  advertised  as  of  good  value, 
and  so  largely  consumed  by  the  working  classes,  are,  as  a  rule,  blends 
of  various  Indian  teas  rich  in  tannin  and  astringent  matters.' 

It  is  thought  that  if  the  nearly  contiguous  towns  of 
Lung-sing,  Wong-sa-ping  and  Kie-kow  in  the  turbulent 
province  of  Hunan  were  only  opened  to  foreign  trade,  the 
English  merchants  resident  at  the  centres  of  the  Onfa  tea 
trade  could  then  compete  with  better  success  with  the  Indian 
tea  merchants  as  the  laid  down  cost  on  the  spot  is  so  low. 
At  present  these  are  taken  to  Hankow. 

The  following  extracts  will  show  how  China  tea  has 
been  ousted  out  of  the  English  market  :— 

1  In  tea  the  most  observable  phenomenon  of  the  twelvemonth  has 
been  the  rapid  rise  in  the  imports  from  Ceylon.  It  is  48  per  cent.,  the 
increase  being  gained  at  the  expense  alike  of  Indian  tea  and  of  Chinese. 
For  the  first  time  Ceylon  tea  has  exceeded  China  tea  in  quantity. 
Year  by  year  China  tea  declines,  and  it  is  impossible  to  say  where  the 
decadence  will  stop.  To  a  certain  extent,  China  planters  and 
merchants  might  arrest  the  tendency  by  more  care  in  cultivation, 
preparation  of  the  leaf,  and  attention  to  European  tastes.  In  general, 
though  the  best  Chinese  will  please  delicate  palates,  the  Indian  and 
Ceylon  kinds  are  certain  to  predominate  popularly  on  account  of  their 
strength.'— [1892.] 

692 


Tea 

'It  is  noteworthy  that  while  we  took  93  per  cent,  of  our  tea  from 
China  in  1865,  and  only  2  per  cent,  from  India,  and  not  so  much  as 
i  per  cent,  from  Ceylon,  in  1895,  we  took  46  per  cent,  from  India,  32 
per  cent,  from  Ceylon,  and  only  16  per  cent,  from  China.  The 
importations  from  China  have  steadily  dwindled.' 

In  1890  there  were  101,000,000  Ibs.  tea  imported  from 
India  into  Great  Britain,  74,000,000  from  China,  and  over 
42,000,000  from  Ceylon,  Ceylon  was  expected  to  export 
70,000,000  Ibs.  of  tea  in  1892;  there  being  then  230,000 
acres  of  land  planted  with  tea  in  that  colony,  an  increase  of 
nearly  40,000  acres  during  two  years.  Japan  and  China 
still  retain  the  two  largest  markets  for  tea,  which  are  those 
of  America  and  Australia.  The  trade  in  tea  with  Russia  is 
increasing. 

In  four  months,  in  1894,  the  consumption  of  Indian  tea 
in  England  had  increased  by  about  1 1,000,000  Ibs.  and  that 
of  China  had  decreased  5,000,000. 

The  following  figures  will  show  how  the  China  tea 
trade  with  England  is  being  eclipsed  by  the  Indian  : — 

In  1859  there  was  no  Indian  tea  trade,  and  China  sent 
70,303,664  Ibs.  to  England  ;  ten  years  after  the  Chinese 
export  of  tea  to  England  had  increased  to  101,080,491  Ibs., 
and  there  was  an  Indian  trade  of  10,716,000  Ibs.  In  1879 
the  export  of  the  two  countries  to  England  was,  China, 
126,340,000  Ibs.,  India,  34,092,000  Ibs.,  which  shows  both 
China  and  India  with  a  material  increase,  and  China  with 
still  a  long  lead  ahead  of  India.  The  tables,  however, 
were  turned  in  the  next  decade,  for  China's  export  to 
England  had  fallen  to  61,000,000  Ibs.,  while  India's  had 
risen  to  124,500,000,  and  in  1899  China  had  fallen  to  the 
figure  of  16,677,835  Ibs.,  and  India  had  risen  to  the  enormous 
figure — a  figure  never  attained  by  China — of  219,136,185 
Ibs.  Ceylon  began  the  export  of  tea  in  1884,  and  in  five 
years  sent  28,500,000  Ibs.  In  1889  Ceylon  sent  five  times 
what  China  sent  to  England. 

Amoy,  some  30  years  ago,  exported  as  much  as  65,800 
piculs  ;  in  1898  the  amount  was  10,528  piculs,  for  the  tea 
trade  of  Amoy  has  gone  down  hill  rapidly.  '  At  one  time 
the  Amoy  teas  were  excellent  and  tea  districts  correspond- 

693 


Things  Chinese 

ingly  prosperous ' ;  but  both  quality   and  quantity  fell  off 
with  the  natural  consequences  in  trade. 

As  an  illustration  of  how  the  decline  in  the  tea  trade 
has  affected  the  Chinese  cultivator,  the  following  statement 
in  the  report  on  Amoy,  in  the  Customs'  Annual  Returns  for 
1896,  is  not  devoid  of  interest  : — 

'  The  annual  value  of  the  trade  has  fallen  from  Hk.  Taels  2,000,000 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  to  less  than  Hk.  Taels  100,000  to-day,  and 
the  cultivator,  whose  plantation  formerly  supplied  him  with  a  comfort- 
able income,  is  now  compelled  to  plant  rows  of  sweet  potatoes  between 
the  tea-bushes  to  keep  body  and  soul  together.' 

The  report  by  the  Commissioner  of  Customs  for  Amoy 
in  1897  showed  to  what  a  low  state  the  tea  trade  in 
China  had  arrived. 

'  In  all  probability  this  trade  report  will  be  the  last  in  which  reference 
will  be  made  to  Amoy  tea  as  an  important  factor  in  our  trade.  Twenty- 
five  years  ago,  65,8oopiculs  were  exported  ;  this  year  the  total  is  12,127 
piculs.  .  .  .  The  extinction  of  the  Amoy  tea  trade  has  been 
predicted  in  previous  trade  reports.  The  export  and  likin  duty  are 
factors  which  militate  against  the  hopes  of  the  most  sanguine.  It  is 
now  too  late  to  propose  remedial  measures  which  would  resuscitate  the 
already  moribund  leaf,  formerly  the  leading  article  of  export.  The 
native  growers  are  not  entirely  free  from  blame  ;  of  late  years  they 
have  been  content  to  produce  any  article  which  would  sell,  but  the  new 
United  States  law  establishing  standards  has  practically  shut  out  the 
article  as  now  produced.' 

Tea  has  now  disappeared  from  Amoy.  (See  Article  on 
Trade.)  There  were  no  shipments  to  London  direct  from 
Hankow  in  1900,  for  the  first  time  on  record. 

The  following  is  from  the  Report  on  the  Foreign  Trade 
of  China  for  the  year  1897,  by  F.  E.  Taylor,  of  the  I.M. 
Customs'  Service : — 

'  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  in  the  possibility  of  reviving  this 
trade.  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  the  most  delicate  and 
highly  prized  teas  from  India  and  Ceylon  are  grown  on  the  higher 
altitudes  and  are  produced  from  plants  of  Chinese  origin.  The  bulk  of 
the  tea  exported  from  India  comes  from  the  plains,  and  is  the  product 
of  the  indigenous  plant  which  grows  as  a  forest  tree  in  Manipur — 
attaining  in  its  wild  state  a  height  of  thirty  feet — and  which  will  not 
flourish  except  at  low  elevations.  The  teas  made  from  these  plants 
yield  a  strong  liquor,  and  they  are  consequently  economical  in  use  ; 
but  they  are  certainly  unwholesome,  and  they  lack  altogether  the 
delicious  aroma  of  the  teas  grown  at  higher  altitudes  from  Chinese 
plants.  They  can  be  placed  on  the  market  at  low  prices  because  the 

694 


Tea 

tea-estates  are  so  large  that  the  quantity  of  leaf  to  be  dealt  with  makes 
the  use  of  machinery  profitable  and  even  necessary.  The  essential 
difference  between  the  process  of  manufacture  in  India  and  Ceylon  and 
in  China  is  that  the  teas  are  packed  within  24  hours  of  the  leaves 
having  been  plucked  which  would  seem  to  be  impossible  in  this 
country  under  present  conditions.  It  has  been  stated  recently  that 
the  peculiar  excellence  of  fine  China  teas  would  be  ruined  by  the 
adoption  of  Indian  methods.  This  may  be  true  of  fancy  teas  for 
exhibition,  but  is  certainly  not  true  if  applied  to  ordinary  fine  teas. 
Not  being  an  expert,  my  opinion  is  of  little  value,  but  I  may  be 
permitted  to  say  that  I  have  been  unable  to  procure,  in  China,  tea  of 
such  delightful  fragrance  and  digestibility  as  some  I  have  tasted  from 
Darjeeling  and  the  Kangra  Valley — grown  from  Chinese  plants,  but 
manufactured  by  machinery.' 

The  following  extracts  show  pretty  much  how  matters 
stand  at  present : — 

'  Experts  in  tea  are  agreed  that  the  desiderata  to  retrieve  the  fortunes 
of  the  China  tea  trade,  are  improved  cultivation  and  manipulation, 
and  a  reduction  in  the  cost  of  production.' 

'  If  China  were  to  remove  the  export  duty  on  tea,  and  sweep  away 
the  various  local  burdens  that  hamper  the  planter,  then  indeed  Chinese 
tea  might  be  regarded  as  a  formidable  competitor  with  the  product  of 
India  and  Ceylon  ;  but  so  long  as  it  is  weighed  with  a  burden  of 
taxation  that  leaves  no  reasonable  margin  of  profit,  the  tea  trade  of 
China  will  continue  on  the  down  grade.' 

'The  25  per  cent,  mentioned  by  Mr.  Hughes  as  the  amount 
of  taxation  to  which  Kiuking  tea  is  subjected  is  somewhat  less 
than  the  amount  given  by  competent  authorities  at  other  ports.  Mr. 
Brenan,  in  the  Canton  Consular  Report  for  1897,  placed  the  figure  at 
35  per  cent.,  while  Mr.  Cass,  of  Amoy,  in  a  review  of  the  tea  trade 
supplied  by  him  to  the  Consul  and  incorporated  in  the  1896  report, 
said  the  reason  for  the  decline  was  not  far  to  seek  ;  the  entire  crop 
realised  §136,000  while  the  lekin  paid  amounted  to  §20,000  and  the 
export  duty  to  §35,000,  or  a  total  of  §55,000,  considerably  more  than 
one-third  of  the  value  of  the  tea.  The  result  is  that  at  Amoy  the  tea 
trade  has  practically  ceased  to  exist.' 

Notwithstanding  the  above,  it  is  interesting  to  find  the 
following  statement  made  in  1901  : — 

'  It  is  generally  supposed  that  China  tea  trade  has  been  beaten  out 
of  field  by  the  more  potent  brands  of  British  India  and  Ceylon.  That 
is  not  entirely  the  case.  China's  exports  dropped  in  the  earlier  years 
of  the  decade  ;  but  since  the  year  of  Jubilee  they  have  risen  from 
204,000,000  to  217,000,000.  This,  however,  is  a  serious  decrease 
from  282,000,000  Ibs.,  fifteen  years  ago.' 

This  is  doubtless  the  result  of  the  reaction  which  it  was 

695 


Things  Chinese 

reported  two  years  before  had  set  in,  in  favour  of  China 
tea  in  England.  China  tea  was  about  a  third  dearer  than 
the  Indian  and  Ceylon  article.  It  was  said  that  in  the  best 
hotels  and  best  houses  in  London,  China  tea  was  generally 
used,  and  medical  men  more  and  more  advised  their  patients 
to  give  it  the  preference.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether 
the  new  regulations  as  to  likin  being  abolished  and  a 
new  incident  of  taxation  imposed  will  have  any  appreciable 
effect  upon  lowering  the  charges  on  tea  which  at  present 
so  handicap  and  form  one  of  the  important  factors  in  the 
decline  of  the  China  tea  trade. 

Some  idea  of  the  immense  consumption  of  tea  in  the 
world,  and  the  quantities  that  the  most  successful  tea-pro- 
ducing countries  might  put  on  the  market  may  be  gathered 
from  the  calculation  that  the  whole  number  of  cups  of  tea 
taken  a  day  in  the  United  Kingdom  '  will  probably  be  not 
less  on  the  average  than  100,000,000.'  The  British  people 
drank  184,000,000  Ibs.  per  annum  a_few  years  since,  being 
at  the  rate  of  5  Ibs.  per  head.  In  England  the  consump- 
tion is  rapidly  increasing,  so  that  it  is  a  pound  or  two 
higher  now.  The  Dutch  are  the  greatest  tea  and  coffee 
drinkers,  the  quantity  consumed  by  each  being  240  ozs.,  or 
1 5  Ibs.,  a  year.  We  are  unable  to  say  how  much  of  this 
is  tea  and  how  much  coffee.  '  The  French  only  consume 
half  an  ounce  in  the  same  period,  whilst  the  Australians, 
the  greatest  tea  drinkers  in  the  world,  consume  7|  Ibs.  of 
tea  per  head  every  year.'  Even  the  Maoris  drink  tea  ; 
their  consumption  is  very  small  though,  not  having  been 
more  than  i  Ib.  per  head  per  annum  in  1889,  and  the 
people  of  Tunis  'consume  a  certain  amount  of  green 
tea.'  It  was  stated  in  1892  that  the  Kamchatkans  are 
beginning  to  use  tea.  The  largest  annual  consumption 
[of  tea]  per  head  was  in  Western  Australia  10.70  Ibs.  ; 
'Great  Britain  figures  at  4.70;  the  United  States  at  1.40' 
[there  were  83,494,956  Ibs.  of  tea  imported  into  the 
United  States  in  1890,  an  increase  over  the  previous 
decade,  and  amounting  to  i£  Ibs.  for  each  inhabitant]  ; 
'  Germany  stood  at  .07,  and  France  at  .03;  the  'continental 

696 


Telegraphs 

nations,  even  including  Russia/  came  '  a  long  way  behind 
the  United  Kingdom.'  The  large  consumption  of  wine  in 
France  and  Germany  unfortunately  retards  the  more 
healthy  consumption  of  tea.  It  is  calculated  that  500,000,000 
people  drink  Chinese  and  Indian  tea;  and  all  over  the 
world  there  would  appear  to  be  a  constant  increase  to 
their  number,  for  nations  which  never  drunk  it  before  are 
being  taught  its  use,  while  amongst  those  people  who 
know  it,  larger  numbers  are  gradually  imbibing  more 
and  more  of  it. 

TELEGRAPHS.— The  first  telegraph  line  in  China 
was  opened  in  1872,  and  of  recent  years  the  Chinese 
Government  finding  the  necessity,  by  the  Franco-Chinese 
war,  of  having  rapid  communication  with  the  centres  of  its 
numerous  provinces,  has  taken  up  the  electric  telegraph. 

' "  The  telegraph  is  the  only  institution  of  modern  science  which 
has  obtained  any  considerable  foothold  in  China,"  say  Messrs.  Fearon 
and  Allen  in  an  article  in  The  Engineering  Magazine.  "Peking  is 
connected  by  wire  with  Tientsin  and  with  Manchurian  points 
up  to  the  Russian  frontier,  whence  connection  is  continued  by 
Russian  Siberian  lines  to  Europe.  The  capital  is  also  connected 
with  all  the  treaty  ports,  and  principal  cities  in  China  proper,  and 
these  again  with  each  other.  Canton  has  connection  also  through 
Yunnan  with  Burma.  China  learned  the  value  of  the  telegraph  in 
the  war  with  France,  and  it  has  long  since  been  admitted  to  have 
become  indispensable.  The  telegraph,  however,  is  under  imperial 
control,  and  there  is  probably  little  opportunity  for  its  extension  as  a 
private  enterprise.  Chinese  writing  being  not  alphabetic,  but  syllabic, 
and  there  being  as  many  characters  as  there  are  words  in  use,  the 
telegraphic  messages  are  sent  in  a  number  cypher.  For  transcrib- 
ing messages  received,  a  double-ended  type  is  used  ;  on  one  end  is  the 
character,  and  on  the  other  the  corresponding  number.  When  a 
message  is  received,  it  is  set  up  by  the  numbers,  and  then  printed 
from  the  reverse,  or  character,  end." ' 

Speaking  in  a  general  way,  the  system  may  be  described 
as  consisting,  in  the  main,  of  a  line,  starting  from  the 
northern  part  of  China's  colonial  possessions,  lying  to  the 
north  of  China  proper,  and  running  down  not  far  from  the 
coast  to  the  south  ;  in  the  southern  portion  there  is  another 
line  as  well,  forming  a  loop  further  inland,  while  from  this 
northern  and  southern  main  line  spring  three  large  lines 

697 


Things  Chinese 

running  in  a  westerly  direction,  the  northernmost  one 
through  the  northern  provinces,  the  southern  one  through 
the  southern  provinces,  and  a  central  one  along  the 
Yangtsz  valley.  Besides  these  grand  lines  there  are  short 
branch  lines  connecting  different  places  with  the  main  lines. 
By  means  of  all  these,  telegraphic  communication  is  main- 
tained with  every  province.  The  province  of  Hunan  even 
having  it  now ;  the  people  of  the  frontier  town  of  Lichow 
rose  en  masse  in  1891  to  prevent  its  introduction  into  their 
province,  but  five  years  later  the  introduction  of  it  excited 
no  opposition. 

Extensions  are  being  still  made  every  little  while  to  the 
system,  and  it  is  being  rapidly  extended  over  the  empire. 

The  work  of  putting  up  the  lines  in  China  was  entrusted 
to  the  Danish  Great  Northern  Telegraph  Company. 
Compared  with  the  numerous  important  centres  of  trade, 
the  stations  are  but  few  in  number  ;  and  the  rate  for 
messages  is  not  sufficiently  low  to  bring  them  within  the 
reach  of  the  multitudes  that  avail  themselves  of  such 
conveniences  in  the  West.  Looked  at  from  a  foreign  point 
of  view,  it  is  unsatisfactory  to  find  that  these  native  lines 
are  not  available  to  Europeans  if  a  riot  occurs.  The 
following  was  written  about  Chinese  telegraphs  in  1892, 
and  is  still  of  interest,  though  the  lines  have  extended 
considerably  since  : — 

'  The  Chinese  telegraph  system  already  comprises  about  42,000 
li  [say  14,000  miles]  of  line,  carrying  58,000  li  of  wire  ;  stations  have 
been  established  in  171  different  towns  ;  and  Formosa,  the  Pescadores, 
and  Hainan  have  been  connected  by  submarine  cable  with  the 
mainland.  From  Hehlungkiang  to  Hainan  and  from  Corea  to  the 
Burma  frontier  of  Yiinnan,  the  Chinese  telegraph  lines  stretch  over 
greater  distances  than  from  Norway  to  Sicily  and  from  Lisbon  to 
the  Caucasus.' 

'The  telegraph  lines  [in  China]  have  a  length  [in  1901]  of  nearly 
14,000  miles,  with  250  telegraph  offices.' 

Amongst  the  wonders  of  the  Chinese  telegraphs  may  be 
mentioned  the  line  across  the  Gobi  desert,  3,000  miles  long. 

Book  recommended. — A  very  short  account  is  given  in  '  Peeps  into  China,' 
by  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid,  M.A.,  chap.  33,  of  the  introduction  and  extension 
of  the  telegraph  in  China. 

698 


Tenure  of  Land 

TENURE  OF  LAND.— All  land  is  held  direct  from 
the  crown  in  China,  there  is  no  allodial  property  ;  and  no 
law  of  entail.  As  has  been  so  often  stated,  the  family  being 
the  unit  of  society  in  China,  it  is  natural  to  find  that  a  large 
amount  of  land  is  held  by  the  family  or  by  the  clan,  though 
individuals  as  well  often  invest  their  savings  in  the  South 
of  China  in  paddy  fields. 

'The  conditions  of  common  tenure  are  the  payment  of  an  annual 
tax,  the  fee  for  alienation  with  a  money  composition  for  personal 
service  to  the  Government,  a  charge  generally  incorporated  into  the 
direct  tax  as  a  kind  of  scutage.' 

The  land  tax  varies  from  li  to  10  cents  a  mao,  or 
Chinese  acre,  which  is  equivalent  to  from  10  to  66  cents  an 
acre,  the  amount  being  dependent  on  '  the  quality  of  the 
land  and  the  difficulty  of  tillage,'  its  fertility,  situation,  or 
the  use  to  which  it  is  put.  Reckoning  this  tax  at  an  average 
of  25  cents  an  acre,  the  income  to  the  Government  from 
this  source  ought  to  be  about  Si  50,000,000,  were  it  all  to  go 
into  the  Imperial  coffers  without  paying  tribute  to  the  host 
of  rapacious  underlings,  clerks,  and  constables,  and  the 
hundred  and  one  people  who  all  put  in  for  a  share  of  the 
plunder. 

'As  the  exactions  for  alienation  on  sale  of  lands  are  high, 
amounting  to  as  much  as  one-third  of  the  sale  price  sometimes,  the 
people  accept  white  deeds  from  each  other  as  proofs  of  ownership  and 
responsibility  for  taxes.  As  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  such  deeds  of 
sale  occasionally  accompany  the  original  hung  k^ai,  without  which 
they  are  suspicious,  if  not  valueless.  In  order  to  keep  the  knowledge 
of  the  alienations  of  land  in  Government  offices,  so  that  the  taxes  can 
be  assured,  it  is  customary  to  furnish  a  k^ai nu:i,  or  "deed-end," 
containing  a  note  of  the  terms  of  sale  and  amount  of  tax  liable  on  the 
property.  There  is  no  other  proof  of  ownership  required  ;  and  the 
simplicity  and  efficiency  of  this  mode  of  transfer  offer  a  striking 
contrast  to  the  cumbrous  rules  enforced  in  Western  Kingdoms.' 

The  eldest  son  inherits  his  father's  property,  but,  from 
the  customs  of  the  people,  it  appears  more  as  if  it  devolved 
upon  him  as  a  trust  administered  by  him  for  the  good  of  the 
family,  for  all  the  members  of  the  family  are  allowed  to  reside 
on  and  live  upon  the  property,  generation  after  generation,  if 
they  so  choose,  or  an  '  amicable  composition  can  be  made.' 

A  mortgagee  enters  into  possession  of  the  property  and 

699 


Things  Chinese 

'  makes  himself  responsible  for  the  payment  of  the  taxes' ; 
the  land  may  be  redeemed  at  any  time  on  the  payment  of 
the  sum  advanced,  if  the  payment  be  made  within  thirty 
years. 

The  Chinese  Government  is  liberal  in  its  treatment 
of  those  who  reclaim  waste  hill-sides,  and  poor  soil ;  or  who 
first  cultivate  newly-formed  alluvial  strips  of  land  :  in  the 
former  cases  sufficient  time  is  allowed  for  the  cultivator  to 
recoup  himself  for  the  outlay  incurred  before  his  land  is 
assessed  ;  and  in  the  latter  case  the  authorities  have  to  be 
informed. 

'  All  buildings  pay  a  ground  rent  to  the  Government,  but  no  data 
are  available  for  comparing  this  tax  with  that  levied  in  Western  cities. 
The  Government  furnishes  the  owner  of  the  ground  with  a  hung  £'a/, 
or  "  red  deed,"  in  testimony  of  his  right  to  occupancy,  which  puts 
him  in  possession  as  long  as  he  pays  the  taxes  [ground  rent].  There 
is  a  record  office  in  the  local  magistracy  of  such  documents.' 

Most  explicit  rules  are  laid  down  for  the  registration  of 
land  in  China,  and  theoretically  everything  should  be  clear 
and  plain  as  possible ;  but  if  we  may  be  excused  the 
apparently  contradictory  statement,  we  should  describe,  like 
many  things  in  China,  the  system  of  land  registration  in 
this  land  as  normally  in  what  should  be  an  abnormal 
condition.  It  is  often  difficult  to  get  such  a  good  insight 
into  a  state  of  affairs-  such  as  the  acquisition  of  the  New 
Territory  in  Hongkong  has  revealed.  Those  who  know 
the  Chinese  in  their  transactions  with  their  officials  will  have 
little  difficulty  in  reasoning  from  the  small  to  the  great,  or 
drawing  inferences  concerning  the  unknown  from  what  is 
known.  True,  there  are  certain  reasons  assigned  for  what, 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  laws  and  regulations, 
appear  an  anomalous  state  ;  but  those  who  know  China,  the 
invasions  of  its  coasts  in  the  past,  its  almost  chronic  rebellions, 
the  waves  of  immigration  that  have  swept  down  from  the 
North  to  the  South  bringing  sometimes  civil  war  and  inter- 
necine struggles  in  their  train — those  who  know  their  China 
thoroughly  will  have  but  little  difficulty  in  believing  that 
similar  anomalous  conditions  prevail  largely  in  this  land 
where  morals,  ethics,  laws  and  regulations  are  perfect,  but 

700 


Tenure  of  Land 

where  practice  differs  so  widely  from  precept.  As  showing 
in  a  general  way  what  may  be  expected  to  be  found  in 
other  parts  of  China  we  shall  enlarge  on  the  conditions 
prevalent  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Hongkong. 

Different  clans,  who  were  the  first  settlers  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Canton  Delta,  collected  land-tax  for 
which  they  never  accounted  to  the  Chinese  Government, 
though  paying  Crown  Rent  on  a  small  area,  which  was 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  whole  land  they  claimed. 
Unrest  and  disorders  have  prevailed  for  generations  in  this 
part  of  China.  About  two  centuries  and  a  half  ago  the 
coast  and  some  distance  inland  was  laid  waste  to  prevent 
Koxinga  (See  Article  on  History)  from  being  able  to  carry 
on  his  operations  in  favour  of  the  late  Ming  dynasty. 
Supposing  now,  on  resettlement,  a  family  should  have  a 
certain  number  of  Chinese  acres  on  which  they  paid  Crown 
Rent,  doubtless  a  certain  latitude  would  be  allowed,  and  the 
family  might  cultivate,  as  the  years  went  on,  though  still 
confined  to  the  same  number  of  acres,  different  plots  of 
land  in  the  same  upland  valley  or  sea-coast.  As  the 
years  then  went  on  it  would  be  essentially  Chinese-like  for 
this  family  to  claim  the  whole  district  of  land  over  which 
they  had  cultivated  plots  here  and  there  at  different 
times  ;  and  further,  it  would  be  essentially  Chinese-like  for 
other  new  settlers,  as  they  arrived  in  the  depopulated 
districts,  to  acknowledge  the  assumption  of  the  family  ; 
especially  would  they  have  no  disposition  to  dispute  such  a 
claim  when  told  that  such  was  the  case,  as  it  would  be  more 
to  their  interests  to  keep  quiet,  pay  some  yearly  sum  to 
them  and  thus  avoid  the  expenses,  squeezes,  and  troubles 
incident  to  litigation  in  this  land  of  squeezes  and  official 
corruption.  Besides,  by  so  doing,  they  would  not  incur 
the  enmity  of  the  family,  who  would  feel  incensed  should  the 
true  facts  of  the  case  come  to  light,  and  they  be  required 
to  pay  full  taxation  on  the  land  thus  occupied  instead 
of  only  on  a  small  moiety  of  it.  These  sums  would  be 
paid  as  taxes  (though  they  never  reached  the  Government) 
to  the  family  by  these  subsequent  settlers  as  they  arrived  and 

701 


Things  Chinese 

the  wasted  lands  were  thus  repopulated.  Any  trouble  with 
the  Mandarin,  or  his  subordinates,  could  be  easily  hushed 
up  by  the  family  by  the  judicious  use  of  bribes  which  they 
could  pay  out  of  the  monies  received  from  these  curiously 
obtained  tenants  of  theirs. 

Another  reason  for  the  registration  laws  not  being 
complied  with  is  the  excessive  cost  of  registration, 
the  original  cost  was  Sioo  for  a  heading  in  the  Register, 
and  this  was  necessary,  if  a  man's  own  name  or  that  of 
his  ancestors  had  not  already  appeared.  After  this  initial 
expense,  other  expenses,  legal  and  illegal,  were  incurred,  and 
there  was  the  trouble  of  going  to  the  Land  Registry  in  the 
District  City.  All  these  things  combined,  along  with  what 
has  been  already  stated,  to  lead  in  the  New  Territory  to 
what  Mr.  Gompertz,  the  President  of  the  Land  Court, 
estimates  as  '  four-fifths  of  the  land-tax  passing  through  the 
hands  of  intermediaries  before  reaching  the  Government.' 

The  result  of  all  this  is  natural,  and  it  can  be  stated  in  a 
few  words  :  '  few  sales  of  land  were  registered.' 

What  resulted  from  these  sales  not  being  registered  is 
what  the  writer  knows  is  not  confined  to  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Hongkong,  but  prevails  elsewhere  as  well,  and  it 
is  as  follows.  A  '  red  deed,'  or  registered  deed  as  it  is  called, 
is  necessary ;  this  is  granted  on  registration  by  the  pro- 
prietors ;  but  in  lieu  of  the  handing  over  of  this  'red  deed '  on 
alienation  of  property,  one  which  is  styled  a '  white  deed,' 
is  generally  given.  This  '  unregistered  deed  containing  a 
Covenant  by  the  purchaser  to  pay  the  vendor  a  yearly 
sum  to  meet  the  tax  which  the  vendor  continued  to  pay 
as  before.'  The  purchaser  occasionally  got  the  'red 
deed '  as  well  as  a  '  white  deed,'  even  if  he  bought  the 
whole  parcel  of  land  set  forth  in  the  former.  This  he  kept 
as  security  against  the  vendor  trying  to  sell  the  land  again 
to  some  one  else.  '  Thus  the  taxes  were  still  paid  in  the  old 
name  though  the  land  had  passed  into  other  hands.' 

It  can  thus  easily  be  imagined  what  confusion  arises 
from  land  matters  in  China.  The  modes  of  acquiring  owner- 
ship of  property  was  by  grant  from  the  Crown  and  by 

702 


Theatre 

purchase  ;  but  the  most  common  way  of  dealing  with  land  is 
by  perpetual  lease  from  the  Government,  and  even  between 
private  individuals  this  was  carried  out,  and  most  often  in 
the  latter  case  it  was  simply  a  verbal  agreement,  and  at 
times,  without  even  this,  it  was  taken  an  agreement  was 
implied.  Another  common  mode  of  acquiring  property 
was  by  mortgage. 

This  Chinese  mortgage  is  tantamount  to  a  conditional 
sale  ;  in  this  respect  being  like  '  the  Welsh  mortgage  of  the 
text-books.'  It  is  either  in  writing  or  orally,  more  often 
the  latter ;  it  is  hardly  ever  registered. 

What  is  known  as  a  Welsh  mortgage  is  thus  described 
in  the  English  law-books,  and  the  same  account  might  have 
been  written  of  the  Chinese. 

'  What  is  known  as  a  Welsh  mortgage  is  a  Transaction  whereby 
the  estate  is  conveyed  to  the  mortgagee,  who  is  to  go  into  possession 
and  take  the  rents  and  profits  as  an  equivalent  for  his  interest,  the 
principal  remaining  undiminished.  In  such  a  Transaction  there  is  no 
contract,  express  or  implied,  between  the  parties,  for  the  repayment  of 
the  debt  at  a  given  time,  and  though  the  mortgagee  has  no  remedy  by 
action  to  enforce  payment  of  his  money,  yet  the  mortgagor  or  his 
heirs  may  redeem  at  any  time.' 

These  mortgages  when  oral  give  occasion  to  many 
disputes  and  much  litigation,  as  the  mortgagor  wishes  to 
redeem  if  the  value  of  the  land  appreciates ;  and  the 
difficulties  are  increased  when,  as  is  often  the  case,  '  mort- 
gages are  frequently  assigned  three  or  four  times  over.' 

Daughters  never  inherit  land  in  China. 

£ooks  recommended. — See  'Land  and  Land-tax,'  in  Williaras's  'Middle 
Kingdom.'  Transactions  N.  C.  Br.  R.A.S.  1848,  vol.  i.,  Article  by  T.  T. 
Meadows.  See  '  Memorandum  on  Land '  in  Hongkong  Government  Gazette 
Supplement,  28th  April  1900,  Appendix  No.  III.  Also  'Report  on  the  Land 
Court  for  1900,'  containing  'Some  Notes  on  Land  Tenure  in  the  New  Terri- 
tory,' in  same  Gazette  for  1901. 

THEATRE. — Theatrical  exhibitions  in  China  are  often 
connected  with  religion,  as  mystery  plays  were  in  the 
mediaeval  times  in  the  West,  for  in  China  they  are  often 
held  in  honour  of  a  god's  birthday.  Subscriptions  in  these 
cases  are  obtained  from  the  residents  of  the  locality,  and 

703 


Things  Chinese 

a  large  stage  of  bamboo  and  matting  covered  in,  is  put  up. 
No  nails  are  used  in  its  construction,  but  the  bamboos  are 
securely  tied  together  with  strips  of  rattan.  The  putting 
up  of  matsheds  is  a  trade  by  itself;  they  are  quickly  run 
up,  a  few  days'  time  suffices  for  erecting  one  large  enough 
for  holding  two  thousand  people.  They  are  taken  down 
even  quicker,  as  sharp  hook-knives  cut  through  the  rattan 
strips,  and  these  latter  are  the  only  materials  which  cannot 
be  used  again,  the  same  bamboo  poles  and  oblongs  of 
matted  leaves  bound  together,  doing  duty  scores,  if  not 
hundreds,  of  times.  One  large  shed  may  serve  for  the 
performers,  while  smaller  ones  accommodate  those  who 
pay  for  seats  ;  the  pit  is  the  paved  square,  and  standing 
room  is  all  that  the  rabble,  who  are  packed  as  thick  as 
herrings  in  a  barrel,  are  allowed. 

Players  stroll  in  companies  from  place  to  place,  open  to 
engagements  as  above,  or  are  hired  by  wealthy  families  to 
perform  their  plays  in  their  private  dwellings,  where  all  the 
inconveniences  of  the  female  members  of  the  family  appear- 
ing in  public  are  avoided.  In  Hongkong  there  are  two 
substantial  buildings  used  for  native  theatres,  and  the 
Chinese  appear  to  be  copying  this  example  at  Canton  and 
elsewhere. 

What  would  we  think  in  the  West  of  performances 
lasting  three  days  instead  of  three  hours,  and  only  rests 
for  sleeping  and  eating?  Smoking  and  refreshments  are 
allowed  in  the  theatre  itself,  and  the  splitting  and  munching 
of  dried  melon  seeds  which  is  carried  on  must  be  immense, 
while  play  follows  play  without  any  interval. 

The  stage  is  simplicity  itself,  with  two  entrances  from 
the  back  where  the  '  green-room  '  is  placed  ;  and  a  few 
tables,  chairs,  and  stools,  are  about  all  that  are  used,  and 
they  do  duty  for  any  and  every  thing.  The  writer  saw  a 
frail  structure,  composed  of  tables  and  chairs  piled  up  in 
the  middle  of  the  stage,  used  to  represent  lofty  crags  and 
precipitous  mountains,  over  which  the  heroine  of  the  play, 
accompanied  and  assisted  by  a  trusty  family  retainer, 
clambered  up,  clutching  imaginary  projecting  points,  trees, 

704 


Theatre 

bushes,  or  grass,  to  help  her  in  her  dangerous  climb.  Some 
of  the  actors  display  considerable  talent,  most  realistic 
effects  being  produced  at  times. 

The  assistants  come  in  and  remove  different  articles 
when  done  with,  or  bring  them  as  required,  going  out  and 
in  among  the  actors  with  perfect  nonchalance,  as  no  curtain 
falls  between  the  different  acts.  Considerable  force  of 
imagination  is  required  to  add  all  the  accessories  so  vividly 
pictured  on  the  modern  stage  in  the  West ;  but  perhaps 
their  absence  is  not  an  entire  defect,  as  more  attention  can 
be  bestowed,  without  their  distraction,  on  the  acting  itself. 
Young  men  dressed  as  women,  take  the  female  parts, 
and  the  others  are  so  represented  as  to  be  known  at 
once,  the  villain,  for  instance,  being  painted  with  a  white 
nose. 

Historical  plays  are  often  performed,  the  dresses  being 
those  of  the  Chinese  when  under  native  rule,  between  two  and 
three  centuries  ago,  and  most  gorgeous  they  are,  making  up 
for  all  the  lack  of  scenic  effect ;  robes  of  rich  hues,  glitter- 
ing with  gold  ;  long  feathers,  several  feet  in  length,  falling 
in  graceful  curves  from  the  caps  of  the  performers,  and 
swaying  with  every  motion  of  the  actors.  The  spectacular 
effect  of  all  this  glitter  and  sheen  proves  a  strange  contrast 
to  the  poverty  of  the  building  and  the  bare  appearance  of 
the  stage.  Marches  past  of  soldiers ;  the  exaggerated 
stride  of  the  hero ;  the  prancing  of  the  warriors  as  they 
enter  into  mimic  contests  where  lunges  and  feints,  a  la 
Chinois,  are  indulged  in  to  an  extravagant  extent ;  all 
present  a  coup  d"oeil,  weird  and  fantastic,  grotesque  at  times, 
but  so  full  of  life  and  vigour  that  for  some  time  one  enjoys 
the  kaleidoscopic  scene  to  be  witnessed  nowhere  else  in  the 
world  :  and  were  it  not  for  the  clash  of  the  cymbals  which 
emphasise  different  passages,  the  scrapings  of  the  fiddles, 
and  the  indescribable  effect  of  the  Chinese  music,  added  to 
the  heat  of  the  crowded  building  and  the  disagreeable 
odour  from  the  perspiring  and  unwashed  masses,  one  would 
enjoy  it  more,  but  a  headache  is  the  Westerner's  reward  for 
the  patient  sitting  out  of  a  Chinese  play. 

705  2   \ 


Things  Chinese 

'  The  efforts  of  certain  actors  are  worthy  of  the  highest  commenda- 
tion from  the  naturalness  of  their  actions  and  the  vivid  portrayal  of  the 
incidents  of  the  play.  There  is,  however,  much  of  conventionality  re- 
minding one  of  the  Italian  opera  among  us.'  'The  performances'  are 
'  largely  of  the  character  of  pantomime  and  more  largely  perhaps  .  .  . 
opera.' 

Though  we  have  particularised  the  historic  play,  it 
must  not  be  supposed  that  the  '  Brethren  of  the  Pear 
Orchard,'  as  Thespians  are  called  in  China,  confine  their 
attention  to  that  branch  of  the  histrionic  art.  Plays  of 
various  kinds,  comedies,  tragedies,  and  farces,  all  find 
acceptance  from  a  Chinese  audience. 

'While  it  is  true  that  the  Chinese  themselves  make  no  distinction 
between  comedy  and  tragedy,  a  translator  from  their  language  is  still 
at  liberty  to  apply  these  terms,  according  to  the  serious  and  dignified, 
or  comic  and  familiar  character,  of  the  composition  which  he  selects.' 
Sir  John  Davis,  from  whom  we  quote,  says  further,  of  a  tragedy  which 
he  translated  from  Chinese  into  English  : — '  In  the  unity  of  the  plot, 
the  dignity  of  the  personages,  the  grandeur  and  importance  of  the 
events,  the  strict  award  of  what  is  called  poetical  justice — nay,  in  the 
division  into  five  principal  portions  or  acts,  it  might  satisfy  the  most 
fastidious  and  strait-laced  of  the  old  European  critics.  Love  and  war, 
too,  constitute  its  whole  action,  and  the  language  of  the  imperial  lover 
is  frequently  passionate  to  a  degree  one  is  not  prepared  for  in  such  a 
country  as  China.' 

'  The  stage,  and  everything  pertaining  to  it,  enjoys  a  lower  estima- 
tion than  in  any  part  of  Europe.'  It  is  not  considered  proper  for 
respectable  Chinese  ladies  to  go  frequently  to  the  theatre.  '  The 
Chinese  cannot  strictly  be  said  to  possess  dramatic  poetry.'  '  No 
Shakespeare  has  .  .  .  yet  arisen  in  China  ;  no  analyst  of  motives 
either  amongst  novelists  or  playwrights.'  '  The  dialogue  of  their  stage 
pieces  is  composed  in  ordinary  prose',  while  the  principal  performer 
now  and  then  chaunts  forth,  in  unison  with  music,  a  species  of  song  or 
"vaudeville"  ;  and  the  name  of  the  tune  or  air  is  always  inserted  at 
the  top  of  the  passage  to  be  sung.'  'A  considerable  portion  of  the 
plays  of  the  Chinese  consists  of  a  sort  of  irregular  verse,  which  is  sung 
or  chanted  with  music.  This  is  often  very  obscure  in  its  import ;  and 
as,  according  to  the  Chinese  themselves,  the  gratification  of  the  ear  is 
its  main  object,  sense  itself  appears  sometimes  to  be  neglected  for  the 
sake  of  a  pleasing  sound.'  'The  Chinese  are  enthusiastic  theatre- 
goers, and  sit  for  hours  enthralled  by  the  performance,  bereft  as  it 
necessarily  is  of  much  of  the  scenic  effects  of  the  Western  stage.' 

'  The  Chinese  drama  .  .  .  was  marked  out  into  three  distinct 
epochs — The  T'ang  Dynasty  (720-905  A.D.),  the  Sung  Dynasty  (720- 
II 19  A.D.),  the  Kin  and  Yuan  Dynasty  (i  123-1341  A.D.).' 

'The  character  of  the  plays  represented  was  at  first  religious,  but 
subsequently  was  more  devoted  to  historical  subjects,  and  also  repre- 

706 


Tigers 

sented  the  occupations  of  the  people  in  times  of  peace  as  well  as  the 
exploits  of  their  heroes  in  war.' 

'The  Chinese  drama  sprang  up  no  earlier  than  the  time  of  the 
caliphate  and  subsequent  ages.  The  Greek  drama  was  already  trans- 
planted and  had  grown  luxuriantly  in  India.  The  Mohammedans 
naturally  derived  pure  ideas  from  it  in  their  religious  shows,  and  the 
miracle-plays  of  Europe  show  how  the  same  principle  of  dramatic 
imitation  was  working  there  also.  So  it  was  in  China.  The  whole 
idea  of  the  Chinese  play  is  Greek.  The  mask,  the  chorus,  the  music, 
the  colloquy,  the  scene  and  the  act,  are  Greek.  The  difference 
between  Chinese  plays,  and  those  of  Terence  and  Plautus  is  simply 
that  the  Roman  dramatists  translated  a  good  deal.  The  Chinese  took 
the  idea  and  worked  up  the  play  from  their  own  history  and  their  own 
social  life.  The  Chinese  drama  is  based  on  music  just  as  the  Greek 
play  was,  and  the  whole  conception  of  the  play  is  foreign,  while  the 
details  and  the  language  are  Chinese.  But  for  the  arrival  of  Western 
musicians  in  the  Sung  and  Yiian  dynasties,  pleasing  the  people's  ear 
with  more  lively  and  stirring  strains  than  they  had  ever  heard  in  the 
old  music  of  China,  the  modern  dramatic  music  would  not  have  been 
developed.  The  spread  of  education  and  the  love  of  poetry  in  the  T'ang 
dynasty  constituted  a  training  for  dramatic  authorship.  The  Sung 
dynasty  influence  in  this  direction  is  vouched  for  by  Su  Tung-po. 
After  such  men  had  appeared  it  was  easy  for  the  drama  and  romance 
to  be  originated,  but  it  was  the  increasing  inflow  of  foreign  actors  and 
musicians  all  through  the  age  of  the  Golden  Tartars  which  gave 
direction  and  shape  to  the  new  power.  Every  attempt  to  explain  the 
Chinese  drama  as  purely  native  must  therefore  fail.' 

The  social  position  the  actor  holds  in  China  is  low  ;  he 
is  considered  on  a  par  with  the  barber,  and  debarred  from 
entering  the  examinations  ;  and  this,  though  the  Chinese 
play  has  a  moral  tendency,  the  villain  getting  his  deserts, 
and  the  virtuous  hero  and  heroine  coming  off  with  flying 
colours. 

Books  recommended. — Besides  the  notices  of  the  theatre  in  text-books  such 
as  '  Willianis's  Middle  Kingdom,'  there  are  some  very  interesting  pages  on  the 
subject  in  Professor  Douglas's  'Chinese  Stories,'  Introduction,  pp.  xxiii-xxxvi. 
'The  Chinese  Drama,'  by  W.  Stanton,  contains  an  interesting  account  of 
theatrical  matters  in  China,  as  well  as  three  plays  and  two  poems. 

TIGERS. — In  the  earlier  days  of  European  residence 
in  the  East,  and  even  until  a  recent  date,  most  foreigners 
were  very  sceptical  of  the  tiger  stories  of  the  Chinese  ;  but 
of  recent  years  it  has  been  well  established  as  a  fact  that  in 
some  parts  of  China  the  tiger  is  a  common  beast  of  prey 
and  a  source  of  constant  danger,  especially  to  the  juvenile 
members  of  the  community.  There  have  been  numerous 

707 


Things  Chinese 

cases  of  children  being  seized  and  carried  off  from  the  very 
doors  of  their  homes,  nor  has  the  abduction  of  a  child  from 
the  very  gates  of  a  city  been  unknown.  The  tiger  appears 
to  be  widely  spread  over  the  empire,  but  it  is  mostly  found 
in  the  provinces  of  Fuhkien,  Kiangsi,  Kwangtung,  and 
Kwangsi.  They  even  come,  at  times,  within  what  is  now 
the  newly  acquired  territory  on  the  mainland  opposite 
Hongkong.  They  frequent,  amongst  other  spots,  the 
neighbourhood  of  Swatow,  Amoy,  and  Foochow,  and  a  few 
days'  journey  from  Canton  up  the  North,  East,  or  West 
Rivers  would  bring  one  to  tiger  districts.  Tigers  are  also 
found  in  Manchuria.  One  foreign  resident  'in  Amoy  has 
shot  19  tigers  to  his  own  rifle,  and  has  been  present  at  the 
death  of  40.'  Foreign  sportsmen,  however,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  have  not  gone  tiger  shooting.  The  average 
length  of  those  that  have  fallen  to  their  guns  has  been  for 
males  9  feet  and  females  8  feet.  '  Immensely  long  tigers 
are  not  always  proportionately  large ;  they  are  mostly  thin 
and  low  animals  ;  the  heaviest  and  most  muscular  tigers 
average  about  9  feet  6  inches.  The  longest  tiger  shot  in 
India  measured  12  feet  2  inches.  ...  In  China  there  are 
several  good  records  ;  one  of  10  feet  6  inches,  and  another  of 
1 1  feet  2  inches.'  The  writer,  from  whom  we  quote  above, 
states  that  he  has  measured  tanned  skins  in  Shanghai  and 
found  some  of  them  as  long  as  12  feet  9  inches  'and  they 
were  not  "  faked  "  in  any  way.'  The  tiger  is  supposed  to 
attain  maturity  in  the  course  of  four  years,  and  only  those 
full  grown  could  be  of  large  size. 

As  compared  with  his  Indian  brother,  the  Chinese  tiger 
— being  a  very  well-fed  animal  which  generally  inhabits 
the  hills,  while  the  Indian  tiger  being  a  jungle  animal  has 
his  hair  and  skin  much  damaged  by  friction  against  the 
undergrowth — is  better  marked,  and  the  skin  naturally 
commands  a  higher  price  in  Europe,  for,  while  a  '  full-grown 
Chinese  tiger  will  fetch  a  price  of  ^100  in  some  of  the 
large  zoological  gardens  in  Europe,'  the  highest  amount 
given  for  an  Indian  tiger  is  £70.  The  Chinese  tiger  is 
said  not  to  be  so  aggressive  as  the  Indian  tiger,  though  its 

708 


Time 

ferocity  '  when  aroused  and  put  to  bay '  is  equal :  '  the 
tiger  living  in  the  jungle  [the  Indian]  has  less  supply  of 
food  and  will  attack  more  instantaneously  and  with  less 
provocation.'  The  Chinese  dig  a  pit  and  cover  it  with 
poles  or  branches,  the  tiger's  weight  carries  him  through, 
and  a  common  way  of  killing  him  then  is  to  run  a 
red-hot  iron  down  his  throat,  though  he  often  escapes 
from  these  pits. 

A  tiger  shot  by  trap-gun  at  Kuliang,  and  measuring 
7 1  feet  and  weighing  210  Ibs.,  was  sold  in  Foochow  for  $80 
— in  1898.  They  are  shot  with  poisoned  arrows,  probably 
from  cross-bows  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  the  poison  is 
said  to  do  its  work  in  two  or  three  minutes. 

The  '  white  tiger '  is  an  important  element  in  the 
pseudo-science  of  fung-shui  :  it  represents  one  of  the  'two 
supposed  currents  running  through  the  earth,'  the  other 
being  the  'green  dragon.'  These  are  believed  to  be 
situated  on  the  right  and  left  respectively  of  propitious  sites 
and  graves.  '  A  skilful  observer  can  detect  and  describe 
them,  with  the  help  of  the  [geomantic]  compass,  direction 
of  the  water-courses,  shapes  of  the  male  and  female  ground, 
and  their  proportions,  colour  of  the  soil,  and  the  permuta- 
tions of  the  elements.' 

Books  recommciidcd.—Zool.  Soc.  Proc.  1870.  p.  626.  Also  see  Hongkong 
Weekly  Press  for  27th  May  1896.  Also  see  Article  in  this  book  on 
G  eomancy. 

TIME.  —  Time  —  but  what  idea  has  a  Chinaman  of 
time  ?  Time  does  not  enter  into  the  essence  of  his  ordinary 
conceptions  of  a  day,  or,  at  all  events,  the  idea  is  so  very 
vague  that  the  conception  of  it  seems  but  an  inchoate  one. 
At  the  Treaty  Ports'  and  in  their  neighbourhood,  as  well  as 
at  Hongkong  and  Macao,  clocks  are  found  in  every  shop, 
and  watches  abound,  but  in  many  places  there  is  no 
standard  of  correct  time,  and,  in  places  where  there  is,  it  is 
ignored  extensively.  Life  is  not  such  a  mad  rush  as  with 
us  in  our  feverish  pursuit  of  wealth,  a  livelihood,  or  learning. 
Fix  a  time  for  an  engagement  with  a  Chinese,  and  he 

709 


Things  Chinese 

comes  in  half-an-hour  late,  or  even  two  or  three  hours  after, 
occasionally  a  few  days  later  than  the  day  fixed  upon,  with 
no  idea  that  he  has  done  anything  out  of  the  way.  Hire  a 
coolie  or  a  street  vehicle  or  a  boat,  and  what  the  man 
employed  bases  his  calculation  on,  as  to  payment,  is  more 
the  distance  traversed  than  the  time  spent  over  it ;  and, 
compared  with  his  fraternity  in  the  West,  he  patiently 
waits  your  return,  while  the  minutes  and  hours  that  fly  are 
almost  next  to  nothing  to  him.  This  disregard  of  time  is 
seen  in  the  language,  where  vagueness  takes  the  place  of 
our  precision.  When  a  man  says  '  to-morrow  '  he  does  not 
necessarily  mean  the  next  day,  but  some  indefinite  time  in 
the  future  which  sometimes  never  comes,  like  St.  Patrick's 
'  to-morrow/  for  the  saint  when  exterminating  the  snakes 
in  Ireland  put  the  last  one  in  a  box,  and  flung  it  to  the 
bottom  of  a  lake,  promising  to  let  it  out '  to-morrow/  and 
as  each  new  day  began,  the  snake  asked  to  be  let  out,  but 
the  saint  always  replied  that  this  was  to-day  and  not 
to-morrow. 

The  Chinese  employ  two  methods  in  reckoning  time : 
one,  the  cycle  of  sixty  years  (See  Article  on  Cycle) ;  but 
this  way  of  counting  time  is  an  uncertain  one,  for,  unless  it 
is  distinctly  stated,  one  is  at  a  loss  to  know  whether,  say,  a 
certain  book  was  copied  or  printed  some  score  or  two 
years  ago,  or  fourscore  or  more  years  ago.  Another  better 
method,  one  of  the  most  common — and  one  used  by  us 
to  a  small  extent,  notably  in  the  Headings  of  Acts  of 
Parliament — is  that  of  employing  the  years  of  the  reign  ; 
but  with  the  Chinese  it  is  not  the  sovereign's  name  that  is 
used,  that  is  too  sacred  to  be  so  debased,  but  some  high- 
sounding  combination  of  words  is  employed,  and  this 
designates  the  reign,  or  a  part  of  it,  as  has  often  happened 
in  ancient  Chinese  history,  when  the  reign-name  was 
changed  several  times  in  the  life-time  of  one  monarch.  The 
present  occupant  of  the  throne  has  had  selected  for  him 
for  his  'year-style'  the  words  Kuang-Hsii,  which  may  be 
rendered  into  English  as  '  Illustrious  Succession  '  ;  so  this 
year,  which  we  date  from  the  greatest  event  that  earth  has 

710 


Time 

ever  seen,  as  A.D.  1903,  is  known  to  the  Chinese  as  parts 
of  the  Jen-yin  and  Kuei-mao  years  of  the  cycle  and  parts  of 
the  28th  and  29th  years  of  the  '  Illustrious  Succession  ' 
period.  The  Chinese  year  is  a  lunar  one  '  but  its  com- 
mencement is  regulated  by  the  sun.'  To  those  who  are 
astronomically  inclined,  it  may  be  interesting  to  know  that 
'  New  Year  falls  on  the  first  new  moon  after  the  sun  enters 
Aquarius,  which  makes  it  come  not  before  January  2ist 
nor  after  February  iQth.'  In  1899  it  has  happened  on  the 
loth  of  February.  It  is  therefore  unlike  the  Mohammedan 
year  which  now  has  its  new  year  in  summer  and  now  in 
winter ;  the  Chinese  feasts  are  almost  as  certain  as  our 
European  movable  ones,  for  by  the  addition  of  an  inter- 
calary month  every  three  years  or  so  the  differences  are 
roughly  adjusted  ;  this  extra  month  is,  however,  not  the 
thirteenth  and  added  on  at  the  end  of  the  year,  but  it  is 
inserted  at  different  times  in  different  years,  and  takes  its 
name  from  the  month  it  immediately  follows ;  for  instance, 
one  year  it  may  be  the  intercalary  second  month,  on 
another  occasion  it  may  be  the  intercalary  seventh  month, 
and  so  on.  '  An  intercalary  moon  must  lie  completely 
within  one  sign  of  the  zodiac  ;  i.e.,  the  sun  must  not  pass 
from  one  sign  to  another.'  The  Quakers  would  not  be  a 
singular  people  in  China  as  far  as  their  nomenclature  of 
time  was  concerned  ;  for  instead  (in  common  parlance)  of 
the  months  having  names  as  we,  who  are  outside  the  pale 
of  Quakerism  in  the  West,  employ,  the  Chinese  know  them 
as  the  first,  the  second,  the  third  months,  and  so  on.  The 
close  connection  between  the  month  and  the  moon  is  more 
noticeable  in  Chinese  even  than  with  us,  for  the  same  word 
does  duty  for  both.  Again,  the  indefiniteness  of  the 
Chinese  as  regards  time  is  seen  in  the  days,  for  though  they 
are  known  as  the  first,  second,  etc.,  yet  they  are  further 
divided  into  three  decades  as  regards  their  position  in  the 
month,  so  a  Chinese  can  fix  a  matter  as  having  occurred 
in  the  first  decade,  or  the  second,  or  the  third,  as  the  case 
may  be,  and  delight  his  unprecise  nature  by  a  margin  of 
ten  days. 

711 


Things  Chinese 

There  is  no  week,  amongst  the  Chinese,  in  our  accep- 
tation of  the  term,  but  multitudes  of  them  have  learned 
what  a  week  is,  and  have  terms  to  express  it  and  its  days, 
and  it  is  well  known  wherever  foreigners  have  stayed  or 
travelled  much. 

The  Chinese  hour  is  twice  the  length  of  ours,  but  again, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Treaty  Ports,  where  clocks  and 
watches  are  common,  the  more  convenient  foreign  system, 
as  shown  by  the  faces  of  those  important  and  useful 
horological  instruments,  is  largely  used,  and  is  probably 
increasing  in  use  every  year ;  and  en  passant  we  may  say 
that  it  is  in  this  way  that  progress  is  accomplished  in  China, 
by  the  adoption  of  some  foreign  invention  which  gradually 
extends  from  the  sphere  of  foreign  influence  or  introduction 
further  into  the  country.  There  is  no  rapid,  wholesale 
sweeping  away  of  former  things,  and  the  importation,  en 
bloc,  of  new  ideas,  as  has  frequently  happened  with  Japan 
— in  her  case  often  to  be  followed  by  a  revulsion,  or  the 
acceptance  of  something  else,  and  a  discarding  of  the  former 
inventions  adopted  so  hastily.  China's  progress,  being 
slower,  is  steadier,  and  will  be  none  the  less  sure  in  the 
long  run. 

'  The  Chinese  calendar,  more  or  less  in  its  present  form,  is  of  very 
old  origin.  Errors  crept  in  naturally  in  the  course  of  time,  as  they 
did  into  the  Julian  Calendar,  and  the  first  Jesuit  missionaries  turned 
to  good  account  their  mathematical  skill  by  proving  the  inaccuracy  of 
the  native  calendar  upon  occasions  of  eclipses.  Fr.  Schall  was  the 
first  to  introduce  corrections,  and  Fr.  Verbiest,  in  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  K'ang  Hsi,  drew  up  the  calendar  in  its  present  form,  carrying 
his  calculations  as  far  as  the  year  2020.  His  calendar  has  been  faith- 
fully followed  ever  since,  with  some  rare  exceptions,  as  when  the  year 
1894  or  rather  the  twentieth  year  of  Kuang  Hsu  was  curtailed  of  a 
day  on  account  of  the  disastrous  war  with  the  Japanese.' 

The  Chinese  watch  at  night  is  like  the  Western  dog- 
watch, only  two  hours  in  length.  The  first  watch  lasts  from 
7  P.M.  to  9  P.M.  and  is  shown  by  one  beat  on  the  revenue- 
cutter's  drum  or  one  blow  on  the  street-watchman's  hollow 
bamboo  tube ;  the  second  watch  is  from  9  P.M.  to  1 1  P.M. 
and  is  signalled  by  two  beats,  etc. ;  the  third,  fourth,  and 
fifth  are  of  equal  duration,  and  shown  in  a  corresponding 

712 


Tobacco  and  Pipes 

manner.  Each  of  these  watches  is  divided  into  five  lesser 
divisions,  which  are  distinguished  on  the  revenue-cutters  by 
their  numbers  from  one  to  five  strokes  on  a  small  gong,  the 
stroke  on  the  gong  immediately  following  the  drum  beat. 
The  watch  is  set  and  called  off  both  afloat  and  ashore  by  a 
tattoo  on  the  drum  or  bamboo,  commencing  with  slow  and 
measured  beat,  gradually  increasing  in  time  until  it  ends  in 
a  regular  rattle  ;  this  is  repeated  several  times. 

The  peculiar  phrases  that  one  comes  across,  in  use  by 
the  common  people,  for  the  expression  of  short  periods  of 
time  strike  one  as  very  odd.  The  following  are  examples 
of  such  phrases  : — 

The  time  it  would  take  to  drink  a  cup  of  tea. 

The  time  it  would  take  to  drink  a  cup  of  hot  tea. 

The  time  it  would  take  to  eat  a  meal. 

The  time  it  would  take  to  eat  a  bowl  of  rice. 

The  time  it  would  take  to  smoke  a  cigarette. 

The  time  it  would  take  for  an  incense-stick  to  burn. 

TOBACCO  AND  PIPES.— Tobacco  was  introduced 
into  China  from  Luzon  about  A.D.  1530  'and  smoking 
spread  among  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  both  sexes, 
with  incredible  rapidity.'  Decrees  were  issued  against  its 
use  by  some  of  the  Ming  dynasty  rulers,  but  proved  as 
ineffectual  as  those  of  James  I.  against  it  in  England,  for 
everyone  smokes  in  China.  There  are  two  kinds  of  pipe 
in  use,  the  dry  pipe,  and  the  water-pipe  :  the  latter  is  a 
copy  of  the  Indian  hookah  ;  it  consists  of  a  receptacle  for 
the  water  into  which  a  tube-like  piece,  about  the  size  of 
a  small  finger,  is  inserted  ;  the  upper  end  of  this  tube 
contains  a  small  cavity  into  which  the  tobacco  is  put.  The 
smoke  is  inhaled  through  the  water  up  the  pipe  part, 
which  is  a  tube  about  a  foot  long,  gradually  narrowing  and 
bending  over  at  the  mouth-piece.  These  pipes  are  made 
of  copper  and  argentan  (an  alloy  of  copper,  zinc,  nickel, 
iron,  and  sometimes  a  little  silver),  and  are  used  by  ladies 
and  gentlemen.  The  common  coolies  have  a  primitive 
style  of  water-pipe  which  consists  of  a  length  of  bamboo 
about  the  size  of  a  man's  arm,  and,  part  of  the  way  up,  a 

713 


Things  Chinese 

little  tube  of  bamboo,  the  size  of  a  finger,  is  inserted  for 
the  tobacco. 

The  other  pipes  are  often  made  of  bamboo,  as  far  as 
the  stems  are  concerned,  and  vary  in  length  from  a  few 
feet  to  a  few  inches,  though  short  pipes  are  not  very 
common.  The  bowls,  of  metal,  are  small,  holding  scarcely 
more  than  a  thimbleful  of  tobacco ;  a  few  whiffs  exhaust 
them ;  and  with  the  gentleman  or  lady  a  servant  is  ready 
who  steps  up,  takes  the  pipe,  empties  out  the  ashes,  refills 
it,  sticks  it  into  the  mouth  of  his  master  or  mistress,  and 
lights  it  with  a  paper  spill. 

The  tobacco  is  prepared  for  smoking  by  drying  the 
leaves  and  cutting  them  into  shreds ;  it  is  milder  than 
that  used  in  the  West,  and  is  of  different  prepara- 
tions. It  is  used  in  several  ways,  such  as  in  pipes,  in 
paper  cigarettes,  and  in  snuff,  but  not  in  cigars :  when 
used  as  snuff,  it  is  put  into  snuff-bottles,  over  the 
purchase  of  which  the  man  of  means  spends  money 
lavishly,  and  the  patient  toiler  also  lavishly  spends 
weeks,  or  sometimes  even  months,  in  the  production 
of  one.  They  are  often  cut  out  of  '  stone,  amber, 
agate,  and  other  rare  minerals,  with  most  exquisite 
taste.'  They  are  carved  at  times  like  cameos ;  a  little 
bone  spoon  is  attached  to  the  stopper,  and  a  pinch  of  snuff 
is  taken  out  by  it  and  put  on  the  thumb-nail,  from  which  it 
is  drawn  up  into  the  nose. 

Considerable  quantities  of  tobacco  are  exported  to  the 
East  Indian  Islands  ;  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  introduce 
it  on  the  Western  markets.  'Japanese  tobacco  is  already 
largely  consumed  in  Europe,  but  the  bulk  of  it  goes  to 
Antwerp,  Amsterdam,  and  Hamburg,  where,  with  the 
addition  of  the  Sumatra  or  Havana  leaf,  it  is  made 
into  cigars.' 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Chinese  have  developed  a  liking 
for  Manila  cigars,  and  many  of  them  may  be  seen  smoking 
them.  The  street  coolies  in  Hongkong,  whose  stock  of 
cash  is  too  small  to  invest  in  such  luxuries,  keep  an  eye 
open  for  the  discarded  ends  tossed  away  by  the  extravagant 


Tobacco  and  Pipes 

foreigner,  and,  picking  them  up,  enjoy  a  few  whiffs.  Nor  is 
the  manufacture  of  these  cigar  ends  into  new  cigars 
unknown  to  the  ingenious  Chinaman. 

It  is  curious  to  notice  how  very  similar  pipes  that  were 
used  in  England  on  the  first  introduction  of  tobacco 
smoking  are  to  the  small  Chinese  pipes  in  use  in  China 
at  present.  If  the  general  opinion  that  the  Portuguese 
spread  the  knowledge  of  tobacco  smoking  into  Asia  soon 
after  its  introduction  be  accepted  (the  Chinese,  it  is  stated, 
learned  it  from  the  Philippine  Islands),  then  this  similarity 
in  the  pipes  is  easily  accounted  for.  A  writer  in  MacmillaiJs 
Magazine  for  August  1 896,  throws  out  the  suggestion  that, 
as  with  so  many  other  things,  the  Chinese  were  the 
introducers  of  tobacco  smoking  into  America  and  the 
West.  If  this  be  true,  the  similarity  in  pipes  is  also 
accounted  for. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  the 
following  account  of  tobacco  cultivation  in  the  Szchuan 
Province,  as  reported  on  by  Mr.  Smithers,  the  United  States 
Consul  at  Chungking. 

'The  tobacco  plant  is  grown  all  over  the  province  of  Szechuan, 
but  more  abundantly  in  the  districts  of  Pe-shan  Hsien,  which  is  about 
150  li  (60  miles)  north-east  of  this  city,  and  Kin-t'ang  Hsien,  about 
100  li  (40  miles)  east  of  Chengtu,  the  provincial  capital. 

'The  plant  grows  to  the  height  of  about  i\  to  3  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  the  usual  time  for  planting  the  seed  is  during  the  tenth 
or  eleventh  moon  (November  or  December).  The  method,  before 
putting  the  seed  into  the  ground,  is  to  sift  out  a  quantity  of  soil  and 
manure  it.  When  dry,  the  seed  is  wrapped  with  this  soil  and  put 
into  the  ground  at  intervals  of  a  foot  and  a  half.  The  soil  must  not 
be  rich,  and  ground  where  cereals  have  not  been  already  planted  is 
generally  chosen. 

'During  the  year,  there  are  three  crops — the  first  is  cut  six  months 
after  it  has  been  planted,  the  second  twenty  days  afterwards,  and 
the  third  crop  twenty  days  after  the  second  crop. 

'  So  soon  as  it  is  cut,  it  is  hung  up  to  dry  for  about  a  fortnight, 
in  a  sheltered  place  with  a  good  draught,  so  that  it  may  dry  quickly. 
When  ready  for  sale,  it  is  done  up  in  bundles  weighing  70  to  80 
catties  (39.3  to  io6'6  pounds)  a  piece. 

'The  Kin-t'ang  tobacco  leaf  receives  a  little  more  care.  After  it 
is  dried,  it  is  put  into  a  press,  to  enable  some  of  the  juice  to  be  pressed 
out  and  the  leaf  made  much  milder  than  the  other  leaves  that  are 
sold  in  the  market.  It  is  done  up  in  bundles  of  40  to  50  catties 
(53.3  to  66'6  pounds)  each.  The  seed  is  sown  under  shelter.  When 

715 


Things  Chinese 

the  leaves  are  ready,  they  are  picked,  and  exposed  to  the  dew  for 
several  nights  ;  they  are  then  dipped  in  a  dye,  and  hung  up  to  dry 
again  before  being  taken  to  the  markets  for  sale.' 

The  article  goes  on  to  say  that  a  Chinese  is  making 
cigars,  but  they  are  not  equal  to  Manila  cigars ;  but  with 
proper  curing  they  would  be  probably  improved.  The 
Chinese  in  that  neighbourhood  are  said  to  take  off  a  piece 
of  leaf,  roll  it  into  a  sort  of  cheroot,  and  smoke  it  in  their 
pipes,  consisting  of  a  small  brass  bowl  and  long  bamboo 
or  cane  stem. 

'  Tobacco  leaf  was  shipped  away  [from  Shanghai  in 
1898]  to  the  extent  of  210,000  piculs,  of  which  94  per  cent, 
went  to  Japan,  or  say,  197,000  piculs,  as  against  13,000 
piculs  in  1897.' 

'  Tobacco  of  excellent  quality  is  produced  in  China, 
and  at  one  time  it  looked  as  though  this  was  a  promising 
trade,  371,137  piculs  having  been  exported  in  1898  ;  but 
fraudulent  packing  has  spoiled  these  prospects  and  the 
export  has  fallen  off,  although  the  export  of  158,383  piculs 
was  an  improvement  on  the  figures  for  the  previous 
year.' 

TOMBS. — A  book  itself  might  be  written  on  the  sub- 
ject of  tombs  in  China,  so  important  are  they  considered  in 
this  land  of  anomalies  ;  they  are  frequently  to  be  found 
scattered  over  the  hill-sides  everywhere,  or  forming  a  com- 
pact mass  of  whited  sepulchres,  as  at  Amoy  ;  or  occupying 
a  place  of  honour  in  the  middle  of  a  rice-field,  as  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Swatow.  Different  chapters  in  such  a 
book  might  be  filled  with  accounts  of  the  graves  them- 
selves ;  their  construction  ;  the  different  styles  used  in 
different  dynasties ;  the  different  styles  used  in  different 
parts  of  the  country  at  the  present  day ;  the  different 
styles  used  by  high  officials,  lower  officials,  and  the 
common  people ;  the  inscriptions  on  the  tombstones 
differing  at  different  periods  of  history  and  even  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  at  the  present  day ;  the 
different  superstitions  connected  with  the  graves,  the  folk- 

716 


Topsyturvydom 

lore,  the  worship  paid  at  the  tombs  to  the  spirits  of  the 
deceased  ;  the  wonderful  farrago  of  nonsense  and  only 
glimmerings  of  a  stray  truth  here  and  there  amidst  such 
an  amount  of  darkness  and  ignorance,  as  to  create  a 
doubt  whether  there  be  anything  but  a  mass  of  falsehood 
in  the  whole  system  of  Fung  Shui — the  wonderful 
geomantic  superstition  which  centres  round  the  tomb  of 
the  deceased  ancestor  as  the  hope  and  dread  of  future 
generations.  (See  Article  on  Fung  Shui.)  Not  a  few 
chapters  might  be  occupied  with  descriptions  of  the  coffin 
to  be  put  in  the  tomb,  accounts  of  the  procession  to  the 
tomb,  and  the  funeral  with  all  the  varying  customs  for 
different  parts  of  the  country  ;  while  interesting  pages  might 
contain  investigations  as  to  how  much  of  all  the  ceremonial 
has  come  down  from  a  high  antiquity  and  how  much  has 
grown  on  to  the  original  system  in  the  course  of  ages — 
how  much  is  original  ancestor  worship  and  how  much  is 
due  to  Buddhism  and  Taoism  ;  all  these  would  require 
a  full  treatment  to  do  justice  to  the  subject,  and  even 
then  much  of  interest  would  have  been  left  out.  We 
cannot,  therefore,  in  this  article  do  more  than  thus  point 
to  some  of  the  various  aspects  that  the  tomb  presents 
itself  to  the  Chinese  in,  and  refer  our  readers  to  our 
articles  on  Ancestral  Worship,  Fung  Shui,  and  Mourning, 
for  a  notice  of  one  or  two  of  the  aspects  mentioned 
above. 

Books  recommended. — Gray's  'China,'  vol.  i.  pp.  308-325.  Williams's 
'  Middle  Kingdom,'  vol.  ii.  pp.  246,  252.  Most  books  on  China  contain 
something  on  the  subject.  'The  Religions  System  of  China,'  in  seven 
books,  by  J.  J.  M.  de  Groot,  Ph.D.,  now  being  published,  contains  most 
full  and  particular  accounts  of  tombs,  coffins,  graves,  etc.,  very  much  on  the 
lines  laid  down  in  the  above  article. 

TOPSYTURVYDOM.— It  is  the  unexpected  that  one 
must  expect,  especially  in  this  land  of  Topsy-turvydom. 
The  Chinese  are  not  only  at  our  antipodes  with  regard  to 
position  on  the  globe,  but  they  are  our  opposites  in  almost 
every  action  and  thought.  It  never  does  to  judge  how  a 
Chinese  would  act  under  certain  circumstances  from  what 

717 


Things  Chinese 

we  ourselves  would  do  if  placed  in  similar  conditions  :  the 
chances  are  that  he  would  do  the  very  actions  we  would 
never  think  of  performing ;  think  the  very  thoughts  that 
would  never  occur  to  us  ;  and  say  what  no  foreigner  would 
ever  think  of  uttering.  He  laughs  when  he  tells  you  his 
father  or  mother,  brother  or  sister,  is  dead  ;  a  bride  that  did 
not  wail  as  if  for  the  dead  would  be  a  fraud.  He  asks  you 
if  you  have  eaten  your  rice,  instead  of  saying  '  How  do  you 
do  ?  '  and  locates  his  intellect  in  his  stomach.  For  '  good- 
bye' he  says  'walk  slowly.'  Instead  of  telling  you  to  take 
heart  and  be  brave  when  any  danger  threatens,  he  tells  you 
to  lessen  your  heart  ;  he  makes  the  most  earnest  enquiries, 
not  only  as  to  your  health,  but  asks  your  age,  and 
compliments  you  if  you  are  old ;  he  wishes  to  know 
what  your  salary  or  income  is,  what  your  rent  is,  and 
numberless  other  polite  questions  which  we  think 
impertinent.  On  the  other  hand,  let  no  enquiry  cross  your 
lips  as  to  the  welfare  of  his  wife ;  nor  had  you  better  ask 
after  his  daughters — his  sons  he  will  be  glad  to  parade 
before  you  ;  but  do  not  compliment  him  on  the  chubby 
cheeks  and  healthy  looks  of  his  baby  boy,  as  any  accident 
or  disease  happening  to  the  youngster  will  be  laid  to  your 
account.  While  you  have  doffed  your  hat  on  entering  his 
house,  he  has  put  his  on  before  receiving  you.  He  shakes 
his  own  hands  instead  of  clasping  yours  ;  he  places  you  on 
his  left  as  the  seat  of  honour ;  and  if  he  hands  you  any- 
thing he  does  so  with  two  hands.  He,  perhaps,  shows  you 
with  pride  the  set  of  coffin  boards  which  his  dutiful  son  has 
presented  to  him. 

If  we  look  at  Chinese  books,  here  again  everything 
seems  different :  the  end  is  the  beginning  and  the 
beginning  is  the  end  ;  the  lines  of  printing  are  vertical  and 
not  horizontal,  as  with  us  ;  the  title  is  often  written  on  the 
outside  bottom  edges  of  the  books,  as  they  are  not  stood 
up  in  rows  in  book-cases,  but  laid  on  the  shelves  one  above 
the  other  ;  while  the  reader  puts  in  his  marker  at  the  bottom 
of  the  page  and  not  at  the  top  ;  footnotes  are  on  the  top 
margin  or  occur  in  the  body  of  the  text,  the  title  is  on  the 

718 


Topsyturvydom 

edge,  where  the  headings  of  the  pages  also  appear,  as  well 
as  their  numbers  ;  the  edges  are  uncut  and  are  intended  to 
remain  so,  as  the  paper  is  only  printed  on  one  side,  and 
the  interior  pages  are  blank.  Sometimes  two  books  are 
bound  in  one,  but  then  the  upper  half  of  the  page  is  taken 
up  with  one,  and  the  lower  half  with  the  other,  all  the  way 
through  the  book,  somewhat  like  the  French  feuilleton 
printed  at  the  bottom  of  the  newspaper  in  France.  It  is  in 
the  same  way  that  he  keeps  his  debit  and  credit  accounts 
in  his  office  or  shop  books,  one  on  the  upper  half  of  the 
page  and  the  other  on  the  lower. 

His  classical  works  of  poetry  of  ancient  times,  as  well  as 
of  the  great  T'ong  and  Sung  dynasties,  are  printed  like 
prose,  just  as  German  hymn-books  are. 

In  his  dictionaries  he  uses  no  alphabet,  but  laying  hold 
of  214  key  words,  he  arranges  his  tens  of  thousands  of 
words  under  these.  At  other  times  he  arranges  them  by 
the  termination  of  their  sounds,  so  that  ling,  ming,  ting, 
sing,  would  all  come  under  one  heading,  just  as  if  we  were 
to  class  all  our  words  ending  in  er  together  in  one  part  of 
our  dictionary,  like  a  rhyming  dictionary. 

In  the  matter  of  dress  we  come  again  across  curious 
examples  of  doing  things  in  a  different  way  from  ours. 
The  Chinese  official  rank  is  shown  by  different  coloured 
buttons  of  various  materials  stuck  on  the  top  of  the 
official  hat ;  the  mandarin's  clothes  are  embroidered  with 
animals  and  birds,  front  and  back,  for  the  same  reason,  and 
a  peacock's  and  other  feathers  show  his  honours — all  these 
instead  of  epaulettes,  gold-lace,  and  decorations — while  a 
string  of  beads  round  his  neck  completes  the  '  great  man's  ' 
effeminate  appearance.  The  wearing  of  bracelets  is  not 
confined  to  women,  men  often  have  expensive  jadestone 
ones  on.  Neither  men  nor  women  wear  gloves,  but  their 
sleeves  are  so  long,  falling  over  their  hands,  as  to  be  used 
as  muffs  in  cold  weather ;  these  capacious  sleeves  also 
serve  as  pockets. 

A  Chinaman  wears  his  hair  on  the  back  of  his  head  as 
long  as  a  woman's,  but  on  the  front  it  is  all  shaven  off.  By 

719 


Things  Chinese 

the  hair  on  his  face  you  may  approximately  judge  his  age  ; 
before  forty-five  or  thereabouts  he  is  clean  shaved,  after 
that  he  cultivates  his  moustache,  and  later  in  life  he  grows 
all  he  can,  which  is  not  much.  The  women,  as  well  as  the 
men,  wear  jackets  and  trousers,  and  the  men  long  robes. 
As  a  general  rule,  the  women  wear  socks,  and  the  men  often 
wear  stockings.  The  men  go  with  comparatively  thin  soles, 
and  the  large-footed  women  often  with  thick  ones.  Some 
of  our  ladies  are  foolish  enough  to  tight-lace  ;  the  Chinese 
ladies  bind  their  feet.  We  blacken  our  shoes  ;  the  Chinese 
whiten  the  sides  of  their  soles.  We  use  our  hands  to  play 
at  battledore  and  shuttlecock  ;  the  Chinese  have  no 
battledore  and  kick  the  shuttlecock  with  their  feet.  Boys 
fly  kites  with  us  ;  they  do  also  in  China,  but  the  finest 
kites  are  the  property  of  grown-up  men,  who  enjoy  the 
flying  of  them  as  much  as  boys,  if  not  more. 

Black  is  mourning  with  us  ;  white,  grey,  and  blue,  with 
the  Chinese,  and  the  shoes,  as  well  as  cap,  hair,  and  clothes, 
all  show  it.  Red  is  the  sign  of  rejoicing,  and  is  consequently 
used  at  marriages. 

Babies  are  habitually  carried  on  the  back,  nor  does  a 
gentleman  or  lady  hesitate  to  accept  a  similar  position 
when  being  landed  from  a  boat  through  the  mud.  Most 
of  the  small  boats  are  '  manned  '  by  woman.  Ladies  smoke 
as  well  as  gentlemen,  and  gentlemen  fan  themselves  as  well 
as  the  ladies. 

The  Chinese  compass  points  to  the  south,  not  to  the 
north,  as  with  us,  nor  do  they  say  north-west,  north-east, 
south-east,  and  south-west ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  west-north, 
east-north,  east-south,  and  west-south.  On  Chinese  boats 
the  cooking  is  done  at  the  stern  and  not  in  a  galley  forward. 
They  often  haul  their  boats  up  on  the  shore  stern  foremost ; 
their  oars,  instead  of  being  in  one  piece,  are  in  two,  joined 
in  the  middle,  a  short  end  piece  being  put  on  at  the  handle, 
and,  in  contravention  of  our  rules  of  rowing,  one  hand  often 
caps  it.  They,  as  often  as  not,  do  not  keep  stroke  in  rowing, 
but  each  one  pulls  his  own  time  ;  nor  does  a  Chinaman  ever 
think  of  walking  in  step,  they  follow  each  other,  one  after 

720 


Topsyturvydom 

the  other,  like  a  flock  of  geese.  The  stone  coolies,  carrying 
heavy  slabs  of  granite,  persistently  keep  out  of  step,  if  we 
may  be  allowed  the  Irishism. 

We  have  read  of  an  exhibition  in  Western  lands  where 
a  house  was  built  upside  down,  and  the  attic  built  on  the 
ground  and  the  cellar  up  in  the  air.  The  Chinaman, 
however,  does  not  do  this,  but  he  puts  his  ridge  pole 
up  first,  suspended  in  the  air  and  then  he  builds  his 
house  up  to  it. 

But  there  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  contrariety  of  the 
Chinaman.  He  turns  his  names  backforwards,  as  we  do  in 
our  directories  :  the  surnames  first  and  the  other  names 
afterwards;  and  in  the  same  way  he  transposes  (according 
to  our  ideas)  his  titles  of  respect  and  relationship ;  for 
instead  of  saying  His  Lordship  the  Chief  Justice,  the 
Chinese  he  uses,  if  literally  translated,  would  be  Chief 
Justice  His  Lordship,  Uncle  Sam  would  be  Sam  Uncle, 
and  Mr.  Brown  would  be  Brown  Mr.  There  is  one  occasion 
when  we  put  an  official's  titles  after  his  name,  and  that  is 
in  a  proclamation  issued  by  him ;  here  again  the  Chinese 
reverses  his  usual  method  and  put  all  the  titles  first,  and 
the  official's  name  last.  He  arranges  his  dates  just  the 
opposite  to  what  we  do  ours,  for  he  puts  the  year  first,  the 
month  next,  and  the  day  last.  He  sometimes  buys  a  little 
girl  and  brings  her  up  in  the  house  as  a  future  bride  for  his 
son,  who,  in  any  case,  has  not  the  trouble  of  searching  one 
out,  for  his  father  and  mother  will  do  that  for  him,  sometimes 
even  arranging  a  matrimonial  alliance  before  he  is  born,  on 
the  contingency  that  he  will  prove  to  be  a  boy  and  that  the 
other  family  will  chance  to  have  a  girl.  When  a  servant 
wishes  to  leave  your  employ,  instead  of  telling  you  so,  it 
often  happens  that  he  asks  leave  to  return  to  the  country, 
puts  in  a  substitute,  and  never  returns.  When  a  Chinese 
wishes  to  consult  you  about  any  matter  he  generally 
sends  a  friend,  and  either  does  not  come  at  all,  or  waits 
downstairs,  to  be  ready  if  it  is  imperatively  necessary  for 
him  to  appear ;  and  in  the  same  way  nearly  everything 
is  done  through  a  friend,  or  go-between,  or  middle-man. 

/21  2    Z 


Things  Chinese 

He  turns  his  fractions  upside  down  and,  instead  of 
saying  four-sixths,  says  sixths-four. 

Man  is  the  beast  of  burden  in  a  great  part  of  China, 
and  not  only  does  he  carry  his  fellow-man,  but  pigs  are  even 
carried  by  the  coolies. 

The  blade  of  the  saw  is  set  at  right  angles  to  the  frame, 
and  the  Chinese  carpenter  sits  to  his  work,  using  his  feet  to 
hold  the  wood  firm ;  he  sticks  his  footrule  in  his  stocking 
or  down  his  back. 

'  As  regards  their  order  of  nobility,  the  Chinese  offer 
another  instance  of  their  contrariness  ;  not  only  ...  do 
a  son's  deeds  ennoble  his  ancestors,  but  heredity  is  the 
exception,  and  extinction  the  rule.' 

TORTURE. — Torture  is  divided  in  China  into  two 
classes :  legal  and  illegal ;  what  is  permitted,  and  what  is 
supposed  not  to  be  allowed. 

'The  clauses  under  Section  i  of  the  Code  describe  the  legal 
instruments  of  torture  ;  they  consist  of  three  boards  with  proper 
grooves  for  compressing  the  ankles,  and  five  round  sticks  for  squeezing 
the  fingers,  to  which  may  be  added  the  bamboo  ;  besides  these,  no 
instruments  of  torture  are  legally  allowed,  though  other  ways  of  putting 
the  question  are  so  common  as  to  give  the  impression  that  some  of 
them  at  least  are  sanctioned.  Pulling  or  twisting  the  ears  with 
roughened  fingers,  and  keeping  them  in  a  bent  position  while  making 
the  prisoner  kneel  on  chains,  or  making  him  kneel  for  a  long  time,  are 
among  the  illegal  modes.  Striking  the  lips  with  sticks  until  they  are 
nearly  jellied,  putting  the  hands  in  stocks  before  or  behind  the  back, 
wrapping  the  fingers  in  oiled  cloth  to  burn  them,  suspending  the 
body  by  the  thumbs  and  fingers,  tying  the  hands  to  a  bar  under  the 
knees,  so  as  to  bend  the  body  double,  and  chaining  by  the  neck 
close  to  a  stone,  are  resorted  to  when  the  prisoner  is  contumacious. 
One  magistrate  is  accused  of  having  fastened  up  two  criminals  to 
boards  by  nails  driven  through  their  palms  ;  one  of  them  tore  his 
hands  loose  and  was  nailed  up  again,  which  caused  his  death  ;  using 
beds  of  iron,  boiling  water,  red-hot  spikes,  and  cutting  the  tendon 
Achilles  are  also  charged  against  him,  but  the  Emperor  exonerated 
him  on  account  of  the  atrocious  character  of  the  criminals.  Compel- 
ling them  to  kneel  upon  pounded  glass,  sand,  and  salt  mixed  together, 
until  the  knees  become  excoriated,  or  simply  kneeling  upon  chains  is 
a  lighter  mode  of  the  same  infliction.  .  .  .  Flogging  is  one  of  the  five 
authorised  punishments,  but  it  is  used  more  than  any  other  means  to 
elicit  confession  ;  the  bamboo,  rattan,  cudgel,  and  whip  are  all 
employed.  When  death  ensues,  the  magistrate  reports  that  the  criminal 
died  of  sickness,  or  hushes  it  up  by  bribing  his  friends,  few  of  whom 
are  ever  allowed  access  within  the  walls  of  the  prison  to  see  and 

722 


Trade 

comfort  the  sufferers.  From  the  manner  in  which  such  a  result  is 
spoken  of  it  may  be  inferred  that  immediate  death  does  not  often 
take  place  from  torture.' 

It  is  not  only  the  prisoner  who  is  tortured ;  but  the 
witnesses  are  also  liable  to  be  so  treated  ;  the  prisoner  to 
make  him  confess,  without  which  he  cannot  be  punished ; 
the  witnesses  to  make  them  divulge  what  they  are  supposed 
to  know,  and  are  holding  back.  The  fear  that  the  lower 
officials  are  in  of  being  reported  by  their  superiors  acts  as 
a  deterrent  in  some  cases ;  but,  notwithstanding  this  check, 
there  must  be  an  immense  amount  of  torture  inflicted  on 
poor  humanity  in  China,  when  once  within  the  clutches  of 
the  law.  No  wonder  the  Chinese  dread  the  law  and  its 
minions  :  they  have  reason  to  do  so.  The  mere  incarcera- 
tion in  the  loathsome  cells  attached  to  the  yamens  is 
torture  itself;  and  how  much  more  this  is  aggravated  by 
the  racks  and  bambooings  and  hangings  up  by  thumbs 
and  big  toes  can  be  better  imagined  than  described. 

Books  recommended. — Williains's  'Middle  Kingdom,'  vol  i.  pp.   507-508. 
Gray's  '  China,'  vol.  i.  pp.  32-38. 

TRADE. — The  Chinese  are  pre-eminently  a  trading 
race;  'their  merchants  are  acute,  methodical,  sagacious, 
and  enterprising,  not  over-scrupulous  as  to  their  mercan- 
tile honesty  in  small  transactions,  but  in  large  dealings 
exhibiting  that  regard  for  character  in  the  fulfilment  of 
their  obligations  which  extensive  commercial  engage- 
ments usually  produce.' 

In  dealing  with  the  trade  of  China,  it  may  conveniently 
be  divided  into  internal,  or  domestic,  and  foreign.  Trade 
may  be  compared  to  the  breath  of  prosperity.  A  nation 
that  has  little  trade  is  in  a  backward  state  of  development, 
and  those  nations  which  place  less  restrictions  on  the  inter- 
change of  commodities,  occupy  a  foremost  place  in  the 
world's  march  of  progress. 

The  volume  of  the  internal  trade  of  China  must  be 
something  enormous.  When  one  travels  into  the  interior, 
especially  in  the  vicinity  of  some  large  distributing  centre 

723 


Things  Chinese 

like  Canton,  one  is  surprised  at  the  constant  succession  of 
craft,  sailing  swiftly  to  remote  towns  and  villages,  laden 
with  goods  for  local  consumption.  The  natural  facilities 
in  the  way  of  broad  rivers  have  been  fully  availed  of  and 
added  to  by  numerous  canals,  while  footpaths  connect  all 
the  inland  towns  and  villages,  and  are  traversed  by  carriers 
bearing  loads  of  merchandise  slung  to  poles  thrown  across 
their  shoulders.  In  the  North  of  China  animals  are  used 
as  beasts  of  burden,  but,  in  the  South,  man  fulfils  that 
function. 

Nor  has  the  trade  of  China  been  simply  a  modern 
affair.  From  remote  antiquity  the  Chinese  have  been  true 
to  their  commercial  instincts,  and  have  not  only  been  the 
civilisers  of  Eastern  Asia,  supplying  them  with  their  letters 
and  literature ;  but  they  have  also  provided  for  their 
more  material  wants,  and  received  in  exchange  the  com- 
modities which  they  required  from  the  neighbouring  nations. 
Nor  did  their  trading  voyages  go  no  further  than  to  their 
immediate  neighbours;  as  they  extended  to  India  and 
even  beyond.  (See  Article  on  Chinese  Abroad.)  This 
trade  with  foreign  lands  was  continued  through  successive 
dynasties,  and  to  it  has  been  added,  during  the  last  two 
or  three  centuries,  the  maritime  trade  with  European 
countries,  which  has  risen  from  small  beginnings,  till  it  has 
now  attained  vast  proportions.  A  most  interesting  chapter 
in  the  world's  history  will  be  revealed  when  future  investiga- 
tions have  added  sufficient  to  the  material,  already  gathered 
and  published  by  patient  scholars,  to  form  a  comprehensive 
survey  of  the  commercial  relations  of  this  vast  country,  not 
only  with  her  immediate  neighbours,  but  with  distant 
countries  in  Asia,  and  even  with  the  Roman  empire,  while 
its  more  modern  developments  with  Europe  and  America 
will  not  be  found  devoid  of  interest. 

The  Foreign  Trade  of  China  '  has  been  gradually  growing  since 
the  days,  when,  in  the  forties,  a  few  ships  made  one  voyage  each  year 
to  China  in  order  to  barter  their  cargoes,  and  has  now  become 
positively  enormous.  Moreover,  it  involves  so  many  interests,  and 
touches  so  many  people,  that  those  who  have  not  studied  the  matter 
can  form '  no  idea  of  its  varied  character  and  great  vastness. 

724 


Trade 

When  thus  '  refreshing  our  memories,  and  informing  our  minds, 
of  the  tremendous  volume  of  trade  done  with  China  by  foreign 
countries,  of  which  Great  Britain  is  responsible  for  consider- 
ably more  than  one-half,  we  are,  after  all,  only  looking  at  the 
branches  of  the  tree,  with  its  rich  foliage  of  leaves  and  burden  of 
fruit.  We  have  not  yet  looked,  so  to  speak,  at  the  soil  and  the  roots 
which  have  produced  the  tree.  Yet  these  must  not  be  forgotten.  In 
other  words,  we  must  not  overlook  the  sources  whence  this  enormous 
mass  of  cargo  comes.  We  must  look  upon  the  almost  countless 
number  of  human  beings  who  are  employed  in  the  production  thereof. 
Without  noticing,  for  the  moment,  the  destination  of  the  exports, 
though  this  is  really  as  important  as  the  other,  let  us  call  to  mind  the 
many  sources  whence  China's  imports  come.  We  shall  only  refer  to 
a  few  specimens,  but  by  so  doing,  when  we  multiply  the  number  by 
ten,  we  shall  see  how  many  people  are  involved  in  the  China  trade 
and  how  important  it  is  that  in  the  arrangements  about  to  be  made, 
not  only  should  every  care  be  taken  to  protect  it,  but  every  facility  be 
insisted  on  for  its  further  development.  The  thousands  of  lamps,  of 
which  China  now  uses  so  many,  are  made  in  America,  whilst  most  of 
the  lamp  glasses  are  made  in  Germany.  Shirtings,  calicoes  and 
woollens  are  made  in  England,  whilst  cotton  yarns  come  from 
India.  Kerosene  comes  from  America,  Dutch  East  Indies,  and  Russia. 
In  these  two  or  three  brief  references  almost  all  the  civilised  world  is 
involved.  Moreover,  the  different  classes  of  persons,  whose  living, 
more  or  less,  depends  on  China  trade,  will  appear  evident,  when  we 
recall  the  fact  that  during  1899  no  less  than  2,566  musical  boxes  were 
imported  into  Shanghai  alone.  Indeed,  the  Customs  report  will  show 
that  the  number  and  different  classes  of  workers  interested  in  the 
making  and  the  receiving  of  goods  from  China,  were  almost  un- 
countable. 

'  Much  might  be  added,  pointing  out  the  possibility  of  gradually 
introducing  new  industries  into  China,  which  in  course  of  time  would 
benefit  all  parties.  We  need  only  point  to  the  large  area  of  practically 
valueless  land  in  the  North  of  Kwangtung  province.  Huge  flocks  of 
sheep  could,  without  doubt,  be  reared  thereon,  which  would  supply 
the  people  with  much  acceptable  food  and  necessary  clothing.' 

Doubtless,  in  years  to  come,  this  or  similar  projects 
will  be  tried. 

There  was  a  great  expansion  in  the  Foreign  Trade 
of  China  in  1899  and  the  first  half  of  1900,  but  the 
Boxer  disturbances  and  the  resultant  hostilities  with  the 
Foreign  Powers  acted  not  only  as  an  estoppel  on  all  trade 
at  the  two  Northern  Ports  but  affected,  more  or  less 
seriously,  other  of  the  Treaty  Ports,  as  well  ;  but  the 
recuperative  energy  of  the  Foreign  Trade  of  China  is 
great,  and  the  unrest  and  uncertainty,  incident  to  the 
war  in  the  North,  over  its  vitality  was  quickly  shown. 

With  the  end  of  1900  another  decade  in  the  modern 

725 


Things  Chinese 

compilation  of  statistics  under  the  cognisance  of  the 
Imperial  Maritime  Customs  is  available,  and  the  following 
points  are  worthy  of  attention. 

The  importation  of  cotton  piece  goods  has  remained 
practically  stationary,  though  some  items  shown  total  up 
a  smaller  figure  than  before,  and  others  have  advanced. 
The  advance  of  American  Trade  is  evinced  in  drills, 
jeans,  shirtings  and  cotton,  flannel  and  lastings  ;  the 
class  of  English  goods  of  this  nature  generally  have 
shown  no  advance.  Japanese  cotton  goods  are  in 
favour,  Indian  and  Japanese  yarns  have  made  rapid 
headway.  Woollen  goods  and  metals  are  stationary, 
candles,  cement,  clocks  and  watches,  aniline  dyes,  window- 
glass,  paints,  and  perfumery  are  rising  in  demand,  by 
gradual  steps.  Flour,  kerosene,  matches,  and  soap  arrive 
in  much  larger  quantities  every  year. 

A  great  advance  in  Trade  is  predicted  with  the  advent 
of  railways,  for  the  few  miles  already  constructed  are  almost 
a  negligible  factor  at  present.  Not  only  will  this  future 
development  from  railways  afford  a  better  means  of  com- 
munication and  bring  distant  parts  of  the  country  within 
easy  reach  of  the  ports  where  cargo  is  landed  from  foreign 
parts,  and  which  are  now  almost  inaccessible  to  goods 
on  account  of  the  difficulty  and  cost  of  transit  and  the 
dangers  from  robbers  and  pirates  in  transitu,  but  the  capital 
employed  for  their  construction  will  afford  the  means  to 
purchase  the  foreign  goods  ardently  desired  by  the  native. 

In  1890  the  Foreign  Goods  imported  into  China 
were  valued  at  Hk.  Tls.  134,640,288  (£34,922,320).  In 
1900  they  were  223,791,888  (£34,734,365).  They  rose  to 
280,907,296  (£42,282,402)  in  1899. 

As  to  exports,  nearly  every  year  shows  a  large  increase 
in  nearly  every  article.  Bristles,  fans,  feathers,  hemp, 
hides,  mats  and  matting,  oils,  rhubarb,  sesamum  seed,  skins, 
tobacco,  and  wool,  all  are  increasing  in  the  quantity  sent 
out  of  the  country.  Silk,  excepting  steam-filature  silk,  is 
not  doing  well,  the  disease  amongst  the  worms  being 
against  it. 

726 


Trade 

Black  tea  is  in  a  bad  way,  green  tea  holds  its  own,  and 
brick  is  doing  better  than  it  did.  The  statistics  published 
by  the  I.M.  Customs  do  not,  however,  include  the  consider- 
able trade  across  the  Russian  frontier,  and  they  take  DO 
cognisance  of  the  trade  with  Tibet.  The  Export  Trade 
was  valued  at  Hk.  Tls.  100,947,849  (^24,816,346)  in  1891 
and  in  1900  it  was  158,996,752  (.£24,677,621). 

The  record  of  the  Trade  for  1901  is  a  very  good  one 
indeed,  the  total  revenue  being  Hk.  Tls.  25,537,574,  the 
only  year  previously  exceeding  it  being  1899,  with 
26,661,460.  The  Statistical  Secretary  writes:— 

'  It  was  to  be  expected  that  the  figures  would  compare  favourably 
with  those  for  1900,  but  even  when  compared  with  1899  we  find  in- 
creases under  Import  Duties,  Coast  Trade  Duty,  Tonnage  Dues, 
and  Transit  Dues.  There  was  a  falling  off  in  Export  Duty  and  in 
Opium  Duty  and  Likin  ;  the  former  is  of  no  significance,  as  it  was 
due  to  exceptional  circumstances.  .  .  .  From  the  nth  November  the 
Import  Duties  were  under  the  provisions  of  the  Peace  Protocol, 
calculated  on  an  effective  5  per  cent,  basis,  but  there  was  no  time 
for  the  adjustment  to  add  much  to  the  year's  collection.  With  the 
additional  Import  Duties,  and  the  opening  up  of  so  much  country 
by  railways,  it  seems  not  unreasonable  to  hope  that  the  collection 
during  1902  may  not  fall  far  short  of  thirty  millions  of  taels. 

'In  spite  of  the  adverse  circumstances  alluded  to  above,  the  year 
was  a  good  one  for  Foreign  Trade,  especially  as  regards  Imports, 
and  the  total  estimated  value  of  Imports  and  Exports  was  Hk.  Tls. 
437,959,675,  higher  than  any  other  year  except  1899.  The  northern 
ports  showed  a  satisfactory  recovery,  although  Tientsin  did  not 
altogether  regain  its  former  position.  There  was  no  rush  of  Imports 
to  escape  the  increased  Duty,  except  at  one  or  two  of  the  southern 
ports,  and  the  trade  was  thoroughly  healthy.  The  future  depends 
very  much  on  an  increase  in  the  trade  and  the  course  of  exchange. 
Heavy  taxation  to  pay  indemnities  will  to  that  extent  diminish  the 
purchasing  power  of  the  people,  and  unless  Exports  are  stimulated, 
silver  must  be  exported  or  Imports  must  decline.  .  .  .  The  value  of 
Imports  exceeded  the  value  of  Exports  by  Hk.  Tls.  49,916,706  and 
for  first  time  for  many  years,  there  was  a  net  export  of  silver  to  the 
value  of  Hk.  Tls.  6,097,802.  The  explanation  why  more  silver  was 
not  exported  to  pay  for  the  difference  between  Imports  and  Exports 
is  that  an  unusually  large  proportion  of  Imports  came  in  during  the 
last  three  months  and  were  not  paid  for  when  the  year  closed,  and 
also  that  China  never  has  to  pay  for  part  of  the  goods  received.  Re- 
mittances from  Chinese  emigrants  abroad,  contributions  to  missionary 
societies,  expenditure  on  Foreign  troops  and  officials,  expenses  of 
exploitation  by  sundry  syndicates,  and  of  railway  construction  with 
Foreign  capital,  as  well  as  value  in  China's  favour  of  the  frontier 
trade  across  the  Russian  border  and  into  Thibet,  would  probably  be 
found  to  cover  the  difference  as  well  as  providing  for  other  obligations. 

727 


Things  Chinese 

The  net  value  of  gold  exported  amounting  to  Hk.  Tls.  6,635,313,  must 
also  be  taken  into  consideration.  The  principal  fact  to  bear  in  mind, 
however,  would  seem  to  be  that  the  Chinese,  in  spite  of  their  difficul- 
ties, were  able  to  spend  twice  as  much  silver  on  Foreign  goods  as  they 
did  in  1891.' 

As  to  foreign  shipping  entering  Chinese  ports,  the 
British,  notwithstanding  the  keen  competition  of  the 
Germans,  still  hold  a  preponderating  enormous  advantage 
both  as  regards  entries  and  tonnage,  and  have  largely 
increased  during  the  decade. 

As  far  as  entries  into  port  are  concerned,  the  British 
shipping  in  1890  figured  to  the  extent  of  1,836  in  1890, 
and  in  1900  the  numbers  were  3,335.  The  tonnage  was 
2,031,608  and  3,239,924,  for  the  two  periods  respectively. 
The  German  entries  were  in  1890,  393,  in  1900,  433  ; 
tonnage,  262,480  in  1890,  and  637,653  in  1900.  It  will 
be  seen  from  these  figures  how  rapidly  the  Germans  have 
advanced  in  these  respects.  The  next  after  Germans 
come  the  Chinese,  who,  though  making  an  immense 
number  more  of  entries,  have  not  proportionately  increased 
the  tonnage — entries  in  1890,  382,  in  1900,  1,485  ;  tonnage 
in  1890,  205,667,  in  1900,  223,255. 

The  Japanese  come  fourth,  with  also  a  very  large 
advance  in  the  decennial  period,  viz.,  1890,  entries  267,  in 
1900,  751;  tonnage  in  1890,  219,263;  in  1900,  774,481. 
With  the  coastwise  trade  in  foreign  bottoms,  the  British 
again  lead  well,  the  figures  in  1890  being  for  entries  6,632, 
and  in  1900,  8,080;  and  for  tonnage,  6,025,347  in  1890, 
and  8,303,336  in  1900.  In  entries  in  the  same  trade  the 
Germans  are  again  rapidly  pulling  up,  as  in  1890  they  were 
677,  and  in  1900,  1,334,  while  the  tonnage  in  1890  was 
410,940  and  in  1900,  1,381,467.  The  Chinese  have  also 
made  15,331  entries  in  1900,  as  against  4,689  in  1890;  and 
the  tonnage  in  1900  was  3,674,917,  as  against  2,944,033  in 
1890.  The  Japanese  increase  in  this  branch  of  the  carry- 
ing trade  is  very  large;  for  whereas  in  1890  there  were 
only  46  entries  put  down  to  their  credit,  they  had  increased 
to  the  comparatively  enormous  number  of  1,712  ;  and  the 
tonnage,  of  course,  also  shows  a  large  increase,  for  in 

728 


Trade 

1890  it  was  33,225  and  in  1900,  1,165,879.  The  total 
tonnage  employed  in  the  foreign  trade,  entries  and 
clearances,  was  48,416,000  tons,  Great  Britain  contributing 
54  per  cent,  Germany  16,  China  13,  Japan  11,  America  2, 
Russia  i,  and  all  other  countries  I  per  cent. 

'  The  increase  under  the  German  flag,  as  well  as  that  to 
be  noted  in  the  case  of  the  British  and  American,  is  further 
accounted  for  by  the  disappearance  in  June  ...  of  the 
Chinese  ensign  from  all  steamers  on  the  coast.'  This  was 
on  account  of  the  war. 

The  French  also  have  shared  in  a  large  increase  in  both 
the  foreign  carrying  trade  and  the  coastwise  carrying  trade. 
Foreign  trade  entries  for  1890,  were  63,  ten  years  after,  376  ; 
tonnage  1 14,479  at  the  beginning  of  the  decade  and  at 
the  end  280,539.  In  the  coastwise  trade  the  figures  are 
24  and  1 15,  and  4,500  and  50,923  respectively. 

The  Danish  and  Spanish  ships  would  appear  from  the 
statistics  to  be  either  run  off  the  China  coast  with  competi- 
tion, or  nearly  so  ;  for  though  there  is  a  slight  rise  in  the 
tonnage  trade  as  regards  the  Danish,  yet  the  other  figures 
all  show  a  large  fall ;  the  Spanish  have  none  of  the  foreign 
carrying  trade  in  1900,  as  against  14  entries  in  1890, 
though  on  the  other  hand  they  have  6  entries  and  269  tons 
in  1900,  as  against  none  in  1890. 

All  the  other  figures  pertaining  to  other  nationalities 
show  an  increase  in  the  ten  years,  the  totals  for  all 
nations  in  1890  being  entries  under  the  heading  of  Foreign 
Trade  3,114;  in  1900,  6,948;  tonnage  2,944,092  and 
5,539,404,  while  in  the  Coastwise  Trade  the  figures  are — 
entries  12,243  in  1890,  and  in  1900,  27,431;  the  tonnage 
in  1890  being  9,490,316  and  in  1900,  14,850,166. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  take  the  Treaty  Ports 
seriatim,  making  a  few  remarks  on  the  trade  of  each  in 
1900,  commencing  with  Newchwang,  the  most  northerly. 

The  year  started  with  brilliant  prospects.  '  Wonder- 
ful as  had  been  the  progress  during  the  preceding  year, 
there  was  every  indication  that  it  was  to  be  exceeded,' 
both  exports  and  imports  arriving  and  departing  in  large 

729 


Things  Chinese 

quantities.  Over  2,000,000  piculs  of  bean  cake  were 
exported,  and  melon  seeds  and  medicines  were  in  excess 
of  previous  years ;  the  season  was  favourable,  bubonic 
plague  was  absent ;  but  suddenly  the  Boxer  troubles 
arose,  and  trade  virtually  stopped. 

Chefoo  is  again  another  port  which  the  Boxer  troubles 
affected  seriously.  Chinese  merchants  and  labourers  left 
the  port,  the  Boxers  threatening  to  kill  all  connected  with 
Foreigners,  and  a  Coolie  riot  occurred,  fortunately  quelled 
before  ill  results  ensued.  '  Inland  waters  steam  traffic  has 
doubled,'  and  '  silk  filatures  are  increasing  in  number.' 
What  Chefoo  requires  is  a  railway  to  connect  it  with  the 
capital  of  the  province. 

At  Kiaochow,  the  German  port,  the  unsettled  state  of 
the  country,  due  to  rumours  of  war  from  the  North,  was 
a  disturbing  element  and  prevented  the  possibility  of  a 
bumper  year  being  reported.  But  on  the  resumption  of 
trade  there  was  a  sharp  demand  for  cottons,  yarn,  and 
kerosene,  while  a  new  line  was  opened  in  exports  in  straw 
braid  at  the  expense  of  Chefoo.  A  famine  season  affected 
the  supply  of  salted  pigs,  as  the  peasants  not  having 
sufficient  for  themselves  were  not  able  to  rear  their  pigs. 

Chungking,  in  the  heart  of  the  Szchuan  Province,  was 
seriously  affected  by  the  war  in  the  North,  and  business 
went  to  the  dogs. 

Ichang  did  better,  all  things  considered,  while  Shashi's 
trade  was  almost  double  of  any  year,  due  to  the  drought 
and  shipping  facilities  offered,  when  native  boats  were  not 
available  for  the  traffic. 

Yochow's  first  year  of  being  open  to  foreign  trade  is  not 
an  encouraging  one.  Its  selection  as  a  Treaty  Port  appears 
an  unfortunate  one,  for  one  thing,  and  the  hampering 
restrictions  of  the  Inland  Waters  Rules  are  another 
factor  telling  against  it.  In  Hankow  again,  the  unpre- 
cedented prosperity  with  which  the  year  commenced 
in  all  branches  of  trade  was  checked  by  the  Boxer 
war,  and  almost  paralysed.  Some  70,000  piculs  of 
antimony  were  exported  to  Europe.  Only  a  third  of 

730 


Trade 

the    brick    tea   sent    to    Kalgan    reached    its    destination, 
and  no  trace  of  it  is  discoverable. 

In  Kewkiang  the  same  old  story  is  told  of  the  disastrous 
consequences  resulting  from  the  war  in  the  North — '  a  con- 
siderable falling-off  as  compared  with  the  splendid  figures 
of  the  two  preceding  years.  A  few  items  are  reported  as 
showing  an  increase,'  notably  beans  and  peas,  which  show 
an  extraordinary  advance  of  108,669  piculs,  due  to  the 
stoppage  of  trade  at  Newchwang,  and  the  consequent 
enhanced  demand  in  the  southern  ports. 

Almost  a  standstill  of  trade,  owing  to  the  troubles  in 
the  North,  in -the  summer  in  Wuhu  ;  the  revenue  from  this 
port  would  have  been  as  great  if  not  greater  than  in  1899, 
but  for  the  above  cause. 

1900  was  the  first  complete  year  of  Nanking  as  a 
Treaty  Port.  There  was  a  panic  amongst  the  merchants, 
owing  to  the  same  causes  that  affected  the  trade  at  the 
other  Treaty  Ports.  There  was  consequently  '  an  utter 
stagnation  throughout  all  branches  of  the  silk  industry. 
77  per  cent,  of  the  Exports  here  are  silk  products  of  one 
sort  or  another.' 

In  Chinkiang  the  loss  was  2\  million  taels  for  the  year 
1900,  as  compared  with  1899;  but  this  port  did  not  suffer 
as  much  as  might  have  been  expected.  Strange  to  say, 
the  Mexican  dollar  appreciated  in  value,  as  every  one 
wished  to  realise  owing  to  the  general  uneasiness  dis- 
organising trade,  and  the  native  banks  would  not  part 
with  their  money.  1901,  however,  showed  a  reassuring 
buoyancy  in  trade. 

In  Shanghai,  on  the  whole,  the  storm  was  weathered  re- 
markably well,  all  things  considered,  merchants  and  traders 
adapting  themselves  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  the 
case.  Cotton  mills  did  badly,  having  abnormally  adverse 
circumstances  to  contend  with.  Were  '  lighter  taxation 
afforded,  these  Chinese  mills  could  easily  compete  with 
their  Indian  and  Japanese  rivals.'  The  Commissioner 
of  Customs  in  his  report  calls  attention  to  a  circumstance 
which  shows  what  a  necessity  kerosene  has  become  to  the 

731 


Things  Chinese 

Chinese  ;  for,  '  notwithstanding  the  loss  of  the  northern 
trade  [due  to  the  war],  deliveries  were  only  about  10  per 
cent,  short  of  those  of  1899.'  The  Russian  product 
maintains  its  popularity ;  American  oil  dropped  from 
26,438,138  to  19  million  odd  gallons,  while  the  Sumatra 
article  showed  an  increase  of  a  million  odd  gallons. 
Kerosene  is  such  a  bright  light  compared  with  pea-nut 
oil  and  the  tiny  wick  formerly  used  so  largely.  Notwith- 
standing the  general  business  integrity  of  the  Chinese 
mercantile  class,  which  compares  favourably  with  that  of 
the  Japanese,  the  Chinese  trader  is  not  above  resorting  at 
times,  like  his  Western  contemporary  in  Europe,  to  tricks 
of  trade.  The  practice  of  putting  inferior  quality  of  goods 
in  the  middle  of  straw  bundles,  tends  to  drive  this  branch 
of  trade  to  Japan,  where  the  Japanese  turn  out,  it  appears, 
a  reliable  article.  What  a  disquieting  effect  the  war  caused, 
may  be  gathered  from  the  wholesale  departure  of  natives 
from  this  large  Treaty  Port ;  for,  though  far  distant  from 
the  seat  of  operations,  '  it  is  estimated  that  something  like 
80,000  persons  left  the  port.'  In  1901  the  trade  improved 
by  20  per  cent. 

An  upheaval  of  business  and  a  panic  is  reported  from 
Soochow,  while  Ningpo  reports  a  certain  depression  in 
trade,  and  Hangchow,  that  the  trade  suffered,  though  the 
Customs  Revenue  only  declined  10  per  cent.,  and  in 
Wenchow  the  trade  '  was  influenced  to  a  great  extent 
by  the  troubles  in  the  north  of  China  ' ;  '  from  July  onwards, 
there  was  very  little  demand  for  the  principal  Exports.' 

In  Santuao,  the  year  was  'an  uneventful  one,  from  a 
commercial  point  of  view.' 

In  Foochow  the  year  1900  was  a  disastrous  one,  the 
outbreak  in  the  North  being  one  of  the  factors,  and  a 
flood  which  paralysed  trade  another.  The  Swedish  matches, 
which  poured  into  China  a  few  years  ago,  gave  way  to  the 
Japanese  article,  and  the  latest  development  in  Foochow  and 
other  parts  of  China  has  been  the  ousting  of  the  last  by  the 
native  manufacture.  '  The  great  increase  in  the  production 
of  both  Indian  and  Ceylon  Tea  has  seriously  interfered  with 

732 


Trade 

the  China  Tea  Trade.'  In  the  season  1899-1900,  Foochow 
exported  16  million  Ibs.  odd  of  tea  to  Europe,  and  6  million 
odd  to  the  Colonies.  In  the  next  season  this  small  amount 
had  still  fallen  to  1 1  million  odd  and  6  million  odd.  Shang- 
hai and  Hankow  sent  in  1900-1901,  14  million  Ibs.  odd  of 
tea,  a  falling-off  of  well  on  for  i£  millions  on  the  previous 
year.  Canton  and  Macao  in  1900-1901,  sent  3,818,000,  a 
falling-off  of  more  than  2  million  Ibs.  on  1899.  There  was 
a  total  of  52,486,000  Ibs.  for  the  season  1900-01  from 
Shanghai,  Foochow,  and  Amoy  (Formosan  Tea)  to  Canada 
and  America,  being  an  increase  of  7,495,000  Ibs.  Such 
enormous  quantities  of  tea  were  in  stock  in  London, 
Hamburg,  Melbourne,  and  Sydney,  the  chief  distributing 
markets,  that  the  lowest  prices  for  tea  ever  known  were 
reached.  In  Australia,  tea  selling  in  China  at  /d.  a  Ib. 
was  sold  for  5^d.  to  5id.  a  Ib.  Something  similar  happened 
in  America,  but  from  a  different  cause,  as  the  following 
extract  from  the  Customs  Report  will  show : — 

'  From  China  last  season  there  was  an  increase  of  5,381,000  Ibs.  to 
America,  brought  about  by  international  complications.  American 
importers  were  under  the  impression  that  the  unrest  prevailing  would 
stop  the  Tea  trade,  so  they  made  haste  to  buy  all  they  could  in 
advance.  The  result  is  that  the  market  is  now  overstocked,  and  that 
great  losses  have  resulted  in  consequence.  New  York  circulars  quote 
Congou  at  yf  cents,  per  Ib.,  which  costs  9  to  10  cents,  out  here.' 

Locally-grown  opium  has  increased  enormously  : — 

'As  the  Native  looks  to  the  profit  to  be  reaped  from  his  land,  he, 
in  many  cases,  turns  to  the  poppy,  which  yields  him  300  or  400  per 
cent,  more  than  wheat  would.  The  cheapness  of  the  Native  drug,  as 
compared  with  the  Foreign,  commends  its  use  to  the  Native,  who 
either  uses  it  pure  or  mixed  with  the  Foreign  drug.' 

In  1901  the  Foochow  Customs  Revenue  was  the 
smallest  for  ten  years. 

In  Amoy  the  trade  in  1900  'was  unremunerative  and 
unsatisfactory  all  round.'  The  kerosene  oil  trade  con- 
tinued to  expand.  For  the  first  time  since  Amoy  has  been 
a  Treaty  Port,  nearly  sixty  years,  '  no  Amoy-grown  Tea  was 
purchased  by  foreign  buyers  for  the  home  markets,  and 
thus  an  important  commodity,  the  export  of  which  25 

733 


Things  Chinese 

years  ago,  amounted  to  upwards  of  9  million  pounds, 
finally  disappears.'  The  Reports  call  attention  to  the 
continuous  demand  for  morphia,  which  has  increased 
thirty-five  times  what  it  was  ten  years  ago,  reaching  for 
the  year  1900  the  total  of  16,776  ounces.  The  native- 
grown  opium  is  also  increasing  in  quantity,  the  local 
production  being  estimated  at  8000  piculs,  being  over  30 
per  cent,  more  than  in  the  previous  year.  Both  cultivation 
of  the  poppy  and  the  yield  of  opium  are  on  the  increase 
rapidly,  and  there  appears  to  be  very  little  doubt  will 
continue  to  increase  in  the  future,  and  before  long  it  is 
expected  that  the  province  of  Fukien  will  be  independent 
of  all  other  sources  for  opium.  It  may  be  here  remarked 
that  the  people  of  Amoy  are  great  opium  smokers. 
Besides  the  8000  piculs  already  mentioned,  about  4000 
piculs  was  brought  by  land  from  Szchuan,  and  241  by 
steamer,  1250  piculs  from  Yunnan,  and  some  further 
amount  by  junk  from  Wenchow.  In  1901  the  Revenue 
showed  a  slight  improvement. 

In  Swatow,  strange  to  say,  the  year's  figures  compare 
satisfactorily  with  those  of  the  year  before,  for  not  only  was 
there  the  war  in  the  North,  but  an  incipient  rebellion  in  the 
South.  With  all  this  the  Customs  Revenue  suffered  only 
a  fall  of  rather  less  than  10  per  cent.  The  Commissioner 
makes  the  following  remarks  : — 

'  Woollen  goods  nowhere  appeal  to  the  Chinese.  .  .  .  Nor  do  the 
people  seem  to  need  metals,  three-quarters  of  a  million  taels  only  being 
paid  for  them.  Old  iron  (i.e.,  worn-out  cart-tires,  horse-shoes,  and 
such  things)  supplies  the  small  needs  of  local  blacksmiths.  Tin  is 
used  in  making  the  well-known  Swatow  pewterware.'  '  Though 
[American  flour  is]  nearly  10  per  cent,  dearer  than  the  native  product, 
it  is  preferred,  as  superior  in  colour  and  fineness  and  for  its  freedom 
from  grit.'  'The  export  of  fresh  eggs  grows  steadily,  and  the  value  for 
1900  reached  Hk.  Tls.  128,000,  representing  18  million  eggs.' 

The  trade  improved  in  1901. 

At  Wuchow  '  a  wave  of  restlessness,  succeeded  by  nervousness, 
swept  along  trade  routes  from  Wuchow  north  to  the  capital,  and 
west  to  Nanning.  Trade  was  affected  between  June  and  September, 
particularly  in  July  and  August,  when  business  was  almost  at  a  stand- 
still.' '  The  check  in  the  Kerosene  Oil  business  is  reported  to  be  due 
to  the  wide  distribution  of  an  anti-Foreign  placard  which  appeared 

734 


Trade 

in  July.  This  placard  deprecated  the  use  of  [Kerosene]  Oil  as  being 
made  from  human  bone  ashes,  and  harmful  to  the  eyes.  The  use  of 
Ground-nut  Oil,  on  which  the  prosperity  of  the  people  largely  depended, 
was  urged,  and  a  good  harvest  with  higher  prices  promised.  Strangely 
enough  the  autumn  crop  was  good,  and  prices  rose  ;  many  "  stupid 
people"  threw  away  their  Kerosene  Oil,  others  hid  lamps  and  stock, 
and  importers  say  they  must  take  steps  to  counteract  the  harm  thus 
done  to  the  trade.  But  Kerosene  will  doubtless  win  its  own  battle, 
on  account  of  its  convenience  and  cheapness.' 

There  was  a  large  export  of  mouse  deer-skins,  63,000 
pieces ;  there  is  a  large  demand  for  star  aniseed  ;  and  a 
company  has  been  formed  to  cultivate  the  castor-oil  plant. 

Under  the  Report  on  Samshui  are  included  Kongmun, 
Shiuhing,  and  Takhing.  The  trade  was  less  by  two-thirds 
of  a  million  of  taels.  But  in  1901  trade  was  prosperous, 
and  the  figures  of  the  Customs'  Revenue  amounted  to  a 
million  taels  more  than  in  1900. 

Canton  does  not  seem  to  have  been  so  largely  affected  by 
the  unrest  and  disturbances  as  might  have  been  supposed. 
The  exports  are  silk,  tea,  cassia,  matting,  sugar,  chinaware, 
fresh  eggs,  fruit,  vegetables,  black-wood  furniture,  human 
hair,  medicines,  prepared  tobacco,  etc.  In  1901,  the  I.M. 
Customs  having  taken  over  the  Native  Customs  Depart- 
ment, the  Revenue  was  well  on  for  61  million  Hk.  Tls. 

At  the  Kowloon  Customs  the  value  of  the  Trade  was 
less  by  9^  million  taels  than  in  the  record  year  1899. 

Troubles  in  the  North,  and  local  troubles  in  the 
Province  '  have  caused  a  feeling  of  uncertainty  in  the 
minds  of  the  Commercial  class,  and  made  it  very  cautious 
in  business  transactions,'  was  the  Report  from  Lappa  ;  but 
1901  appears  to  have  been  a  record  year. 

Kiungchow  suffered  severely  from  the  plague,  5000 
dying  in  the  city.  This,  with  small-pox  and  the  disloca- 
tion of  trade  from  the  troubles  in  the  North,  all  had  a 
disastrous  effect.  As  in  other  parts  of  China,  ground- 
nut oil  is  being  superseded  by  kerosene. 

At  Pakhoi  the  same  reiterated  story  of  disturbances  in 
the  North  affecting  the  trade. 

In  Lungchow,  notwithstanding  all  the  disturbing 
elements,  the  year  1900  was  a  good  one  from  a  Customs 

735 


Things  Chinese 

point  of  view.  In  Mengtsz  the  year's  transactions  were,  on 
the  whole,  satisfactory,  while  in  Szemao  it  had  been  a 
gloomy  year,  and  in  Yatung  trade  '  experienced  a  "  set- 
back,"' unsettled  times  and  disease  being  responsible  for  this. 

Tientsin  is  '  the  second  largest  port  in  China  whose 
trade  has  doubled  itself  during  the  last  ten  years  [this 
was  written  in  1900],  and  is  capable  of  enormous  develop- 
ment. No  port  in  China  has  increased  in  trade  in  the  same 
ratio  in  the  corresponding  time.'  The  Returns  for  the  first 
half  of  1902  showed  that  the  trade  had  progressed,  the  totals 
being  Hk.  Tls.  7,992,394.  In  1901  the  total  for  same  half 
year  was  Hk.  Tls.  6,440,160,  and  in  1900  Hk.  Tls.  6,385,596. 

What  has  been  written  above  deals  mainly  with  the 
foreign  exports  and  the  import  trade  of  China,  though 
goods  sent  from  one  treaty  port  of  China  to  another,  etc., 
are  included  in  the  Returns,  as  such  goods  are  carried  in 
foreign  bottoms  and  have  to  pass  the  Imperial  Maritime 
Customs. 

The  volume  of  the  internal  trade  of  China  must  be 
something  enormous  ;  but  highly  interesting  as  the  subject 
would  be,  it  is  impossible  to  write  on  it,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  no  statistics  are  available,  no  reliable  data  are 
in  existence,  to  form  the  groundwork  of  such  a  narrative. 
Any  account  purporting  to  deal  with  it  would  be  made  up 
to  a  large  extent  of  hearsay  and  guesswork. 

Books  recommended, — The  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  Annual  Returns  are 
most  interesting  reading.  The  history  of  the  foreign  trade  with  China  will  bo 
found  in  Williams's  'Middle  Kingdom,'  and  interesting  accounts  of  this  branch 
of  the  subject  will  be  found  in  different  books  on  China  as  well  as  in  papers 
scattered  through  the  China  Meview.  See  Articles  in  this  book  on  Chinese 
Abroad,  Tea,  Silk,  Opium,  etc.  For  an  account  of  ancient  trade,  sec  '  China 
and  the  Roman  Orient :  Researches  into  their  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Relations 
as  represented  in  Old  Chinese  Records,'  by  F.  Hirth,  Ph.D. 

TREATY  PORTS.— The  Treaty  Ports  in  China  are  so 
called  from  having  been  designated  by  treaties,  entered  into 
between  England  and  other  Foreign  Powers  on  the  one 
part,  and  China  on  the  other,  as  places  where  foreign 
merchants  shall  be  allowed  to  reside  and  trade.  The  first 
of  these  treaties  was  that  of  1842,  signed  at  Nanking,  and 

736 


Treaty  Ports 

consequently  known  as  the  Nanking  Treaty.     By  it,  the 
five    cities    of    Canton,    Amoy,    Foochow,    Ningpo,    and 
Shanghai,  were  declared  to  be  treaty  ports.    By  the  Treaty 
of  Tientsin,  so  called  owing  to  its  having  been  signed  there 
in  1 858  (though  ratified  at  Peking  in  1860),  the  additional 
ports  of  Newchwang,  Tangchow  (Chefoo),  Taiwan   (For- 
mosa), Chao-chow  (Swatow),  and  Kiangchow,  were  opened 
to  foreign  trade.     By  the   Chefoo   Convention,  signed  at 
that  port  in  1876,  though  not  ratified  till   1886  in  London, 
'  Ich'ang    in   the    province    of    Hupeh,   Wuhu    in    Anhui, 
Wenchdw,  in  Chekiang,  and  Pei-hai'  (Pakhoi  in  the  local 
pronunication)  in  Kwangtung,  were  opened  to  trade  and 
made  Consular  stations.     By  the  Chungking  Commercial 
Convention,  concluded  in  February  1890,  it  was  arranged 
that  Chungking  in  Szchuen  should  be  a  Treaty  Port,  but 
cargoes  have  to  go  in  native  boats,  owned  by  natives  or 
foreigners,  until  Chinese-owned  steamers  ply  as  far  up  the 
Yangtsz  as  that  city,  when  British  steamers  may  do  likewise. 
By  the  Chefoo  Convention  Tat'ung  and  Nganching,  in  the 
province  of  Anhui,  Hokau,  in  Kiangsi,  Wusue'h,  Luchikou, 
and  Shashih,  in  Hukwang,  all  on  the  Yangtsz,  though  not 
considered  treaty  ports,  were  allowed  to  be  used  as  stopping 
places  by  steamers  on  that  river,  but  native  boats  are  em- 
ployed to  land  and  ship  the  cargo  and  passengers.     By  the 
Burmah  Frontier  Treaty  the  West  River  was  what  is  styled 
'opened  to  trade'  on  the  4th  of  June  1897,  and  two  ports 
on  it  made  treaty  ports,  Samshui  and  Wuchow-fu,  and  four 
ports  of  call  established,  viz.,  the  towns  of  Kongmun  and 
Kamchuk,  and  the  cities  of  Shiuhing  and  Takhing.    In  1899 
Santuao  also  came  into  the  list  of  treaty  ports.     By  the 
Commercial  Treaty  of  the  5th  Sept.  1902  four  new  ports— 
Changsha,  in  Hunan,  Ngankin,  in  Anhvvei,  Wanhsien,  in 
Szchuan,  and  Waichou,  in  Kwangtung,  are  named  as  treaty 
ports,  to  be  opened  in  1904,  and  also  Kongmun,  which  last 
is  at  present  a  port  of  call. 

The  above  is  what  the  English  Government  has  done. 
The  French,  by  their  Treaty  of  1858  (ratified  in  1860), 
mention,  in  addition  to  some  of  the  ports  in  the  English 

737  3  A 


Things  Chinese 

treaties,  Nanking  as  an  open  port,  and  it  was  supposed 
to  'enjoy  the  same  privileges  as  Canton,  Shanghai; 
Ningpo,  and  Foochow.'  However,  Nanking  was  not  an 
open  port  until  the  1st  of  May  1899,  although  specified 
as  such,  though  formal  opening  could  doubtless  have 
been  claimed  at  pleasure  by  the  French  Government. 
By  the  Convention  of  Peace  between  France  and  China, 
signed  in  1860,  Tientsin,  in  the  province  of  Chihli,  is  made 
a  treaty  port. 

Again,  by  the  Treaty  between  France  and  China,  signed 
9th  June  1885,  provision  was  made  for  two  more  places 
to  possess  similar  privileges  to  the  Treaty  Ports,  though 
situated  inland  near  the  French  possessions  in  Tonquin  ; 
and  by  the  Subsequent  Trade  Regulations  for  the  Annam 
frontier,  jointly  determined  on  by  France  and  China, 
signed  in  1886,  it  was  agreed  that  two  places  should  be  so 
opened  ;  these  two  places  are  named  in  the  Additional 
Convention  between  France  and  China  of  1887,  they  are 
Lungchow  in  Kwangsi,  and  Mengtseu  in  Yunnan,  and 
another  place,  Manghao,  is  also  put  in  the  same  category. 

'Under  the  provisions  of  the  Convention  between  France  and 
China  signed  at  Peking  on  the  aoth  June  1895,  a  Vice-Consulate  was 
established  on  the  29th  October  1895  at  Tunghsing,  a  port  on  the 
coast  and  Chinese  frontier,  some  80  miles  west  of  Pakhoi  and 
opposite  the  village  of  Moncay  in  Tonkin,'  the  French  Consul  at 
Pakhoi  representing  his  country  at  Tunghsiang  as  well. 

'  In  accordance  with  the  stipulations  contained  in  the  third 
paragraph  of  the  "  Gerard  Supplementary  Frontier  Convention  of 

1895"  Szemao  was  opened  to  the  frontier  trade  on  the  2nd  January 

1897.' 

'Under  the  provisions  of  the  [same]  Supplementary  Convention 
between  China  and  France  ...  a  French  Consulate  was  opened  at 
Szemao  early  in  August  1890,  and  a  Vice-Consulate,  subordinate  to 
the  Mengtsz  Consulate,  was  established  on  the  22nd  August  at  Hokau, 
a  small  village  opposite  Laokai  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Red  River,  at 
its  junction  with  the  Nan-hsi  River.' 

We  next  come  to  the  part  taken  by  Germany  in  extort- 
ing concessions  from  China :  in  the  Treaty  between  Prussia 
and  China,  signed  in  1 86 1  (ratified  in  1863),  the  names  of 
Treaty  Ports  are  set  out  in  Article  6,  and  the  riverine  ports 
of  Chinkiang,  Kiukiang,  and  Hankow  appear  in  addition 

738 


Treaty  Ports 

to  those  already  at  that  time  granted  to  England  and 
France.  By  the  Supplementary  Convention  between 
Germany  and  China,  signed  in  1860  (ratified  the  following 
year),  German  ships  are  allowed  to  touch  at  Woosung,  in 
the  province  of  Kiangsu,  to  take  in  or  discharge  merchandise 
intended  for,  or  coming  from,  Shanghai. 

Besides  all  these  must  be  mentioned  Whampoa  (locally 
pronounced  Wong-po),  the  port  of  Canton,  now  shorn  of 
all  its  ancient  glory. 

'  By  a  new  convention  with  China,'  it  is  stated  that  '  Russia  is  to 
be  allowed  to  establish  consulates  in  Central  China,  Mongolia,  and 
Manchuria.  The  main  purpose  of  these  consulates  is  believed  to  be 
the  prosecution  of  Russian  trade  in  these  regions.' 

On  the  ist  May  1894,  a  European,  who  is  a  Chinese 
Commissioner  of  Customs,  was  stationed  at  Tatung,  a 
frontier  station  on  the  Tibetan  side,  250  miles  from 
Lhassa,  and  close  to  our  Indian  frontier. 

Japan,  profiting  by  her  war  with  China,  amongst  other 
matters,  procured  the  opening  of  several  other  treaty  ports 
to  trade.  By  the  Treaty  between  China  and  Japan,  signed 
on  1 7th  April  1895  at  Shimonoseki,  and  ratified  at  Chefoo 
on  8th  May  1895,  by  Article  6,  the  following  places  were 
opened  to  '  trade,  residence,  industries,  and  manufactures,' 
viz.  Shashih,  in  Hupeh;  Chungking,  in  Szechuan  ;  Suchow, 
in  Kiangsu  ;  and  Hangchow,  in  Chekiang  (port  opened 
in  1 896) ;  and  by  the  same  Article  '  steam  navigation  for 
vessels  under  Japanese  flag  on  the  Upper  Yangtsz  River 
from  Ichang  to  Chungking,'  and  '  on  the  Woosung  River 
and  the  Canal,  from  Shanghai  to  Suchow  and  Hangchow.' 
In  the  Protocol  made  at  Peking  I9th  October  1896,  to  the 
Treaty  of  Commerce  and  Navigation  between  China  and 
Japan  (made  at  Peking  on  the  2ist  July  1896),  sites  for 
special  Japanese  settlements  at  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  Amoy, 
and  Hankow,  are  provided  for,  in  addition  to  special 
Japanese  settlements  to  be  formed  at  the  places  newly 
opened  to  commerce,  as  stated  above.  China  announced, 
on  the  5th  April  1898,  the  opening  to  trade  of  three  ports, 
viz.,  Funing  (opened  8th  May  1899),  m  Fokien,  Yochow  on 

739 


Things  Chinese 

the  Tungting  Lake,  and  Chinwang,  near  Shanhaikwan. 
These  were  opened  in  1899,  Santu  being  a  treaty  port  in 
the  Bay  of  Samsah  in  the  Fukien  province,  was  opened  in 
1899.  Woosung  has  also  now  been  made  a  treaty  port. 
Szemao  was  opened  to  the  frontier  trade  in  1897,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  GeYard  General  Supplementary  Frontier 
Convention  of  1895. 

The  Chinese  Government  opened  the  West  River  and 
several  ports  to  trade,  on  the  3rd  June  1897,  under  the 
Special  Article  of  the  British  Treaty  of  4th  February  1 897. 
These  ports  are  four  in  number,  viz.,  Kongmun  and  Kam- 
chuk,  Shiuhing  and  Takhing.  The  two  treaty  ports  opened 
on  the  West  River  under  the  same  Article  are  Samshui 
and  Wuchow. 

The  ratification  of  the  Burmah  Agreement  was 
exchanged  on  the  5th  June  1897,  which  allows  the 
settlement  of  British  subjects  at  Szumao  and  Momein 
or  Shunning-fu. 

Nanning-fu,  in  the  Kwongsi  province,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  120,000,  will  shortly,  if  not  already,  be  another 
of  the  treaty  ports. 

A  writer  thus  sums  up  the  incidents  that  led  to  the 
acquisition  of  the  rights  to  use  the  Treaty  Ports,  etc. : — 

'  Outrages  on  subjects  of  powerful  states  .  .  .  led  to  the  first  war 
of  1842,  and  the  opening  of  the  five  ports.  A  renewal  of  these  out- 
rages led  to  the  second  and  third  wars,  and  the  opening  of 
the  northern  and  Yangtsze  ports.  The  massacres  in  Szchuen  and 
Fuhkien  led  to  still  further  demands,  and  the  attempts  to  oust  the 
Japanese  from  Korea  only  ended  in  the  loss  of  Formosa  and 
Shingking.  Outrages  in  Shantung  led  to  the  establishment  of 
Germany  in  Shantung,  and  this  to  a  military  occupation  by  Russia 
of  Manchuria  and  Liaotung,  the  cession  of  Weihaiwei  to  England, 
and,  as  a  counterpoise,  of  Kwongchau  to  France.' 

We  have  prepared  the  following  table  showing  the 
position  and  other  particulars  about  the  different  treaty 
ports,  ports  of  call,  etc.,  trusting  that  it  may  prove  ot 
interest  to  our  readers.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  attempt  to  give  the  population  of  a  Chinese  city 
or  town  is  often  a  mere  guess  on  the  part  of  those  who 
state  it,  and,  at  the  very  best,  rather  uncertain. 

740 


Treaty  Ports 


TREATY     PORTS. 


PROVING*. 

PORT. 

DATR  OF 
OPENING. 

POPULATION. 

RKMAKKS. 

Shingking 

Newchwang 

1860 

60,000 

On  River  Liao,  13  miles  from 

mouth,  near  Shanhaikwan. 

Manchuria 

Chingwantao 

1899 

Chihli 

Tientsin 

1860 

950,000 

On  Peiho. 

Shantung 

Chefoo 

1863 

30,000 

Kiangsu 

Shanghai 

1843 

400,000 

At  junction  of  Hwangpoand 
Woosung  Rivers,  24  miles  from 

sea. 

Woosung 

1898 

35.000 

12   miles  from  sea,   on  Woo- 

sung River.     Was  made  a  port 

of  call  in  1861. 

Soochow 

1896 

Over  500,000 

80  miles  inland  from  Shanghai. 

Chinkiang 

1861 

140,000 

On   Yangtsz,  150  miles  from 

mouth,   at  junction    of   Grand 

Canal. 

Nanking 

1899 

150,000 

On   S.   bank  of  Yangtsz,  45 

Anhwei 

Wuhu 

1877 

79,000 

miles  beyond  Chinkiang. 
282  miles  from  sea,  on  Yang- 

tsz. 

Ngankin 

1904 

Capital  of  the  Province.     On 

left  bank  of  Yangtsz,  100  miles 

from  Wuhu. 

Kiangsi 

Kiukiang 

1861 

55.000 

On  Yangtsz,  466  miles  from 

sea,    near    outlet    of     Poyang 

Lake. 

Hupeh 

Hankow 

1861 

1,000,000 

River   Han,   at    its   junction 

with    the    Yangtsz,    600    miles 

from  Shanghai. 

Shasi 

1896 

83,400 

836  miles  from  sea,  on  Yang- 

tsz and  85  miles  below  Ichang. 

Ichang 

1877 

35,000 

On  Yangtsz,  393  miles  above 

Hankow  and  966  from  sea. 

Hunan 

Yochaufu 

1899 

60,000 

On   Yangtsz,  722  miles  from 

sea. 

Changsha 

1904 

300,000 

Capital  of  the  Province.     On 

right  bank  of  Hsiang  Kiang,  190 
miles  S.  S.  E.  of  Ichang. 

Szechuan 

Chungking 

1891 

300,000 

On  Yangtsz,  1,400  miles  from 

sea. 

Wanhsien 

1904 

In  Eastern  Szechuan,  on  left 

bank  Yangtsz. 

Chekiang 

Hangchow 

1896 

750,000 

150  miles  S.W.  of  Shanghai. 

Ningpo 

1842 

255,000 

On  River  Yung. 

Wenchow 

1877 

800,000 

On  River  Au,  20  miles  from 

mouth. 

Fuhkien 

Foochow 

1842 

650,000 

On  River  Min,  34  miles  from 

sea. 

Amoy 

1842 

300,000 

At  mouth  of  Dragon  River. 

Santuao 

1899 

Near  Samsha  Bay,   the  port 

is  Funing. 

Kwangtung 

Swatow 

1860 

30,000 

On  Han  River.   Chauchowfu, 

35   miles  distant,   is  really   the 

treaty  port. 

Canton 

1842 

2,500,000 

On  Pearl  River,  50  miles  from 

mouth. 

Pakhoi 

1877 

20,000 

Samshui 

1897 

30,000 

Near  junction  of  North,  West, 

and  Canton  Rivers,  2  miles  from 

the  bank,  Hok'ou  is  the  port. 

Hoihow 

1876 

12,000 

Kiangchow  —  41,000,  is  really 

the  treaty  port,   Hoihow  being 

the  port  from  which  it  is  distant 

3^  miles. 

Waichau 

1904 

On  East  River. 

Kongmun 

1902 

100,000 

Delta  of  Canton  River.     Was 

made  a  port  of  call  in  1898. 

741 


Things  Chinese 

TREATY  PORTS— continued. 


PROVINCE. 

PORT. 

DATE  OF 
OPENING. 

POPULATION. 

REMARKS. 

Kwangsi 

Wuchow 

1897 

50,000 

West  River,  at  junction  with 

Cassia   River,    220  miles    from 

Canton. 

Lungchow 

1889 

22,000 

At  junction  of  Sungchi  and 

Yunnan 

Mengtsz 

1889 

12,000 

Kaoping  Rivers. 
Was  opened   with  Manghao, 

latter    being    on    left    bank    of 

Red  River. 

Szemao 

1897 

15,000 

Hokow 

1896 

4,000 

At  junction   of  Man-hsi  and 

Red  Rivers. 

Tibet 

Yatung 

1894 

250  miles  from  Lhassa. 

PORTS    OF    CALL,    &c. 


PROVINCE. 

PORT. 

DATE  OF 
OPENING. 

POPULATION. 

REMARKS. 

Chihli 

Taku 

At  the  mouth  of  the   Peilio, 

is  the  port  of  Tientsin,  and  67 
miles  distant  from  it. 

Kiangsi 

Tat'ung 

1886 

Nganching 

1886 

Hukwang, 

/.c.,Hupehand 

Wusueh 

^886 

Hunan 

Luchikou 

1886 

Shashih 

1886 

73,000 

Kwangtung 

Whampoa 

1842 

The  port  of  Canton,  12  miles 

from  it,  on  the  Pearl,  or  Canton 

River. 

Hok'ou 

1897 

Harbour  of  Samshui. 

Kamchuk 

1898 

Delta  of  Canton  River. 

Shiuhing 

1898 

80,000 

On  West  River. 

Takhing 

1898 

6,000 

Do. 

Tunghsmg 

'895 

80    miles    West    of    Pakhoi, 

French  Consulate  established. 

Dosing 

1903 

Yuetling 

1903 

Lukto 

1903 

Lukpa 

'9°3 

Howlik 

i°°3 

Kankong 

1903 

Mahning 

'9°3 

Yungki 

1903 

Foreign  subjects  are  allowed  to  travel  for  five  days 
within  100  li,  about  thirty-three  miles,  of  the  treaty  ports  ; 
but  for  longer  distances  or  time,  passports,  obtained  from 
their  respective  consuls,  are  required. 

At  the  treaty  ports  there  are  certain  spots  reserved  for 
the  use  of  the  foreign  residents,  foreign  concessions  they 
are  often  called,  though  at  the  same  time  foreigners  are 
allowed  to  reside  amongst  the  Chinese  as  well.  These  have 

742 


Treaty  Ports 

generally  been  common  to  all  nationalities,  the  Americans 
having  Hongkew,  and  the  French  also  having  a  separate 
one  at  Shanghai.  Of  late  years  a  strong  tendency  has 
developed  towards  the  securing  of  concessions  by  different 
nationalities  for  themselves,  instead  of  joining  together  as 
has  hitherto  been  done  to  a  great  extent,  and  there  are 
now  a  number  of  such  concessions  at  various  treaty  ports. 
A  part  of  Shamien  in  Canton  was  set  apart  for  the  French. 
At  Tientsin  there  are  concessions  for  British,  French, 
German,  Italian,  Russian,  and  Japanese,  and  at  Hankow 
for  Japanese,  German,  British,  French,  and  Russian.  At 
Newchwang  the  Japanese  have  acquired  a  slice  of  land  for 
a  concession,  and  the  British  also  a  piece  for  the  same 
purpose.  The  Japanese  have  also  a  settlement  at  Shasi, 
and  at  Hangchow,  Soochow,  and  at  Chungking.  There  are 
constantly  new  developments  on  these  lines. 

There  are  said  to  be  about  13,500  European  residents 
at  the  treaty  ports — over  5000  being  British. 

'  The  Authorities  at  Amoy  have  consented  to  the  Island 
of  Kulangsu  becoming  a  foreign  settlement  entirely  under 
international  control,'  '  under  the  pattern  of  Shanghai.' 

Besides  these  treaty  ports  there  are  the  different  ports 
or  portions  of  land  belonging,  or  leased,  to  foreign  nations. 
There  is  Port  Arthur  at  the  point  of  the  Regent's 
Sword,  guarding  the  Northern  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of 
Pechili  with  Talienwan  (which  Russia  has  declared  to 
be  a  free  port),  and  the  Russian  zone  of  influence.  '  By 
Agreement  with  the  Chinese  Government,  dated  2/th 
March  1898,  Russia  is  in  possession  of  Port  Arthur, 
and  Talienwan  and  their  adjacent  territories  and  waters, 
on  lease  for  the  term  of  25  years,  which  may  be  extended 
by  agreement'  Then  there  is  Weihaiwei,  held  by  the 
British  since  the  24th  May  1898  (and  to  be  held  'for 
such  period  as  Russia  may  hold  Port  Arthur.'  The  agree- 
ment is  dated  2nd  April  1898),  close  to  the  Shantung 
province  and  guarding  the  southern  entrance  of  the  gulf 
mentioned  above,  which  gives  access  to  Tientsin  and 
Peking,  with  a  portion  of  land  on  the  map  described  as  the 

743 


Things  Chinese 

British  zone  of  influence.  The  territory  of  Weihaiwei  is 
300  sq.  miles  in  area,  with  an  estimated  population  of 
80,000  while  the  'sphere  of  influence'  is  very  much  more 
extensive,  with  a  population  of  900,000.  A  few  miles 
further  south,  down  the  coast,  we  come  to  the  Germans  at 
Kiauchau,  and  their  zone  of  influence.  Kiauchau  was 
declared  a  free  port  on  2nd  September  1898.  It  was 
seized  by  the  Germans  in  November  1897,  and  a  99 
years'  lease  of  the  town,  harbour,  and  district,  were  obtained 
in  January  1898.  It  is  situated  on  the  east  coast  of 
Shantung.  While  in  the  south  we  have  the  important 
British  Colony  of  Hongkong  which  has  twice  enlarged  its 
boundaries  on  the  mainland  opposite.  Forty  miles  off  is 
the  ancient  Portuguese  settlement  (and  Colony  now)  of 
Macao,  some  300  years  old.  Further  south, '  on  the  coast 
of  the  Lien-Chau  peninsula,  opposite  the  Island  of 
Hainan,'  is  the  most  recent  of  all,  Kwongchauwan,  with 
some  adjacent  land  where  the  French  have  established 
themselves,  hauling  up  the  tricolour  on  the  2nd  April 
1898.  The  French  hold  it  by  lease,  dated  2nd  April 
1898,  for  99  years.  'In  November  1899,  China  conceded 
to  France  the  possession  of  the  two  islands  commanding 
the  entrance  to  the  bay.' 

It  must  be  remembered  by  strangers  that  Hongkong 
and  Kowloon  (British),  Macao  (Portuguese),  Port  Arthur 
(Russian),  Kiaochau  (German),  Weihaiwei  (British),  and 
Kwongchauwan  (French),  are  not  treaty  ports,  but  Colonies 
or  Settlements,  belonging  to  the  different  nationalities 
mentioned  above.  It  is  almost  necessary  to  call  attention 
to  this,  as  letters  addressed  to  the  British  Consul,  or  to  his 
care,  are  not  infrequently  received  in  this  British  Colony  of 
Hongkong,  and  a  British  official  here  has  been  addressed 
as  U.S.  Customs'  officer  by  a  Chinese. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Treaty  Ports  of  China  and  Japan,'  by  W. 
F.  Mayers,  N.  B.  Dennys,  and  C.  King.  This  is  out  of  print.  'The 
China  and  Hongkong  Directory."  'European  Settlements  in  the  Far  East: 
China,  Japan,  Corea,  Indo-China,  Straits  Settlements,  Malay  States, 
Siam,  Netherlands  India,  Borneo,  The  Philippines,  etc.,  with  Map  and 
Illustrations,'  by  D.  Warres  Smith. 

744 


Typhoons 

TYPHOONS.— The  similarity  of  this  word  to  the 
Greek  word  TU</>UJV,  a  whirlwind,  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  scholars ;  but  it  is  thought  that  the  Chinese  word 
tai-ftng,  used  in  Formosa,  is  the  origin  of  the  term,  for, 
strange  to  say,  the  Chinese  themselves,  in  the  South  of 
China,  at  all  events,  do  not  call  these  cyclonic  disturbances 
tdi-fung,  which  simply  means  a  big  wind,  but  they  speak 
of  them  as  fung-kati,  storms,  or  they  say  td-fung-kai'i, 
a  storm  is  blowing. 

Much  has  been  done  of  late  years  in  studying  the 
'  grand  but  perplexing  laws  which  regulate  the  formations 
and  movements  of  typhoons ' ;  but  still  much  remains  to 
be  done,  and  when  stations  for  their  observation  shall 
have  been  established  at  elevated  heights,  such  as  at  the 
Peak  in  Hongkong,  and  Taf  Mo  Shan  in  the  New  Territory, 
much  more  in  all  probability  will  be  known,  and  a  complete 
mastery  of  the  difficult  subject  may  be  hoped  for ;  as  yet 
the  upper  strata  of  the  air,  as  regards  typhoons,  is  almost 
unexplored.  Col.  Palmer  thus  writes  of  these  storms  : — 

'The  theory  of  rotatory  storms  (whether  called  cyclones, 
typhoons,  or  hurricanes)  .  .  .  may  be  popularly  stated  thus.  If 
from  any  initial  cause,  interchanging  motions  are  set  up  between  the 
air  in  a  certain  district  and  another  surrounding  it,  the  air  in  the  first, 
or  inner  district,  tends,  in  consequence  of  the  earth's  rotation,  to 
gyrate  round  its  centre,  in  a  direction  contrary  to  that  of  watch-hands 
in  the  Northern  hemisphere,  and  with  watch-hands  in  the  Southern 
hemisphere.  In  the  outer  district  these  movements  are  reversed,  by 
the  principle  of  the  preservation  of  areas  (or  moments).  These  two 
systems  of  contrary  gyrations,  especially  in  the  upper  strata  of  the 
atmosphere,  where  they  are  less  influenced  by  friction  with  the  earth's 
surface,  and  therefore  more  circular,  than  those  below,  tend  to  draw 
the  air  from  the  centre  of  the  inner  district  and  from  the  exterior  part 
of  the  outer  district,  and  heap  it  up  along  the  zone  dividing  the  two. 
On  this  zone  accordingly,  which  is  the  annular  region  where  the 
gyratory  velocity  in  one  direction  dies  out  and  that  in  the  other  direc- 
tion begins,  the  atmospheric  pressure  -is  greatest,  while  it  is  least  at 
the  centre  and  at  the  outermost  limit ;  and  the  pressure  from  this 
accumulation  tends  to  force  the  air  near  the  earth's  surface  out  from 
beneath  it,  on  the  one  side  towards  the  centre  of  the  cyclone,  and  on  the 
other  towards  the  exterior  limit  of  the  outer  district,  or  "  anti-cyclone." 

'  The  gyrations  once  set  up,  two  other  forces  come  into  play — 
centrifugal  force,  and  friction  of  the  moving  air  with  the  earth's 
surface,  the  former  tending  to  drive  the  air  still  more  from  the  centre 
of  the  inner  district  and  so  increase  the  barometric  pressure  there. 

'  To  be  brief,  the  result  of  all  the  conditions  which  affect  the  case 

745 


Things  Chinese 

is  that,  on  and  near  the  earth's  surface,  the  air  of  the  inner  district, 
instead  of  preserving  a  circular  movement,  converges  somewhat  to 
the  centre,  flowing  round  and  round  in  a  spiral  directed  inward  from 
the  zone  of  maximum  pressure.  Under  ordinary  circumstances,  this 
inclination  diminishes  with  the  altitude,  and  it  diminishes  as  the 
velocity  of  the  wind  increases,  so  that  it  is  least  near  the  centre  of  the 
storm,  where,  indeed,  the  winds,  being  of  intense  violence,  are  circular, 
or  very  nearly  so.  It  is  greatest  on  the  periphery  of  the  typhoon, 
where,  at  great  distances,  the  convergence  is  often  nearly  directly 
towards  the  centre.  It  is  greater  also  on  land  than  on  the  sea,  owing 
to  the  increased  friction  with  the  rugged  surface  of  the  land  ;  and  it  is 
greater  in  low  than  in  high  latitudes.  The  air  of  the  outer  district,  on 
the  other  hand,  describes  a  spiral  directed  outwards  from  the  centre. 
In  the  middle  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  the  air  above  the  cyclone 
inclines  outwards  from  the  centre,  and  at  a  great  distance  flows  nearly 
directly  away  from  it.' 

The  causes  of  typhoons,  though  they  are  not  quite 
understood  yet,  appear  to  be  '  differences  of  temperature  ; 
pressure,  and  humidity,  the  last  named  being  less  con- 
spicuous as  a  primary  cause  than  as  a  means  of  maintain- 
ing the  cyclonic  action  after  it  has  once  been  started.'  The 
typhoon,  once  being  evolved  from  'the  manifold  and 
highly  complicated  operations '  of  the  causes  stated  above, 
having  commenced  its  life  in  the  Pacific,  starts  on  its 
travels,  at  first  slowly,  and  then  more  rapidly.  The 
tendency  of  typhoons  is  to  seek  the  north,  but,  influenced 
by  the  currents  of  air,  they  are  deflected  westwards  towards 
the  continent  of  Asia,  and  the  consequence  is  they 
generally  take  a  north-westerly  direction.  They  are  more 
at  home  on  the  sea,  as,  when  they  go  inland,  mountain 
ranges  block  their  progress  and  they  lose  much  of  their 
energy,  and  finally,  after  proceeding  northwards,  they  seek 
the  sea  again,  ending  their  course  in  the  Yellow  Sea, 
Corea,  or  Japan.  '  As  a  broad  definition  then,  applicable 
to  the  normal  typhoon,  it  may  be  stated  that  its  path  is 
approximately  a  parabola,  the  vertex  of  the  curve  being 
turned  westward  and  situated  not  far  from  the  boundary 
of  the  tropic,  while  its  two  branches  pass  respectively 
over  the  archipelago  of  the  Philippines  and  that  of  Japan.' 

The  following  interesting  account  may  serve  to  make 
plainer  this  difficult  subject  to  the  reader.  It  is  from  the 
pen  of  a  former  Harbour  Master  at  Kobe  :— 

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Typhoons 

'The  body  of  wind  of  which  a  typhoon  consists  is  in  shape  nearly 
circular.  .  .  .  The  diameter  of  this  circle  has  been  found  to  vary 
from  about  fifty  to  several  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  the  height  of 
this  body  of  wind  is  estimated  to  be  from  one  to  ten  miles  in 
perpendicular  height.  This  mass  of  wind,  or  typhoon,  has  two 
different  motions,  one  being  progressive  and  the  other  circular. 
When  a  typhoon  forms  near  the  Equator  its  progressive  motion  is 
first  towards  the  westward,  but  its  course  thereafter  changes  gradually 
northward  of  this,  and  by  the  time  it  reaches  Japan  its  course  has  thus 
been  changed  to  some  direction  between  north  and  east.  This 
progressive  motion  may  be  taken  to  be  from  7  to  24  miles  per  hour. 
While  the  typhoon  is  thus  moving  onward,  the  whole  body  of  wind 
within  its  circumference  is  whirling  round  its  centre  at  a  velocity  of 
from  50  to  perhaps  100  miles  per  hour.  An  observer  standing  at  the 
centre  of  a  typhoon  would  most  likely  be  surrounded  by  a  calm, 
extending  probably  to  a  distance  of  from  one  to  ten  miles  ;  but  if  he 
moved  towards  the  circumference  of  the  typhoon  he  would,  upon 
coming  within  the  wind  circles,  find  the  direction  of  the  wind  to  be 
from  his  right  towards  his  left,  or  in  other  words,  the  wind  would  have 
a  rotary  movement  in  a  direction  opposite  to  that  of  the  hands  of  a 
watch.  Consequently  the  wind  must  be  east  at  the  most  northern 
margin  of  a  typhoon  and  west  at  its  southern  margin.  In  like  manner 
it  must  be  south  at  the  most  eastern  margin  and  north  at  the  western, 
and  it  follows  that  the  wind  on  every  part  of  any  straight  line  drawn 
from  any  part  of  the  margin  to  the  storm's  centre  must  be  from  the 
same  direction  as  it  is  at  the  point  where  such  line  cuts  the  margin. 
It  also  follows  that  the  direction  of  wind  on  opposite  semi-diameters 
must  blow  from  opposite  directions.  The  winds  outside  the  limits  of 
typhoons  often  blow  in  a  direction  pointing  more  or  less  towards  the 
typhoon's  centre  ;  this  is  mostly  the  case  in  front  and  rear  of  such 
storms.  As  has  been  stated,  the  motion  of  the  wind  within  the  body 
of  a  typhoon  is  circular,  and  it  must  therefore  blow  from  every  point 
of  the  compass  during  its  circuit ;  and  in  order  to  more  fully  explain 
from  which  direction  the  wind  blows  at  different  places,  the  body  of 
the  storm  may  be  divided  into  sections  by  imaginary  diameters. 
First  by  drawing  two  diameters  through  the  body  of  the  storm,  one  in 
a  direction  from  north  to  south  and  the  other  from  west  to  east,  the 
storm  is  divided  into  four  quadrants,  called  the  NE.,  S.E.,  S.W.,  and 
N.W.  quadrants  ;  and,  bearing  in  mind  the  explanation  already  given, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  wind  in  the  N.E.  quadrant  must  always  be 
from  between  east  and  south,  in  the  S.E  quadrant  between  south  and 
west,  in  the  S.W.  quadrant  between  west  and  north,  and  in  the  N.W. 
quadrant  between  north  and  east.  Another  division  of  the  typhoon  is 
made  by  drawing  a  line  (called  the  axis  line)  through  its  centre  repre- 
senting the  latter's  path,  or  in  other  words,  its  progressive  motion  ;  this 
divides  the  storm  into  two  semicircles,  named  the  right-hand  and  left- 
hand  semicircles,  according  as  they  are  to  the  right  or  left  hand  of  the 
said  line.  To  distinguish  one  from  the  other  the  reader  should 
imagine  himself  placed  on  this  axis  line  at  the  rear  of  the  typhoon, 
looking  at  it  in  the  direction  it  is  travelling.  As  the  path  of  typhoons 
do  not  always  lie  in  the  same  direction,  it  becomes  evident  that  the 
axis  line  does  not  always  cut  off  semicircles  containing  the 
same  winds.  For  instance,  in  the  right-hand  semicircle  of  a 

747 


Things  Chinese 

typhoon  travelling  to  the  north-east,  the  winds  would  be  from  S.E.  to 
N.W.,  round  by  way  of  S.,  S.W.,  and  W.,  while  in  the  left-hand  semi- 
circle the  winds  would  be  from  S.E.  to  N.W.,  round  by  way  of  E., 
N.E.,  and  N.  On  the  other  hand,  in  a  typhoon  travelling  due  north, 
the  winds  in  the  right-hand  semicircle  would  be  from  E.  to  W.,  by 
way  of  S,  and  in  the  left-hand  semicircle  from  E.  to  W.,  by  way  of  N. 
In  the  latter  case  the  wind  on  the  axis  line  would  be  E.  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  centre,  and  W.  on  the  southern  side  thereof.  The 
number  of  compass  points  through  which  the  wind  veers  at  any  place 
depends  therefore  upon  how  near  the  centre  passes  to  such  a  place. 
The  veering  of  the  wind  indicates  at  once  whether  the  right  or  left- 
hand  semicircle  is  passing  over  a  place,  for  if  it  veers  from  its  initial 
direction  towards  the  right,  say  from  S.S.E.  to  S.,  then  the  right-hand 
semicircle  is  passing  over  the  place,  but  should  the  wind  veer  to  the 
left,  or  say  from  S.S.E.  to  S.E.  then  the  left-hand  semicircle  is  passing 
over.  The  Barometer  falls  as  long  as  the  centre  of  a  typhoon  is 
getting  nearer,  and  vice  -versd. 

'.  .  .  .  According  to  the  above  explanation,  the  wind  strikes  all 
straight  lines,  joining  the  centre  and  circumference  of  a  typhoon  at 
right  angles. 

'  With  the  given  explanation,  the  reader  will  find  no  difficulty  in 
making  other  interesting  deductions,  by  comparing  the  two  observa- 
tions. To  aid  him  in  this,  I  suggest  that  he  supply  himself  with  a 
circular  piece  of  cardboard,  make  a  small  hole  in  its  centre,  and 
draw  through  this  two  diameters  at  right  angles  to  each  other. 
Mark  the  ends  of  the  diameters  N.,  E.,  S.,  and  W.  respectively. 
Placing  this  card  before  him  on  a  table,  with  that  part  of  its  diameter 
marked  N.  pointing  towards  the  north,  and  imagining  a  body  of  wind 
to  be  whirling  round  the  centre,  but  limited  by  the  circumference  of 
the  card,  he  will  then  have  a  very  good  illustration  of  a  typhoon,  and 
one  which  will  make  the  meaning  of  quadrants,  semicircles,  circular 
motion,  etc.,  easily  understood.  To  further  represent  the  progressive 
motion  of  a  typhoon,  the  card  requires  to  be  moved  in  the  direction 
towards  which  the  storm  is  travelling,  still  keeping  the  N.  point  of 
the  card  pointing  towards  the  north,  and  still  supposing  the  wind  to 
be  whirling  round  the  centre  of  the  card.' 

September  is  the  month  par  excellence,  for  typhoons, 
but  the  typhoon  months  are  generally  considered  to  be 
those  of  July,  August,  September,  and  part  of  October, 
though  they  are  not  confined  to  those  months. 

Until  late  years  the  advent  of  typhoons  had  to  be 
judged  by  the  intense  heat  which  prevailed  for  several 
days,  the  fall  of  the  barometer,  and  other  signs,  but,  with 
the  extension  of  the  telegraph  to  this  part  of  the  world, 
timely  warning  of  their  probable  arrival  or  vicinity  is 
telegraphed  from  Manila,  and  many  lives  have  been  thus 

748 


Typhoons 

preserved.  Fortunately  for  Hongkong,  the  course  of  these 
dreadful  visitations  of  Providence  is  often  deflected  by  one 
cause  or  another  before  they  reach  this  '  dot  in  the  ocean,' 
and  they  generally  strike  the  land  further  North,  up  the 
coast  of  China,  or  further  South,  down  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Hainan  nor  Annam.  Occasionally,  in  the  course  of 
many  years,  some  of  most  dreadful  intensity  occur ;  such 
especially  was  the  awful  one  of  the  27th  of  July  1862,  the 
terrific  force  of  which  expended  itself  in  wrecking  the 
whole  river  frontage  of  Canton,  so  that  scarcely  a  house  on 
the  river  escaped  more  or  less  damage,  in  fact  the  place 
looked  as  if  it  had  suffered  from  a  bombardment,  while 
thousands  of  the  boat  people  were  drowned  before  the  eyes 
of  the  spectators  on  shore,  who  were  powerless  to  render 
them  any  assistance.  The  loss  of  life  in  the  city  and 
neighbourhood  was  estimated  at  40,000.  The  author  will 
never  forget,  as  long  as  he  lives,  that  awful  day,  the  wind 
blowing  with  titanic  force  in  great  bursts  which  shook  the 
buildings,  the  air  darkened  with  leaves  and  bits  of  debris, 
the  raging  of  the  usually  calm  river,  the  cries  of  the 
drowning,  the  consciousness  that  any  moment  might  be 
one's  last,  the  passing  of  the  centre  of  the  storm  when  a 
lull  occurred,  giving  one  hopes  that  the  worst  was  past,  to 
be  followed  by  a  recurrence  of  all  its  force  and  danger ; 
the  flooded  house,  streets  like  rivers — all  combined  to  form 
a  lurid  picture,  which,  once  seen,  one  never  cares  to  see 
again.  Such  an  indelible  impression  did  this  great  typhoon 
make  on  the  Chinese  of  that  city  that  for  many  years  they 
dated  occurrences  from  that  event. 

Fortunately,  such  terrific  typhoons  occur  but  seldom. 
The  places  in  their  vicinity,  however,  participate  in  the 
disturbances  which  they  cause  around  them,  having  blows 
of  more  or  less  intensity,  or  high  winds  and  downfalls  of 
rain,  lasting  for  several  days,  which  serve  to  cool  the 
atmosphere.  The  minimum  velocity  of  the  wind  entitled 
to  be  called  typhoon  force  is  80  miles  an  hour.  It  is 
interesting  in  a  slight  typhoon,  when  one  feels  tolerably 
safe,  to  watch  the  needle  of  the  barometer  fall  slightly  with 

749 


Things  Chinese 

each  gust  of  the  wind,  and  rise  slightly  again  as  it  dies 
down.  In  a  typhoon  the  barometer  falls  from  28.80  to 
28.50,  and  even  lower  readings  are  seen.  In  1880  there 
were  fourteen  recorded  typhoons  ;  in  1 88 1 ,  twenty  ;  but 
the  average  is  more  than  fifteen  a  year. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Typhoons  of  the  Eastern  Seas,'  by  Col.  H.  S. 
Palmer,  R.  E.,  1882.  'The  Law  of  Storms  in  the  Eastern  Seas,'  by  W. 
Doberck,  Director  of  the  Hongkong  Observatory.  'The  Typhoons  of  the 
Chinese  Seas  in  the  year  1880,'  by  M.  Dechevrens,  S.  J.  Idem  for  1881. 
Idem  for  1882.  Also  the  Annual  Reports  of  Dr.  Doberck,  published  in  The 
Hongkong  Government  Gazette. 

VACCINATION  AND  INOCULATION.  — From 
the  reports  of  the  European  doctors  in  China  in  the  earlier 
years  of  the  century,  there  is  no  doubt  that  smallpox  used 
to  be  a  common  disease,  not  only  in  the  South  of  China,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Hongkong,  Canton,  and  Macao,  but 
also  in  the  north  in  Peking,  in  the  metropolis  of  the  empire, 
where  it  was  epidemic  in  spring,  and  much  mortality 
resulted  from  the  visitations,  not  only  to  children,  but  also 
amongst  the  grown-up  population.  In  the  neighbourhood 
of  Canton,  or  in  a  portion  of  the  province  of  Kwangtung, 
it  is  also  stated  to  have  been  an  invariable  annual  epidemic, 
lasting  from  February  to  June,  amongst  the  crowded 
native  population  in  boats  and  elsewhere.  In  the  province 
of  Shansi,  the  mortality  from  it  was  very  great,  not  even 
inoculation,  much  less  vaccination,  being  known  there  in 
the  first  half  of  this  century.  In  the  western  provinces  of 
China,  the  ravages  must  have  been  great  in  those  days,  as 
also  there  inoculation  was  said  not  to  be  practised. 

These  instances  are  sufficient  to  show  that  smallpox 
was  a  dreadful  and  dreaded  visitant  in  China,  the  means 
for  coping  with  it,  or  stopping  its  spread,  being  either 
entirely  wanting  or  inadequate. 

Before  the  introduction  of  vaccination,  the  Chinese  were 
acquainted  with,  and  employed,  inoculation,  which  is  said 
to  have  been  introduced  by  a  philosopher  of  Go-mei  Shan 
in  the  province  of  Szchuen.  This  knowledge  was  handed 
down  to  posterity  from  the  time  of  Chen  Tsung  of  the  Sung 
dynasty  (A.D.  1014). 

750 


Vaccination  and  Inoculation 

Another  account  states  that  :— 

'  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  in  China  they  have  tried  some 
means  to  check  the  virulence  of  smallpox  which  has  repeatedly 
produced  terrible  havoc  amongst  its  inhabitants.  Chinese  practi- 
tioners describe  various  methods  of  inoculation  which,  it  is  said, 
was  discovered  at  the  latter  end  of  the  second  century  for  protecting  a 
grandson  of  Prince  Tchiu-Siang  (P.  Dabry's  '  La  Me'decine  chez  les 
Chinois').  They  have  also  learned  by  experience  the  dangers  of 
inoculation.' 

Different  methods  were  employed  ;  one  plan  was  to 
insert  in  the  nose  a  pledget  (a  piece  of  cotton-wool,  in 
most  cases  probably),  impregnated  with  the  virus  ;  another 
plan  was  to  take  the  lymph  itself,  or  the  crust  rubbed  down 
with  water,  and  introduce  into  the  sore  ;  while  another 
mode  was  to  dry  the  crusts,  reduce  them  to  powder,  and 
blow  this  powder  up  the  nose — this  being  called  dry 
inoculation  ;  yet  another  and  more  loathsome  way  was  to 
dress  the  child  with  clothes  that  had  been  worn  by  some 
one  with  smallpox.  Inoculation  would  appear  to  have 
been  largely  practised  by  the  Chinese.  It  was  stated  that 
in  Shanghai  the  greatest  number  of  the  children  were  thus 
treated.  One  Chinese  writer,  the  author  of  a  treatise 
entitled,  'the  Preservation  of  Infants  by  Inoculation,' 
supposed  that  smallpox  arose  from  poison  introduced  into 
the  system  from  the  mother's  womb,  and  he  believed  this  to 
be  proved  since  smallpox  only  occurs  once  in  a  life-time. 
All  diseases  amongst  the  Chinese  are  associated  with,  or 
are  the  result  of,  the  principles  of  heat  or  cold.  Smallpox 
is  due  to  the  heat  principle.  It  remains  latent,  or 
concealed,  in  the  human  system  '  till  it  is  developed  through 
the  agency  of  some  external,  exciting  cause.'  Hence,  as  it 
might  break  out  at  any  time,  they  thought  it  advisable 
to  use  some  means  to  modify  its  virulence :  they 
believed  that,  by  inoculation,  when  the  patient's  system 
was  in  a  healthy  condition,  and  at  times  and  seasons 
which  appeared  most  advantageous,  this  might  be 
accomplished.  The  Chinese  writer  we  have  mentioned 
above  says  : — 

'The  disease   when   it  breaks  out  spontaneously  is  very  severe, 
and  often  fatal  ;  whereas,  when  it  is  introduced  by  inoculation,  it  is 

751 


Things  Chinese 

generally  mild,  and  casualties  do  not  occur  oftener  than  once  in  ten 
thousand  cases.  .  .  .  To  discard  this  excellent  plan  and  sit  waiting 
for  the  calamity,  is  much  to  be  deprecated.' 

This  author  has  evidently  been  carried  away  with 
enthusiasm  for  his  subject,  as  foreign  writers  speak  of 
the  dangers  attendant  on  inoculation  as  compared  with 
vaccination.  The  fatality  is  described  as  being  very  great, 
by  one  in  Soochow,  and  when  the  doctor  comes  to  '  plant 
the  smallpox,'  as  it  is  described,  '  the  family  go  through 
extensive  religious  ceremonies,  the  god  being  worshipped 
with  a  feast,  incense,  and  firecrackers.'  Another,  a  doctor, 
thus  writes  : — 

'A  child  generally  thus  takes  the  smallpox  mildly,  but  the 
children  thus  treated  sometimes  take  the  confluent  form  of  the 
disease,  by  which  sight  and  even  life  is  lost. 

'  It  is  true  that  the  disease  taken  by  inoculation  is  generally  milder 
than  when  it  is  taken  spontaneously,  but  the  great  objection  to 
inoculation  is,  that  the  disease  itself  is  thus  maintained  among  the 
community,  and  every  case  is  a  focus  of  infection  ;  whereas  in 
vaccination  the  tendency  is  to  get  rid  of  smallpox  altogether,  serious 
accidents  do  not  occur  from  it,  and  there  is  no  liability  to  take  on  a 
fatal  form  of  disease.'  In  the  report  of  the  hospital  at  Ningpo 
published  in  1851,  it  is  stated  that,  'inoculation  at  one  time  proved 
frequently  fatal.' 

However,  in  lieu  of  a  more  excellent  way,  the  Chinese 
put  their  confidence  in  inoculation. 

It  was  stated  that  without  inoculation  the  mortality 
from  smallpox  in  Shansi  under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances  was  20  to  30  per  cent,  of  deaths,  while  in 
worse  cases  it  rose  to  50  or  60  per  cent. ;  but  '  after 
inoculation  only  one  per  cent,  proved  fatal.' 

It  is  curious  that,  like  several  other  things,  inoculation 
appears  to  have  been  introduced  into  the  West  from 
China. 

'  It  has  been  known  and  practised  in  China  since  the  time  of  the 
Sung  dynasty,  about  800  years  ago.  It  was  first  introduced  into 
England  by  Lady  Montague,  the  wife  of  the  British  Ambassador 
at  Constantinople  in  1721,  and  doubtless  had  found  its  way  to  Turkey 
across  the  centre  of  Asia  from  China.  The  Turks  who  lived  on  the 
Chinese  frontier  must  have  carried  the  knowledge  of  it  when  they 
moved  westward.' 

752 


Vaccination  and  Inoculation 

There  are  ten  rules  with  regard  to  inoculation  compiled 
by  a  retired  scholar  of  the  name  of  Lew  Lan  in  obedience 
to  an  Imperial  Decree,  and  these  were  inserted  in  the 
'  Golden  Mirror  of  the  Medical  Practice.'  They  have  in 
latter  times  been  discoursed  upon  by  celebrated  physicians 
who  have  '  revised  them  with  much  care  and  attention.' 

The  rules  are  as  follows  : — 

'  1st  Regarding  variolous  lymph  :— This  is  the  fluid  that  comes 
from  the  smallpox  pustules,  and  must  be  taken  from  a  child  which 
has  a  mild  form  of  the  disease  ;  whether  arising  spontaneously  or  from 
inoculation,  the  pustules  ought  to  be  round  or  pointed,  and  of  a  clear 
red  colour,  the  fluid  abundant  and  the  crust  which  comes  away  clear 
and  consistent  like  wax. 

' .  .  .  .  After  [inoculation]  seven  days,  fever  appears  ;  three  days 
afterwards  the  spots  show  themselves  ;  three  days  after  this  the  spots 
become  pustular  ;  in  three  days  more  the  crusts  form,  when  the  whole 
is  completed.  If  the  inoculation  does  not  take  effect  it  may  be 
repeated  in  fourteen  days. 

'  2nd.  Seasons  : — The  Spring  and  Autumn  are  the  most  favourable 
seasons  for  inoculation,  or  any  time  when  the  weather  is  moderate  ; 
during  the  very  hot,  or  cold  months,  it  ought  not  to  be  done. 

'  3rd.  Choice  of  Lucky  Days  : — A  lucky  day  ought  always  to 
be  chosen;  the  nth  and  I3th  days  of  the  moon  must  always  be 
avoided. 

*4th.  Management  of  the  Patients  : — During  the  process  of  inocu- 
lation it  is  of  great  importance  that  strict  rules  of  management  be 
adopted  in  respect  to  heat  and  cold,  with  attention  to  diet  and  the 
avoidance  of  any  cause  of  alarm  or  fright. 

'  5th.  At  the  time  for  inoculation  the  child  must  be  examined  and 
the  state  of  its  health  ascertained  ;  strict  attention  must  also  be  paid 
to  the  state  of  the  family,  and  if  the  child  be  sick,  the  operation  must 
not  be  performed.  All  children  ought  to  be  inoculated  when  they  are 
one  year  old  ;  if  the  health  be  good,  this  ought  by  no  means  to  be 
neglected. 

(6th.  Restricting  : — The  room  of  the  inoculated  child  ought  to  be 
clean  and  airy,  and  well  lighted  ;  all  excitement  must  be  avoided,  and 
the  child  kept  quiet  and  placid. 

'  7th.  Promise  of  the  Eruption  : — After  the  inoculation  and  before 
the  fever  appears,  there  suddenly  arise  on  the  child's  face  several 
pustules  like  smallpox  ;  these  are  called  the  "sin  miau,"  promise,  or 
belief  of  emption  ;  it  is  the  forerunner  of  the  disease,  and  the  evidence 
of  the  poison  having  taken  effect. 

'8th.  Repetition  of  the  Inoculation — If  after  waiting  fourteen  days, 
the  fever  does  not  appear,  should  the  season  still  be  favourable,  the 
inoculation  may  be  repeated. 

'9th.  Mode  of  Action  : — The  inoculation  must  affect  the  viscera, 

753  3  B 


Things  Chinese 

and  the  fever  commences.  The  nose  is  the  external  orifice  of  the 
lungs  ;  when  the  variolous  lymph  is  placed  in  the  nose,  its  influence 
is  first  communicated  to  the  lungs  ;  the  lungs  govern  the  hair  and 
the  skin  ;  the  lungs  transfer  the  poison  to  the  heart ;  the  heart  governs 
the  pulse,  and  transfers  the  poison  to  the  spleen  ;  the  spleen  governs 
the  flesh,  and  transfers  the  poison  to  the  liver  ;  the  liver  governs  the 
tendons,  and  transfers  the  poison  to  the  kidneys  ;  the  kidneys 
govern,  the  bones,  the  poison  of  the  smallpox  lies  hid  originally  in 
the  marrow  of  the  bones ;  but  when  it  receives  the  impression 
from  the  inoculation,  it  manifests  itself  and  breaks  out  externally. 

'  loth.  General  Rules  :— Inoculation  is  to  be  performed  when  there 
is  no  disease  present  in  the  system  ;  good  lymph  must  be  selected,  a 
proper  time  chosen,  and  good  management  adopted,  and  then  all  will 
go  on  well.' 

As  to  the  introduction  of  vaccination. 

•  Many  attempts  were  made  to  introduce  the  practice  of  vaccina- 
tion into  China  during  the  early  period  when  commercial  relations 
were  in  existence  between  the  East  India  Company  and  the  Chinese. 
In  1805  a  Portuguese  subject,  a  merchant  in  Macao  of  the  name  of 
Hewit,  brought  vaccine  over  "  upon  live  subjects  from  Manila,"  the 
King  having  had  vaccine  conveyed  to  the  Philippines  by  suitable 
means  and  professional  men  across  the  South  American  continent. 
It  was  extensively  practised  by  Portuguese  practitioners  in  Macao  as 
well  as  by  Dr.  Pearson  upon  the  inhabitants  of  that  ancient  city,  as 
well  as  amongst  the  Chinese.' 

Dr.  Pearson,  a  surgeon  of  the  East  India  Company  in  China, 
carried  on  the  work  of  its  introduction  to  the  natives  with  great 
vigour  and  perseverance. 

'  Stated  periods  were  fixed  at  which  the  Chinese  received  the 
benefits  of  vaccination  from  the  doctor's  hands,  nor  was  the  experi- 
ment unattended  with  success.  It  soon  sprang  into  favour  amongst 
the  Chinese,  who,  though  very  conservative  in  their  feelings,  when 
once  convinced  of  the  benefit  of  any  new  method,  take  it  up  very 
readily,  and  great  numbers  were  brought  to  be  operated  on  during 
the  period  of  the  raging  of  smallpox  in  the  course  of  the  winter  and 
spring  months  of  1805-6.' 

Thousands  were  vaccinated  in  the  course  of  twelve 
months,  and  the  Chinese  who  had  been  instructed  by  Dr. 
Pearson,  practised  it  extensively,  not  only  under  his 
immediate  inspection  but  at  a  distance  as  well.  When 
the  immediate  need  for  this  protective  influence  against 
the  fell  and  foul  disease  was  gone — when  in  short,  small- 
pox ceased  to  be  epidemic,  '  the  evil  and  the  remedy 
against  it  were  equally  forgotten,'  and  Dr.  Pearson  '  found 
great  difficulty  in  procuring  a  sufficient  number  of  subjects 
by  means  of  which,  merely  to  preserve  the  vaccine.' 

754 


Vaccination  and  Inoculation 

Twice  was  it  necessary  to  have  it  reintroduced  from  the 
'  islands  of  Lucona,'  and  twice  it  was  found  to  have  been 
kept  up  at  country  districts.  In  his  report  for  1816, 
Dr.  Pearson  speaks  about  its  spreading  greatly  '  from 
among  the  lower  classes  of  society,  so  as  to  have  become 
general  among  the  middling  ranks,  and  to  be  frequently 
resorted  to  by  those  of  the  higher  conditions.' 

The  Chinese  native  doctors  had  strenuously  opposed 
it,  and  still  at  that  period  it  met  with  but  little  acceptation 
by  them,  and  alarms  of  failures  had  occasionally  been 
spread ;  there  was  also  a  prejudice  against  submitting 
children  to  vaccination  in  the  summer  and  autumnal 
months,  doubtless  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  the  time  of 
such  great  heats  it  had  been  observed  '  that  all  diseases 
attacking  or  brought  on  at  that  season  are  more  than 
usually  dangerous  or  severe.' 

The  principal  members  of  the  '  Chinese  commercial 
corporation,  in  whom  was  vested  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
dealing  with  Europeans,'  established  a  fund  for  the  gratui- 
tous vaccination  of  the  poor  at  all  times,  offering  a  small 
premium  to  those  who  brought  their  children  for  that 
purpose  ;  and  from  fifteen  to  forty  were  vaccinated  every 
ninth  day  by  a  Chinese  vaccinator,  while  Dr.  Pearson 
inspected  the  pustules  from  which  the  lymph  was  taken, 
and  this  simply  to  put  an  end  to  a  malicious  rumour  that 
the  Chinese  vaccinators  had  not  been  circumspect  in  the 
choice  of  the  matter  they  used. 

The  medical  servants  of  the  East  India  Company  were 
always  ready  to  vaccinate  gratuitously  all  persons  who 
wished  it ;  though  the  taking  of  it  thus  up  by  the  Chinese 
themselves  conduced  to  the  spread  of  the  practice  ;  and 
it  became  a  source  of  reputation  and  emolument  to  the 
Chinese  who  were  employed  for  the  purpose. 

Great  numbers  must  have  been  vaccinated  at  this  early 
stage,  and  it  was  believed  that  the  greater  mildness  of  the 
epidemics  of  smallpox  which  followed  were  due  to  the 
Chinese  acceptance  to  such  an  extent  of  this  protective 
against  the  disease. 

755 


Things  Chinese 

A  report  on  the  subject  was  again  made  in  1821.  This 
states  that  '  the  practice  of  vaccination  had  been  uninter- 
ruptedly continued '  and  had  '  received  a  steady  and  great 
extension  with  increased  confidence  in  its  efficacy.'  Small- 
pox had  in  the  preceding  and  that  season  '  prevailed  in  an 
unusual  degree  of  severity  and  attended  with  mortality'; 
but  the  results  of  the  investigations  that  were  instituted 
proved  that  vaccination  was  satisfactory,  though  every 
endeavour  was  made  to  discover  whether  certain 
complaints  were  well  founded.  These  complaints  had 
divided  themselves  into  two  heads  :  viz.,  vaccination  with 
spurious  matter,  or  imperfectly,  or  unskilfully  conducted  ; 
and  the  other,  the  following  of  the  vaccination  by  a 
modified  smallpox.  Under  the  first  heading  none  presented 
themselves  who  had  been  vaccinated  under  inspection,  or 
at  the  Canton  Institute ;  under  the  other  heading  the 
number  was  few.  The  general  reliance  of  the  Chinese  was 
not  shaken. 

Vaccination  had  by  this  time  extended  to  the  neigh- 
bouring province  of  Kwangtung,  but  had  met  with  a  check 
from  the  hostility  of  the  priesthood,  and  had  been  dropped. 
This  opposition  was  due  to  two  circumstances ;  for  the 
priests  had  been  used  to  inoculate  after  the  Chinese  methods, 
and  their  deities  had  been  resorted  to  in  times  of  visitation 
of  this  plague.  Unfortunately  scarlet-fever  also  broke  out, 
and  the  blame  of  this  was  laid  on  vaccination,  which  it 
was  said  '  retained  the  poison  in  the  system,  to  appear  at  a 
future  time  in  still  worse  shapes.' 

Between  1821  and  1833  two  reports  were  made,  and 
from  them  it  is  learned  that  the  practice  extended  itself 
largely  amongst  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  Chinese  in  the 
Canton  province.  It  was  also  conveyed  to  the  Kiangsi, 
Kiangnan,  and  Fukien  provinces,  and  even  reached  Peking, 
but  was  lost  there. 

'  Its  anti-variolous  efficacy'  was  'universally  known  and  confided 
in  ;  ...  its  preservation  during  the  period  specified  had  greatly, 
almost  exclusively,  resulted  from  the  well-adapted  system  pursued 
at  the  institution,  and  the  agency  of  the  Chinese  vaccinators  ;  the 
principal  of  whom  A-he-qua  (who'  had  '  been  engaged  in  the  practice 

756 


Vaccination  and  Inoculation 

since  1805')  was  'a  man  remarkably  qualified  for  the  business,  by 
his  cast  of  judgment,  method,  and  perseverance.  He  had  been 
encouraged  in  his  laudable  exertions  by  the  favourable  opinion  of  his 
countrymen  and  by  marks  of  distinction  or  consideration  which '  had 
'been  conferred  upon  him  by  the  higher  functionaries  of  the  local 
government.' 

A  further  mention  is  made  of  the  same  man  at  a  later 
date  in  the  same  magazine  for  the  year  1842,  when  it  was 
stated  that  some  cases  of  smallpox  prevailed,  and  it  goes 
on  to  add  that  '  vaccination  for  the  prevention  of  this 
disease  had  been  regularly  and  successfully  practised  every 
eighth  day  during  many  years  by  He-qua  at  the  Public 
Hall  of  the  Hong  merchants.'  Dr.  Pearson,  at  the  same 
time  as  he  started  vaccination,  caused  a  tract  to  be  printed 
on  it  in  Chinese,  Sir  George  Staunton  translating  it :  this 
was  in  A.D.  1805.  It  set  forth  the  advantages  and  benefits 
to  be  derived  from  vaccination,  and  was  of  great  use, 
being  republished  at  Shanghai  subsequently,  with  some 
corrections  and  slight  additions ;  part  of  this  same 
tract  of  Dr.  Pearson's  was  incorporated  into  a  native 
tract  also  republished  in  Peking  in  1828,  this  latter 
having  been  originally  published  at  Canton  in  1817. 

The  Russians  introduced  vaccination  into  Peking  before 
1828  'as  early  as  1820,  the  medical  gentlemen  attached 
to  the  Legation  .  .  .  practised  vaccination  among  the 
Albasines — now  Chinese  naturalised  subjects.' 

'  Vaccination  among  the  Mongols  was  attempted  before  it  was 
introduced  at  Canton  by  Dr.  Pearson,  but  excepting  the  following 
notice,  we  do  not  know  whether  it  has  since  been  practised.  "  Mr. 
Rehmann,  physician  to  his  S.H.  Prince  of  Fiirstenberg,  has  lately 
received  a  letter  from  his  son,  physician  to  the  Russian  embassy  in 
China.  This  letter  is  dated  from  Kiakhta  on  the  frontiers  of  China, 
I4th  October  1805.  Mr.  Rehmann,  Junr.,  writes  that  he  has 
vaccinated  a  great  number  of  the  children  of  the  Mongols.  .  .  .  He 
assures  his  father,  that  in  consequence  of  the  measures  he  has 
employed,  vaccination  is  now  propagated  from  Jekutzh,  as  far  as 
Jakutsh  and  Ochotzk,  and  consequently  from  England  to  the  remotest 
extremity  of  the  northern  part  of  the  globe."  ' 

We  have  seen  how  it  was  introduced  into  Canton  and 
some  of  the  other  provinces.  Its  utility  soon  became 
known,  'and  the  practice  quickly  spread  over  the  empire.' 

Vaccination  was  introduced  into  Peking  '  by  the  Prefect 

757 


Things  Chinese 

Tseng  who  had  formerly  been  a  mandarin  in  the  South '  in 
1828.  In  1864  there  were  three  vaccination  establishments 
in  the  city,  one  having  a  branch  in  Tientsin,  it  was  stated 
then  concerning  Peking  : — 

'Smallpox  is  still  a  great  scourge,  owing  chiefly  to  the  careless- 
ness of  the  people  in  not  availing  themselves  of  it  [vaccination]  in 
time.  It  is  said  to  be  endemic — all  children,  they  assert,  take  it  by 
the  will  of  Heaven  ;  there  is  no  escape — sic  volvere  Parcas.'  This 
report  goes  on  to  say  '  the  vaccine  establishments  here  are  well 
conducted.  Attendance  is  given  every  eighth  day,  or  oftener,  if  the 
weather  be  very  dry,  and  the  lymph  operates  rapidly.  Tickets  of 
admission  are  granted,  the  name,  address,  age,  and  sex  are  carefully 
noted  down  in  a  register  kept  for  the  purpose.  A  note  is  taken  of 
the  number  of  vaccination  days  each  year ;  the  number  of  children 
vaccinated,  those  in  which  it  succeeds  amongst  those  who  return. 
The  statistics  for  1893,  of  the  oldest  and  principal  establishment  here 
I  subjoin,  as  given  by  the  vaccinator : — 

'Number  of  vaccination  days,  61  ;  number  vaccinated,  2227; 
children,  of  those  who  returned,  1229  ;  of  successful  vaccination, 
each  child  being  vaccinated  in  six  places,  6080 ;  vaccination  days 
during  37  years,  811. 

'The  establishments  are  not  only  gratuitous,  but  a  gratuity  is  given 
to  the  parents  to  bring  the  children  back.  In  Spring,  when  the  cases 
are  numerous,  they  receive,  on  their  second  visit,  about  2d.  ;  in  the 
Autumn  and  Winter,  when  the  cases  are  few,  they  receive  about  2d. 
on  their  first  visit,  and  on  their  return,  about  gd.  When  there  is  the 
least  danger  of  the  lymph  becoming  exhausted,  beggar  children  are 
hired  to  be  vaccinated,  who  live  in  the  Hospital. 

'When  called  upon  to  vaccinate  the  nobility,  these  children  are 
taken  in  a  cart  to  the  residences  of  the  aristocracy,  in  order  to  have 
the  lymph,  in  the  recent  state,  transferred  from  their  arms  to  those 
of  more  fortunately-situated  children.  This  method,  which  could  not 
always  have  been  of  the  most  agreeable  description,  has  been  super- 
seded by  tubes  from  this  Hospital  [London  Mission  Hospital]. 
When  it  was  first  proposed  to  introduce  vaccination  into  the 
metropolis,  it  was  arranged  to  have  a  relay  of  boys  upon  the  road  to 
be  vaccinated  in  succession  every  eighth  day,  but  this  plan  was 
abandoned  when  the  means  of  conveying  scabs  was  found  out.  The 
dried  scabs  on  reaching  Peking  were  mixed  with  Mother's  milk.  .  .  . 
The  tracts  and  sheets  printed  and  distributed  on  the  subject  display 
a  great  ignorance  of  the  true  principles  of  physiology.  They  suppose 
the  poison  of  the  smallpox  to  be  located  about  the  insertion  of  the 
deltoid  muscle,  and  hence  direct  the  lymph  to  be  introduced  at  three 
distinct  places  in  each  arm,  the  upper  one  to  be  four  inches  from  the 
shoulder,  and  the  lower  one  two  inches  from  the  elbow.  They  give 
drawings  of  the  position  and  of  the  lancets  which,  by-the-bye,  are 
all  of  foreign  manufacture.  They  are  very  particular  regarding  the 
diet,  warning  most  carefully  to  avoid  the  smells  of  whisky,  opium, 
heated  kangs,  and  dirty  or  decaying  matter. 

758 


Vaccination  and  Inoculation 

'For  at  least  100  days  after  vaccination,  cocks,  certain  kinds  of 
fish,  beef,  eggs,  beans,  and  bean  flour  are  to  be  avoided.  For  three 
years  after  vaccination,  buckwheat,  and  cherries  are  to  be  shunned. 
The  things  enjoined  are  vegetables,  pork,  and  salted  ham.  Three 
days  after  vaccination,  they  are  allowed  to  eat  shrimps,  with  rice 
spirit,  Mongolian  mushrooms,  and  mutton  ;  and  only  in  Winter  must 
birds'  nests,  steamed  with  sugar-candy,  be  eaten.' 

The  medical  missionary  hospitals  have  had  a  large 
share  in  both  carrying  on  the  work  of  vaccination  when 
once  started  and  in  introducing  it  into  parts  of  the  country 
where  it  was  unknown  before.  In  this  way  it  was  first 
brought  into  Shanghai  in  1861,  and  at  other  times  into 
various  other  places. 

By  all  these  different  ways,  included  in  which,  of  course, 
is  the  use  of  it  by  the  Chinese  themselves,  the  employment 
of  vaccination  has  pretty  well  spread  through  the  empire  ; 
not  only  have  individual  Chinese  taken  it  up  as  a  means 
of  earning  their  living ;  but  charitable  institutions  have 
employed  men  to  go  about  the  country  and  vaccinate,  as 
well  as  at  the  institutions  themselves. 

The  following  extract  from  a  Customs'  Medical  Report 
for  1877-1878,  by  Dr.  Wong  Fung,  a  Chinese,  but  an  M.D. 
of  Edinburgh  University,  the  doctor  for  some  years  of  the 
Foreign  Community  in  Canton,  and  of  the  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs,  will  be  of  interest  here  : 

'To  Dr.  Alexander  Pearson  of  the  East  India  Company  is  due  the 
great  credit  of  first  establishing  by  a  long  course  of  labour  extending 
from  1805  to  1820,  the  practice  of  vaccination  among  the  natives  of 
Canton.  But  although  this  practice  was  introduced  so  early  and  has 
been  kept  up,  more  or  less,  among  the  population  ever  since,  it 
appears  that  the  people  have  been  rather  careless  to  avail  themselves 
of  it  ;  and  it  is  only  of  late,  perhaps  within  the  last  15  years,  that  it 
has  obtained  extension  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  men  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  whether  living  on  land  or  on  water,  so  that  at 
present  it  may  be  estimated  that,  at  least  95  per  cent,  of  the  children 
of  the  city  receive  the  benefits  of  vaccination.  The  general  age  at 
which  children  are  vaccinated  is  about  the  second  year,  and  the 
earliest  about  the  fourth  or  fifth  month.  There  are  in  the  city 
many  men  engaged  in  the  practice,  some  of  whom  receive  pay  from 
benevolent  individuals  to  open  dispensaries  for  free  attendance  on 
the  poor  on  stated  days.  In  the  country,  vaccination  has  also  made 
great  progress  in  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  professional  men 
are  found  in  villages,  either  practising  on  their  own  account,  or  hired 
by  the  gentry  for  the  purpose.  The  two  most  noted  vaccinators  of 
the  city  are  Yan  Hee  and  Tan  Yih-sing.  The  grandfather  of  the 

759 


Things  Chinese 

former  was  instructed  in  the  art  by  Dr.  Pearson  in  1806,  and  carried 
it  on  with  such  success  and  became  so  widely  known  that  his  family ' 
received  '  marks  of  recognition  from  the  Government  in  the  shape  of 
some  official  title,  and  also,  I  believe,  a  grant  of  Tls.  100  per  annum 
for  the  preservation  of  lymph.  Tan  Yih  -  sing  has  also  a  large 
practice,  some  say  on  account  of  the  confidence  placed  in  him  as  one 
skilful  in  the  diagnosis  of  leprosy,  and  likely  to  be  circumspect  in  the 
selection  of  lymph.  It  was  always  the  custom  to  vaccinate  direct 
from  the  arm,  but  of  late  years  many  Chinese,  including  the 
individuals  above  mentioned,  have  been  taught  by  Dr.  Kerr  to 
preserve  lymph  in  glass  tubes.  Chinese  mothers  strongly  object  to 
have  lymph  taken  from  their  children,  under  the  idea  that  it  weakens 
their  constitution,  and  would  not  part  with  it  but  for  money,  so  that 
vaccinators  have  to  secure  their  supply  of  lymph  by  paying  children 
successfully  vaccinated  to  come  to  their  houses.  When  a  doctor  is 
called  to  a  family  to  perform  vaccination  he  takes  a  child  with  him  to 
furnish  the  vaccine,  for  which  he  generally  gets  50  cents  or  $i,  as  a 
fee,  and  the  child  25  cents  for  the  lymph.  Poor  people  may  be 
vaccinated  for  10  or  25  cents.' 

Again  as  to  its  present  practice.  In  the  Report  on 
Ningpo,  in  the  Customs'  Annual  Trade  Report  for  1896, 
appears  this : — 

'  Among  the  local  developments  of  the  year  may  be  noticed  a 
free  vaccination  institution  supported  by  contributions  from  the 
Customs'  banker,  Yen  Taotai.' 

Vaccination  is  carried  on  at  the  Tung  Wa  Hospital  in 
Hongkong,  free  to  all  comers  ;  the  subjects  are  nearly  all 
children,  but  there  are  some  grown-up  people  as  well. 
This  hospital  does  not  send  out  doctors  into  the  country 
to  vaccinate  ;  but  some  hospitals  in  Canton  do.  These 
doctors  go  to  some  principal  city  and  stay  there  for  some 
time  and  vaccinate.  At  these  benevolent  hospitals  there 
is  no  charge ;  but  the  private  practitioners  charge  a  small 
fee,  and  only  have  occasional  patients.  The  Chinese 
within  the  last  ten  years  are  beginning  to  see  the  good  of 
it  more  and  more  every  day.  In  the  country  they  vaccinate 
from  child  to  child  without  procuring  fresh  lymph.  This 
is  done  amongst  the  poor  and  even  amongst  the  rich, 
unless  they  understand  about  it ;  there  is,  of  course,  a 
chance  of  getting  it  from  a  poor  subject ;  they  take 
precautions  to  only  inoculate  from  the  healthy,  though  the 
possibility  exists  of  getting  it  from  an  unhealthy  child. 

760 


Vaccination  and  Inoculation 

The  writer  has  heard  of  one  case  where  the  lymph  was 
taken  from  a  leper's  child,  who  appeared  to  be  free  from 
the  disease,  and  the  vaccinated  child  took  it.  The  general 
run  of  doctors  take  their  lymph  from  the  arm  ;  but  rich 
people,  who  can  afford  it,  do  not.  The  Chinese  are  not 
aware  of  the  necessity  of  re-vaccination.  They  think  they 
are  not  so  liable  to  smallpox  as  Europeans,  for  they  do 
not  eat  roasted  and  broiled  meats,  as  they  (the  Europeans) 
do. 

The  Chinese  doctors  vaccinate  very  carefully  three 
spots  on  each  arm,  that  is  six  spots,  with  an  English 
lancet,  and  cutting  very  deep. 

The  lymph  now  used  in  Hongkong,  Canton,  and  neigh- 
bourhood, is  procured  from  the  Government  Vaccine 
Institute  in  this  Colony. 

Except  in  the  neighbourhood  of  treaty  ports  or  where 
European  influence  prevails,  as  at  all  mission  stations,  it 
may  be  said  that  practically  vaccination,  as  at  present 
performed  by  the  Chinese  themselves,  is  from  arm  to  arm, 
lymph  being  now  used  is  hundreds  of  generations  from  the 
original  arms ;  but  where,  as  above,  European  influence 
prevails,  calf  lymph  is  being  introduced,  but  the  style  of 
vaccination  from  arm  to  arm  prevails.  Re-vaccination  is 
not  practised. 

'When  vaccinating,  the  child  is  first  given  a  bath  and  its  head 
shaved,  either  of  which  performances  is  not  repeated  until  ten  days 
have  passed.  The  boys,  of  course,  being  more  valuable  than  the 
girls,  the  doctor  charges  50  per  cent,  more  for  them,  the  price  being 
generally  $1.00  for  a  boy,  and  50  cents  for  a  girl.' 

Special  attention  is  given  to  vaccination  at  the  Mission 
Hospital  in  Canton,  '  and  the  work  begun  by  the  hospital 
has  been  taken  up  and  pushed  vigorously  forward  by 
native  associations,  as  many  as  five  hundred  specialists 
being  despatched  in  one  season  to  interior  districts,  in  the 
interests  of  this  work.' 

Books  recommended.  —  Different  volumes  of  the  Chinese  depository 
contain  accounts  of  the  introduction  and  progress  of  vaccination  amongst 
the  Chinese  in  the  early  davs.  Also  The  Chinese  and  Japanese  Repository. 
The  Annual  Reports  of  the  numerous  missionary  hospitals  throughout 

761 


Things  Chinese 

China  also  contain,  very  often,  accounts  of  what  is  being  done  not  only  in 
the  hospitals  themselves,  but,  sometimes,  of  what  is  being  done  by  the 
Chinese  in  their  neighbourhood  with  regard  to  vaccination. 

WOMAN,  THE  STATUS  OF.— Woman,  in  China, 
occupies  a  totally  different  sphere  from  that  of  man  ;  a 
sphere  which,  though  it  must  of  necessity  touch  that  of 
man  at  certain  points,  should  be  kept  as  separate  as 
possible.  At  the  early  age  of  seven,  according  to  the 
practice  of  the  ancients,  '  boys  and  girls  did  not  occupy  the 
same  mat  nor  eat  together ' ;  and  this  is  still  carried  to 
such  an  extent  that  a  woman's  clothes  should  not  hang  on 
the  same  peg  as  a  man's,  nor  should  she  use  the  same 
place  to  bathe  in.  The  finical  nonsense  that  all  this 
engenders  is  something  absurd  ;  it  is  not  even  proper  for 
a  woman  to  eat  with  her  husband.  Amongst  the  lower 
classes,  fortunately,  the  proprieties  in  this  respect  are  more 
honoured  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance,  and  it  is  a 
pleasant  sight  to  see  a  labourer  and  his  wife  partaking 
together  of  their  frugal  meal ;  common-sense  and  the 
exigencies  of  common  life  getting  the  better  of  philo- 
sophy, vainly  so  called. 

Woman  is  made  to  serve  in  China,  and  the  bondage  is 
often  a  long  and  bitter  one :  a  life  of  servitude  to  her 
parents ;  a  life  of  submission  to  her  parents-in-law  at 
marriage;  and  the  looking  forward  to  a  life  of  bondage 
to  her  husband  in  the  next  world,  for  she  belongs  to  the 
same  husband  there,  and  is  not  allowed,  by  the  sentiment 
of  the  people,  to  be  properly  married  to  another  after  his 
death.  The  birth  of  a  son  frees  her  to  a  certain  extent 
from  the  degradation  of  her  position,  for  it  promotes  her  to 
some  degree,  within  the  house  only,  of  equality  with  her 
husband.  All  these  restrictive  customs  are  based  on  the 
idea  that  woman  occupies  a  lower  plane  than  man :  he  is 
the  superior,  she  the  inferior ;  as  heaven  is  to  earth,  so  is 
man  to  woman.  All  her  bringing  up  is  with  the  aim  of 
teaching  her  perfect  submission  to  the  paramount  authority 
of  man  ;  for  she  ought  to  have  no  will  of  her  own  :  her  will 
must  be  in  complete  subjection  to  that  of  his.  Does  her 

762 


Woman,  The  Status  of 

husband  have  friends  at  his  house?  She  is  invisible,  a 
nameless  thing,  for  it  would  be  an  insult  for  a  visitor  to 
enquire  after  his  host's  wife.  Do  the  gentlemen  require 
female  society?  The  absurd  seclusion  of  respectable 
women  drives  them  to  seek  it  in  the  company  of  the 
courtesans,  who,  in  order  to  fit  them  for  their  life,  are 
educated  in  music,  and  taught  such  accomplishments  as 
will  render  their  society  more  acceptable  ;  reminding  one 
of  the  position  held  by  the  Grecian  hetcerce. 

Of  so  little  account  is  woman  in  China,  that  a  father,  if 
asked  the  number  of  his  children,  will  probably  leave  out 
the  girls  in  reckoning ;  or,  if  he  has  no  boys,  his  reply  will 
be  '  only  one  girl,'  said  in  such  a  tone  of  voice,  as  to  call 
forth  the  sympathy  of  his  listener  for  his  unfortunate 
position. 

In  the  very  great  majority  of  cases  the  girls  are 
not  taught  to  read  or  write ;  not,  as  was  the  case  with 
some  of  our  great-grandmothers,  for  fear  they  should 
learn  how  to  write  love-letters  (for  the  billet-doux  does 
not  flourish  in  China),  but  for  the  simple  reason  that 
it  is  useless  for  girls  to  learn  to  read.  (See  Article  on 
Education.)  Embroidery,  plain  sewing,  the  manufacture 
of  tiny  shoes  for  her  cramped-up  feet,  '  golden  lilies',  as 
they  are  euphemistically  termed,  and  interminable  gossip, 
fill  up  the  lady's  uneventful  life,  not  even  broken  by 
the  pleasure  of  a  daily  walk,  for  she  must  be  closely 
shut  up  in  her  sedan  if  she  ventures  out  on  a  call. 
The  chivalry  of  the  West,  with  its  modern  Christianised 
crystallisation  of  place  aux  dames  and  other  mottoes 
of  polite  conduct  where  the  weaker  sex  is  concerned, 
is  utterly  unknown,  as  witness  the  brutal  chaff,  descend- 
ing sometimes  even  to  obscenity,  whenever  a  young  girl 
or  lady  is  seen  in  the  street :  every  man  makes  a  point 
of  turning  round  and  staring  at  her ;  no  matter  how 
respectable  she  may  be,  some  boisterous  fun  is  made  of 
her  pretty  face  ;  she  has  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  jeers  from 
a  crowd  of  rough  men,  all  the  worse  to  bear  on  account  of 
her  usual  seclusion  from  all  out-door  life,  and  as  her  small 

763 


Things  Chinese 

feet  handicap  her  pace,  her  rude  reception  is  reduced  to  a 
slow  torture. 

No  fashionable  mother  in  England,  lost  to  all  the 
instincts  of  natural  affection,  who  sacrifices  her  daughter 
in  marriage  to  position  or  wealth,  but  will  find  a  counter- 
part in  nearly  every  Chinese  mother  and  father,  who  no 
more  think  of  taking  their  daughter's  feelings  into  con- 
sideration than  they  would  think  of  asking  her  to  fly. 
Shut  up  in  the  '  inner  apartment,' — the  Chinese  equivalent 
of  the  Indian  zenana,  though  not  such  a  horrible  imprison- 
ment as  the  latter — the  young  maiden,  as  she  blossoms 
into  womanhood,  has  but  little  chance  of  seeing  her  future 
husband. 

As  the  Chinese  poet  sings  :— 

'  A  mien  severe  and  eyes  that  freeze, 

Become  the  future  bride  ; 
No  whispering  underneath  the  trees, 
Ere  yet  the  knot  be  tied.' 

But  it  would  not  be  human  nature  were  such  stolen 
pleasures  not  to  be  found  sometimes  amongst  the  sweets  of 
life  for  a  Chinese  girl ;  and  if  she  chance  to  have  picked 
up  a  little  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  printed  character,  her 
novel  reading  will  occasionally  give  her  natural  feelings 
such  a  fillip  as  to  develop  the  latent  instincts  of  affection 
and  enable  her  to  burst  through  some  of  the  prudery  of  the 
unnatural  system  of  Confucianism. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  the  wide  world  over,  and 
Chinese  boys'  and  girls'  hearts  are  cast  in  the  same  mould 
as  those  of  the  West ;  but,  unfortunately,  girls'  hearts  here, 
like  their  feet,  are  cramped  and  distorted  out  of  all  shape 
and  recognition.  Every  tendency  towards  love  between 
man  and  woman  is  immoral,  and  to  be  repressed,  and, 
being  repressed  in  its  natural  and  pure  direction,  takes  an 
unnatural  one ;  for  many  a  Chinese  girl  or  woman  has  to 
be  content  with  the  position  of  a  secondary  wife ;  her 
husband  having  married  his  first — legitimate  one — from 
family  policy,  may  select  his  secondary  or  subsequently- 
taken  wives,  from  pure  affection.  Women  are  sometimes 

764 


Woman,  The  Status  of 

thus  rescued  from  an  immoral  life  and  brought  into  a 
home  ;  but  a  dwelling  where  several  wives  usurp  the  place 
which  ought  to  be  reserved  for  one,  falls  far  short  of  the 
English  conception  of  the  word  home.  Sometimes  the 
husband  distributes  his  '  weaker  vessels '  into  as  many 
different  houses  as  there  are  wives,  in  order  to  minimise 
or  prevent  altogether  the  jealousies  or  bickerings  which 
often  ensue  when  all  live  in  one  house.  In  the  latter  case 
they  are  sometimes  distributed  through  the  house,  which 
must  be  a  large  one.  Apropos  of  this  is  the  Chinese 
proverb,  '  one  key  makes  no  noise,  but  two  keys  create  a 
jingling.' 

Notwithstanding  all  the  disadvantages  under  which 
women  labour  in  China,  they  at  times  rise  superior  to 
them,  and,  pushing  past  all  the  obstacles  in  their  path,  take 
a  foremost  position,  not  only  in  the  state,  but  in  the 
humbler  sphere  of  the  family,  as  well  as  in  the  more 
difficult  one  of  letters  and  literature. 

In  some  Chinese  works,  passages  are  found  which 
show  that  the  respective  authors  look  upon  marriage, 
occasionally  at  all  events,  as  we  in  the  West  do,  for 
instance : — 

'  They  ate  together  of  the  same  animal  and  joined  in 
supping  from  cups  made  of  the  same  gourd  ;  thus  showing 
that  they  now  formed  one  body,  were  of  equal  rank,  and 
pledged  to  mutual  affection.' 

'  The  ceremony  of  marriage  was  intended  to  be  a 
bond  of  love  between  two  of  different  surnames ' — after 
which  this  passage  goes  on  to  speak  of  ancestral  worship, 
etc. 

Whatever  affection  a  girl  may  feel  for  her  own  family 
must  receive  a  wrench  on  her  marriage,  for  she  is  after 
that  important  event  almost  entirely  lost  to  her  own 
kin  and  transferred  to  that  of  her  husband.  In  fact,  so 
far  is  this  carried  that,  should  her  intended  die,  it  is  an 
act  of  virtue  for  the  girl  to  leave  her  own  people,  and 
embosom  herself  in  the  bereaved  household,  there  to  live 
in  subjection  to  the  deceased's  mother  till  death  joins 

765 


Things  Chinese 

the  couple  whom  the  fates  kept  separate  on  earth.  A 
woman  can  never  marry  twice, — legitimately,  that  is  to  say 
— a  man  falling  in  love  with  a  widow,  may  take  her  as  a 
concubine.  A  woman  only  once  rides  in  a  red  sedan, 
and  only  then  if  she  is  being  married  as  a  legal,  that  is  a 
first,  wife. 

A  high  type  of  virtue  for  a  woman,  in  some  parts  of 
China,  is  to  commit  suicide  on  the  death  of  her  husband  or 
intended  ;  in  some  cases  the  relatives  force  her  to  do  it, 
in  hopes  of  the  &lat.and  the  erection  of  a  stone  portal, 
which  a  representation  of  the  case  will  probably  cause  the 
Government  to  sanction.  Remaining  a  perpetual  so- 
called  widow  without  ever  being  married  (in  the  event  of 
her  intended  dying),  is  another  strong  recommendation  for 
these  monuments  to  virtue !  What  wonder  that  in  some 
places  the  girls  band  themselves  together  never  to  marry, 
and,  to  prevent  being  forced  into  matrimony,  commit 
suicide ! 

The  lower  classes  have  more  freedom  of  action  in  some 
respects;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  not  confined  to  the 
house,  but,  as  the  exigencies  of  their  life  demand  it,  they 
go  about  in  public  to  perform  their  duties :  seamstresses 
sit  at  the  street  corners,  repairing  clothes ;  farmers'  wives 
assist  in  field  operations  ;  servants  go  about  the  streets 
and  make  purchases ;  domestic  slave-girls  run  errands  ; 
grass-cutters  ramble  up  the  hill-sides  to  cut  the  grass  for 
fodder  or  fuel ;  villagers  go  from  house  to  house  of  the  big 
cities  to  gather  pig's  wash  for  food  for  these  unsavoury 
quadrupeds  ;  scavengers  busy  themselves  in  the  narrow 
streets  and  crowded  throughfares,  to  the  discomfort  of  the 
foot  passengers  ;  tea-girls  pick  tea,  seated-  at  the  doors  of 
the  tea  hongs  ;  beggars  go  in  troops,  or  singly  through  the 
crowds  ;  while  the  blind  singing-girls,  with  their  duennas, 
seek  for  hire;  and  the  little  sampans  are  manned  by 
women  and  girls. 

But  the  employment  of  women  in  outdoor  pursuits 
differs  in  different  parts  of  the  country ;  in  some  places 
they  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence,  whilst  in  other 

766 


Writing 

places  their  engaging  in  labour,  for  which  they  are  not  so 
well  fitted  as  man,  renders  their  presence  even  more 
conspicuous.  To  one  accustomed  in  Canton  and  neigh- 
bourhood to  the  constant  presence  of  women  in  the  fields 
and  streets  and  on  the  river  and  sea,  busy  with  various 
kinds  of  manual  labour,  it  is  strange  to  note  their  entire 
absence,  with  but  trifling  exceptions,  in  the  country  round 
Swatow. 

Books  recommended. — 'The  Status  of  Women  in  China,'  'The  Famous 
Women  of  China,'  two  small  pamphlets,  both  by  the  late  Rev.  E.  Faber, 
Dr.  Theol.  'Typical  Women  of  China'  [abridged  from  the  Chinese  Work, 
'  Records  of  Virtuous  Women  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Times '],  by  Miss  A.  C. 
Safford.  Also  see  an  amusing  Article  in  The  Chinese  Recorder  and  Mission- 
ary Journal,  vol.  xxviii.  pp.  10-18,  entitled  'Chinese  Women  from  a 
Chinese  Standpoint,'  by  I.  T.  Headland. 

WRITING. — As  to  the  introduction  of  writing 
amongst  the  Chinese,  it  has  been  stated  that: — 

'  Chinese  writers,  unable  to  trace  the  gradual  formation  of  their 
characters  (for,  of  course,  there  could  be  no  intelligible  historical 
data  until  long  after  their  formation),  have  ascribed  them  to  Huang  Ti, 
one  of  their  primitive  monarchs,  or,  even  earlier,  to  Fu-hsi.  A  mythi- 
cal personage,  Tsang-kieh,  who  flourished  about  B.C.  2700,  is  credited 
with  the  invention  of  symbols  to  represent  ideas,  from  noticing  the 
markings  on  tortoise-shell,  and  thence  imitating  common  objects  in 
nature.' 

If  the  study  of  the  origin  of  English  words  is  interest- 
ing, that  of  Chinese,  is,  if  anything,  even  more  so.  The 
mode  of  writing  the  character  presents  facilities  for  this 
study  which  are  wanting  in  English.  Here  are  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  word  pictures,  some  of  them  patent  to 
the  most  casual  glance,  requiring  scarcely  a  thought  to 
elucidate  them. 

The  Chinese  divide  their  language  into  six  classes ; 
the  first  class,  '  imitative  symbols,'  includes  608  characters, 
amongst  them  some  of  the  first  characters  invented,  but 
they  have  been  modified  by  the  exigencies  of  time  and 
convenience  in  writing,  the  metal  stylus  having  been 
replaced  by  the  modern  pencil,  or  brush,  so  that  angular 
strokes  have  given  place  to  curves,  and  circles  to  squares 
and  oblongs,  while  parts  of  the  original  character  have 

767 


Things  Chinese 

dropped  out  as  the  writing  became  more  contracted.  As  a 
specimen  of  this  class  of  character  is  the  word  for  child, 
the  rude  picture  having  given  way  to  the  modern  character 
•^  where  the  head,  arms,  and  legs,  in  profile,  are  still 
visible.  Again,  the  outline  of  three  peaks,  which  was 
used  to  represent  the  idea  of  a  hill,  has  been  modified 
into  the  present  form,  [\\ .  Yet  again,  the  rude  picture  of 
an  eye  has  changed  into  an  upright  oblong  with  two  strokes 
in  the  middle,  viz.,  Q,  and  so  we  might  go  on  at  great 
length. 

The  second  class,  which  only  contains  107  characters,  is 
called  '  symbols  indicating  thought.'  These  characters  are 
formed  by  the  combination  of  those  of  the  previous  class, 
for  instance,  the  sun  appearing  above  a  line  indicates  the 
morning,  as  El,  • 

The  third  class  contains  740  characters,  called  '  com- 
bined ideas.'  These  ideographs  are  built  up  of  two  or 
three  of  the  other  symbols  :  for  instance, '  sun '  and  '  moon  ' 
are  put  in  juxtaposition  to  represent  brightness,  as  ^  ;  a 
boy  and  a  girl  together  represent  the  idea  good,  •££  :  it  is 
not  good  for  man  to  be  alone. 

The  fifth  class  is  called  '  uniting  sound  symbols/ 
containing  21,810  characters;  nearly  all  words,  it  will  thus 
be  seen,  belong  to  this  class.  They  are  formed  of  two 
distinct  parts :  one  called  the  phonetic,  giving  the  sound  to 
the  complex  character  thus  formed,  while  the  other  com- 
ponent part  of  the  character  is  '  formed  of  an  imitative 
symbol,'  as,  for  example,  $[!§,  a  carp. 

The  sixth  class  contains  598  characters,  and  is 
styled  '  borrowed  uses,'  including  '  metaphoric  symbols 
and  combinations,  in  which  the  meaning  is  deducted 
by  a  fanciful  accommodation.'  As  an  example  of  this 
class  there  is  the  word  for  character,  word,  or  letters 
(literature),  fj2,  a  child  under  a  shelter  —  '  characters 
being  considered  as  the  well-nurtured  offspring  of 
hieroglyphics.' 

Besides  this  sixfold  division  there  is  likewise  another 
sixfold  division  of  Chinese  characters,  with  respect  not  to 

768 


Writing 

their  original  formation  but  to  their  form,  which  may  be 
compared  to  Roman,  italic,  or  writing,  German,  Arabesque, 
and  other  forms  used  in  English  ;  for,  though  the  correct 
form  of  writing  Chinese  approaches  very  nearly  to  the 
printed  form,  more  so  than  in  English,  yet  there  are,  besides 
this  somewhat  easy  style  of  writing,  a  flowing  hand,  which 
requires  special  study,  and  a  still  more  running  hand,  which 
is  undecipherable  to  those  unfamiliar  with  it.  These  two 
latter  styles  allow  latitude,  as  in  English  writing,  for  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  the  individual  writer.  In  them,  more 
especially  in  the  latter  of  the  two,  contractions  are  largely 
availed  of,  the  brush  (Chinese  pen)  flies  over  the  paper 
linking  word  to  word  somewhat  in  the  style  of  shorthand 
writers  in  English.  In  short  this  running  or  'grass  writing' 
may  be  likened  in  some  degree  to  shorthand,  though  many 
of  the  Chinese  characters,  even  in  it,  are  too  complicated  to 
permit  of  a  rapid  enough  writing  to  constitute  it  shorthand. 
Neither  of  these  styles  is  allowed  to  be  employed  in  the 
Government  examinations,  where  every  character  must  be 
well  formed,  and  no  contractions  used  ;  but  they  are  found 
necessary  for  business  purposes.  The  books  of  large  firms 
are  kept  most  beautifully,  very  few  contractions  being  used, 
but  the  ordinary  business  firms  intersperse  the  more  correct 
and  formal  characters  with  running  forms  to  a  greater  or 
lesser  extent.  Scarcely  any  Europeans  trouble  themselves 
to  learn  thoroughly  more  than  one  style,  if  they  even  go  as 
far  as  that. 

Chinese  writing  is  largely  employed  for  ornamental 
purposes.  The  caligraphy  of  masters  of  the  art,  for  it  is  an 
art  in  China,  is  highly  pri/.ed,  and  commands  a  high  price. 
Even  the  prosaic  shop  is  ornamented  with  numerous  scrolls, 
bearing  poetical  phrases,  antithetical  sentences,  sometimes 
of  high  moral  import,  and  even  single  words,  beautifully 
engrossed,  which  line  the  bare  brick  walls,  and  are  hung 
here  and  there.  Fans  are  inscribed  with  poetic  effusions 
and  presented  to  friends,  who  treasure  them  as  autographs. 
Some  fine  specimens  of  a  fluent  writer's  skill  are  carved 
into  the  semicylindrical  surface  of  a  pair  of  nicely  varnished 

769  3  C 


Things  Chinese 

split  bamboos,  and  these  form  another  embellishment  for  the 
mansions  of  the  wealthy  Chinese.  The  backs  of  combs, 
the  end  pieces  of  folding  fans,  porcelain  vases,  and  numerous 
other  objects,  are  all  adorned  with  specimens  of  caligraphic 
skill,  and  most  effective  this  ornamentation  is  ;  at  times, 
the  stiff,  rigid  forms  of  the  seal  character  are  employed ; 
and  at  other  times  the  rambling  style  of  the  rapid 
writer,  with  its  bold  dashes,  firm  curves,  slender,  spider- 
like  threads  connecting  distant  parts,  thick  down-strokes, 
and  all  the  other  elegancies,  which  constitute  the  beauty 
of  Chinese  writing,  so  highly  appreciated  by  Chinese 
connoisseurs. 

Chinese  writing,  when  written  carefully,  is  slow  work  at 
the  best :  its  speed  is  comparable  to  the  engrossing  of  a 
legal  document  by  a  lawyer's  clerk  with  us ;  or  again,  one 
may  liken  the  slow,  laborious  writing  of  the  careful  scribe 
to  an  attempt  in  English  to  write  in  print,  while  the  rapid- 
running  hand  approaches  nearer  to  our  writing. 

Although  Chinese  is  not  an  alphabetical  language,  the 
Chinese  writing  is  composed  of  simple  strokes  and  dots, 
perpendiculars  and  horizontals,  modified  according  to 
certain  rules,  conditioned  by  the  position  in  which  they 
are  to  appear ;  further,  the  more  complex  characters  are 
built  up  of  the  simpler  ones,  some  of  the  compound  char- 
acters being  formed  of  a  combination  of  only  two  or  three, 
while  others  may  be  the  result  of  a  union  of  half  a  dozen 
or  more.  A  page  of  writing  would  present  an  unsym- 
metrical  appearance  were  the  original  size  of  the  component 
parts  of  the  characters  to  be  preserved.  They  are  modified 
to  suit  their  position — lengthened,  shortened,  compressed, 
enlarged,  or  diminished  as  necessary — the  idea  being  that 
each  character  shall  only  occupy  a  given  space. 

'The  Chinese  have  the  greatest  respect  for  any  writing,  and  it  no 
doubt  enhances  their  contempt  for  us  by  noticing  how  we  fail  to 
reverence  the  written  character,  and,  no  doubt,  they  also  fancy  that  we 
must  indeed  be  barbarians  and  our  writing  not  "that  fairest  jewel  in 
heaven  above  or  earth  beneath  "  which  theirs  is,  or  we  would  doubt- 
less take  the  greatest  care  that  not  a  scrap  of  it  should  fall  to  the 
ground  and  be  trodden  under  foot,  or  torn,  or  destroyed  in  any  way  but 
by  fire,  when  the  extremely  punctilious  will  also  go  as  far  as  to  bury 

7/0 


Zoology 

them  deep  in  the  earth  in  a  sealed  earthen  vessel,  or  sink  them  to 
the  bottom  of  the  river.'  Men  #0  about  the  streets  gathering  up 
every  scrap  of  paper  on  which  there  is  the  least  bit  of  writing  or 
printing,  so  that  they  may  be  destroyed  by  fire  at  certain  places 
prepared  for  that  purpose.  These  chiffoniers  are  paid  by  rich  men. 
Little  boxes  will  also  be  seen  here  and  there  along  the  streets,  not 
only  in  Chinese  cities  but  in  Hongkong  itself,  with  the  four  characters 
King  sik  tsz  chi, '  Reverence  printed  (or  written)  paper'  on  them.  These 
boxes  serve  as  receptacles  into  which  the  passers-by,  or  neighbours, 
may  stuff  their  refuse  paper. 

Books  recommended.  —  'The  Six  Scripts.'  A  traiwlation  by  L.  C.  Hopkins 
of  H.M.  Consular  service.  'I  low  to  Write  Chinese,'  l>y  the  Author  of  the 
present  work. 

ZOOLOGY. — Though  China  is  a  well-settled  country, 
there  are  still  vast  tracts  sparsely  inhabited,  and  sufficiently 
different  species  of  animals  are  found  to  make  the  study  of 
zoology  a  pleasure,  and  the  discovery  every  now  and  then 
of  some  new  species  lends  a  zest  to  its  pursuit. 

The  Fauna  in  the  South,  in  the  Island  of  Hainan  and  a 
portion  of  the  mainland,  is  tropical  to  some  extent ;  but 
North  China  and  Manchuria  resemble,  in  their  zoology, 
Corea  and  Japan. 

Of  monkeys,  there  are  several  varieties,  some  of  most 
remarkable  appearance  ;  the  Chinese  train  a  few  to  perform 
tricks.  Of  bats,  one  list  gives  twenty  species,  belonging  to 
nine  genera.  There  are  black  and  brown  bears,  as  well  as 
other  varieties.  The  carnivora,  though  not  such  a  pest  as 
in  India,  are  still  common  enough  in  some  parts,  and,  in 
certain  thickly-populated  places,  they  are  a  cause  of  con- 
siderable apprehension  to  the  natives.  Amongst  them 
may  be  mentioned  the  tiger  (See  Article  on  Tigers) 
ranging  over  large  districts  in  the  southern  provinces ; 
panthers,  leopards,  and  tiger-cats  are  also  not  unknown. 
Wild  cats  are  occasionally  seen  in  Hongkong  ;  civet  cats, 
tree-civets,  and  martens,  are  found  in  China.  The  domestic 
cat  is  very  common,  a  species  of  Angora  cat  being  a  pet 
in  Peking.  As  to  the  dog,  a  glance  at  it  reminds  one  of 
the  pictures  of  Esquimaux  dogs.  These  are  known  as 
'  chow  '  dogs,  or  '  wonks,'  amongst  foreigners,  looking  very 
pretty  when  pups,  with  their  fluffy,  yellow,  black,  or  reddish 

771 


Things  Chinese 

hair,  but  they  often  deteriorate  in  appearance  as  they  grow 
older,  though  this  does  not  appear  to  be  a  general  opinion, 
as  they  are  sometimes  made  pets  of  by  foreigners.  Strange 
to  say,  the  tongues  and  mouths  of  dogs  and  cats  are  often 
black  or  blue-black.  (See  Article  on  Dogs.)  Wolves,  foxes, 
and  racoon-dogs  are  common.  The  Chinese  horses  are 
ponies,  and  the  cattle  are  also  small  ;  some  of  the  latter 
have  a  hump.  The  water-buffalo  is  an  uncouth,  large, 
clumsy-looking  animal,  and  is  used  for  drawing  the  plough, 
as  well  as  for  other  agricultural  purposes  ;  the  milk  supplied 
by  the  buffalo  cow  is  richer  than  common  cow's  milk.  The 
black  tongue  and  mouth  are  also  found  in  buffaloes.  (See 
Article  on  the  Buffalo.)  Yaks  are  found  in  Tibet  and 
Kokonor.  Sheep  abound  in  the  North,  and  goats  all  over 
China.  Antelopes  and  deer  of  eleven  varieties  are  known — 
deer  are  kept  in  gentlemen's  grounds  in  China  as  well  as  in 
England — and  many  other  genera  of  ruminants  are  in- 
cluded in  China's  fauna.  Three  varieties  of  the  musk-deer 
may  be  mentioned.  Mules  and  donkeys  are  largely  used 
in  the  North  as  beasts  of  burden,  and  the  wild  ass, 
or  onager,  is  to  be  found  in  Kokonor.  The  elephant, 
rhinoceros,  and  tapir,  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  forests 
of  Yunnan  ;  the  wild  boar  in  the  North  and  in  Chekiang. 
Different  varieties  of  pigs  abound  in  the  North  and  South, 
and  pork  is  largely  consumed  by  the  Chinese.  The  camel 
is  also  a  beast  of  burden  in  Manchuria,  Mongolia,  and 
Northern  China.  Among  smaller  animals  may  be  men- 
tioned weasels,  otters  (used  for  fishing,  for  which  purpose 
they  are  trained),  badgers,  sable-ermine,  pole-cats,  stoats, 
sea-otters,  moles,  musk-rats,  shrew  mice,  hedgehogs, 
marmots,  and  molerats. 

There  are  many  kinds  of  rodents.  Hares  and  rabbits 
abound  in  some  places,  but  are  almost,  if  not  entirely, 
unknown  in  others.  There  are  ten  or  twelve  kinds  of 
squirrels  known,  as  well  as  two  genera  of  flying  squirrels. 
Twenty-five  species  of  rats  (See  Article  on  Rats),  and  mice 
are  known  as  existing  in  China,  and  all  but  three  are 
peculiar  to  the  country.  One  species  has  been  named 

772 


Zoology 

after  Confucius  (tints  Confucianus\  an  honour  which  prob- 
ably the  sage  would  not  appreciate  were  he  aware  of  it, 
while  another  has  been  named  after  Koxinga,  the  con- 
queror of  Formosa.  The  porcupine  is  supposed  by  the 
Chinese  to  use  its  quills  as  javelins  to  fling  at  its  enemies, 
while  the  scaly  ant-eater,  or  pangolin,  is  thus  described  by 
one  sapient  (!)  Chinese  writer  :— 

'Its  shape  resembles  a  crocodile;  it  can  go  in  dry  paths  as  well 
as  in  the  water;  it  has  four  legs.  In  the  day  time  it  ascends  the 
banks  of  streams,  and,  lying  down,  opens  its  scales  wide,  putting  on 
the  appearance  of  death,  which  induces  the  ants  to  enter  between 
them  ;  as  soon  as  they  are  in,  the  animal  closes  its  scales  and  returns 
to  the  water  to  open  them  :  the  ants  float  out  dead,  and  he  devours 
them  at  leisure." 

The  great,  white  porpoise  (Dclpliinus  chincnsis}  is  found 
in  the  estuary  of  the  Canton  river,  and  at  Swatow,  as  well 
as  in  the  Yangtsz.  It  is  an  amusing  sight  to  watch  one  or 
two  of  them  swimming  for  an  hour  or  more  just  in  front 
of  a  steamer.  A  species  of  fin-whale  is  found  between 
Formosa  and  Hainan.  Seals  disport  themselves  on  the 
coast  of  Liang-tung. 

The  lists  of  Swinhoe  and  David  contain  200  species 
of  mammalia ;  many  more  have  been  discovered  since 
these  lists  were  drawn  up. 

Of  birds  there  have  already  been  over  700  species 
described.  ('  The  avifauna  of  the  Yang-tsz  Valley  com- 
prises, at  least  ...  359  species,  of  which  97  species  are 
known  to  be  migrant')  Vultures,  eagles,  and  ernes  are 
widespread  ;  the  golden  eagle  is  trained  by  the  Mongols 
for  the  chase  ;  falcons  are  common  in  the  streets  of  Peking, 
where  they  act  as  scavengers.  Bustards,  gledes,  sparrow- 
hawks,  night-hawks,  and  swallows,  are  all  to  be  seen  ;  of 
the  latter  bird  there  are  1 5  species.  The  feathers  of  king- 
fishers are  used  for  decorative  purposes.  (See  Article  on 
Kingfisher.)  The  hoopoe,  bee-eater,  and  cuckoo  are  all 
known,  as  well  as  1 1  species  of  shrikes  and  many  other 
birds,  such  as  nut-hatches,  tree-creepers,  wall-creepers, 
wrens,  chats,  willow-wrens,  and  redstarts.  There  are  great 
varieties  of  song-birds,  such  as  the  thrush  and  lark,  of 

773 


Things  Chinese 

which  the  Chinese  are  very  fond ;  for  a  Mongolian  lark 
$25  will  be  given.  (See  Article  on  Larks  and  other 
Songsters.)  Amongst  other  birds  may  be  named  wag- 
tails, orioles,  jays  (a  most  beautiful  blue  jay  is  found  in 
Hongkong),  magpies,  choughs,  crows,  blackbirds,  owls, 
mainahs  (See  Article  on  Larks  and  other  Songsters), 
robins,  ouzels,  tailor-birds,  woodpeckers,  parrots,  14  species 
of  pigeons,  gold  and  silver  pheasants,  and  others ;  and 
poultry,  of  which  the  common  fowl,  the  Shanghai  and  the 
diminutive  white  bantam  are  the  best  known.  Some  of 
the  Chinese  fowls  appear  to  have  black  bones,  owing  to 
a  thin  membrane  of  that  colour  surrounding  the  bones. 
Besides  these,  are  grouse,  quails,  francolins,  partridges, 
snipe,  cranes,  plovers,  curlews,  herons,  egrets,  ibis,  spoon- 
bills, crakes,  and  rails.  '  The  Chinese  ring-necked  species 
of  pheasant  has  been  successfully  introduced  '  into  England. 
(See  Article  on  Pheasants.)  Sixty-five  species  of  web- 
footed  birds  are  known  as  existing  in  China,  amongst 
which  are  ten  species  of  duck.  The  whole  seacoast  is 
alive  with  gulls,  terns,  and  grebes  ;  and  swans,  geese,  and 
mallards  are  found  in  the  inland  waters.  The  mandarin 
duck,  a  native  of  the  central  provinces,  is  a  beautiful  object, 
having  as  brilliant  a  plumage  as  a  parrot.  (See  Article  on 
Mandarin.) 

Alligators,  though  rare,  are  to  be  found  in  one  or 
two  spots,  and  probably  they,  or  crocodiles,  were  more 
numerous  formerly  than  now.  Snakes  abound,  many  of 
which  are  deadly.  (See  Article  on  Snakes.)  Frogs  are 
most  abundant,  and  are  eaten.  (See  Article  on  Frogs.) 
Tortoises  and  turtles  are  plentiful.  'The  ichthyology 
of  China  is  one  of  the  richest  in  the  world,  though 
it  may  be  so  more  from  the  greater  proportion  of  food 
furnished  by  the  waters  than  from  any  real  super- 
abundance of  the  finny  tribes.'  By  this  time  about  a 
thousand  different  kinds  are  known  as  being  found  in 
China.  It  is  said  that  in  Macao  one  may  have  a  different 
kind  of  fish  for  breakfast  every  morning  in  the  year  if  one 
will  eat  every  sort  which  the  Chinese  use  as  food. 

774 


Zoology 

Amongst  Chinese  fish  may  be  mentioned  mackerel,  goby, 
herrings,  sharks,  rays,  saw-fish,  sturgeon,  huge  skates, 
garoupa,  sole,  mullet,  the  white  rice-fish  (or  silver-fish  as  it 
is  called  in  some  of  the  languages  of  China),  shad,  and 
carp  (52  species  of  the  last).  The  gold-fish  is  a  most 
grotesque  specimen  of  nature's  caricatures,  imitated  or 
fostered  by  artifice  and  selection,  the  eyes  are  like 
goggles,  sticking  out  of  its  head,  and  tail  and  fins  are 
tufted  and  lobed  to  a  most  extraordinary  extent.  '  Gold- 
fish were  first  known  in  China ' ;  they  were  '  brought  to 
Europe  in  the  seventeenth  century.'  The  Chinese  say 
their  original  habitat  was  Lake  Tsau  in  the  province 
of  Ngan-hwui.  (See  Article  on  Gold-fish.)  Another 
variety  is  the  silver-fish.  We  cannot  complete  the  list  of 
Chinese  fish,  but  we  may  mention  pipe-fish,  of  a  red 
colour,  gar-pike  with  green  bones,  beautiful  parrot-fish, 
sun-fish,  eels,  file-fish,  bream,  gudgeon,  anchovies,  perch, 
and  gurnard.  There  are  great  varieties  of  shellfish ; 
oysters  are  common,  so  are  prawns,  shrimps,  crabs,  craw- 
fish, and  kingcrabs,  the  last  strange-looking  objects. 
Amongst  curiosities,  may  be  mentioned  the  hammer 
oyster  (Avicula  \inalleus\  vulgaris},  found  at  Swatow. 

'The  insects  of  China  are  almost  unknown  to  the 
naturalist.'  There  are  hundreds  of  different  kinds  of 
spiders,  some  with  bodies  as  large  as  small  birds,  which 
spin  their  webs  from  tree  to  tree,  high  up  in  the  air. 
Locusts,  centipedes,  scorpions,  silkworms,  fireflies,  glow- 
worms, and  beetles ;  and  many  other  numerous  species 
of  insects  have  their  home  in  China.  (See  Article  on 
Insects.) 

J}ooks  recommended. — Williams' s  'Middle  Kingdom,'  vol.  i.  \>\>.  313-354, 
contains  a  good,  general,  short  account  of  the  zoology  of  China.  Also  see  the 
different  Articles  in  this  hook  on  'Tigers,'  'Buffaloes.'  as  well  as  thos-  on  tin- 
other  zoological  creatures  as  mentioned  in  the  text.  For  lards,  see  Proceedings 
of  the  Zoological  Society  for  May  1871,  which  contains  a  jiajn-r  by  the 
late  Mr.  Swinhoe.  '  Les  Oiseaux  de  la  Chine,'  jiar  M.  LTAhhe  A.  David. 
Also  see  Article  on  'Cormorant  Fishing,'  and  end  of  Article  on  '  Mandarin.' 
For  fishes,  see  'Report  of  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science'  for  18-15.  For  insects,  see  Donovan's  'Natural  History  of  tin- 
Insects  of  China.'  Also  sec  Article  on  '  Insects'  and  'Silk'  in  this  hook. 


INDEX 


ABACUS,  i,  3,  96 

Abatement,  3 

Aberdeen,    Professor   of  Chinese  at, 

1 68 
Aborigines,  5,  33,  128-129,   iSS,  211, 

315.  329,  342,'  372,  589-590 
'  Absence,  In,'  547 
Accessories  to  the  stage,  704-705 
Accountant,  i,  2 
Account-books,  I,  2,  75,  719 
Accounts,  190 
Actors,  704,  705,  706,  707 
Acts,  Five,  706 
Acupuncture,  7 
Administrative  powers,  162 
Adoption,  9-13,  30,  212,  624 
Adulterations  and  tricks,  Trade,  622, 

692,  732 
Adultery,  212 
Africa,  505 

,,      Chinese  in,  142,  156 
,,      South,  360 
Agar-agar,  13 
Agate,  714 
Age,  96 

,,     Enquiries  as  to,  25^, 
Agnates,  9,  10 
Agriculture,  13,   34,    115,    309,    400, 

590,  767,  772 
,,  Government  fosters,   14, 

15 
,,  Implements  of,    18,    19, 

74 

,,  Importance  of,  14 

,,  Theoretical  high  opinion 

of,  13 

A-he-qua,  756,  757 

Alaska,  358 

Albasines,  757 

Alchemy,  675,  676,  677,  678,  681 

Alienation  of  land,  699,  702 

Alligators,  774 

Allodial  property,  699 


Alluvial  land,  307-308,  800 
,,        plain,  284 
,,        soil,  Creation  of,  410 
Almond,  25-26,  285 

,,        tea,  25 
Alpinia  ^a/an^as,  316 
Alps,  358 
Altar-cloths,  244 
Ambassadors,  69,  70,  71 
Amber,  714 

America,  Chinese  in,  142-144,  481 
,,         Cultivation  of  tea  in,  688, 

689 

,,         South,  358 
,,         Tea  in,  688,  689,  690-691, 

693,  694,  696 

,,         Tonnage  of,  to  China,  729 
American  concessions,  743 

,,         consumption   of  tea,    690- 

691,  693,  696,  733 
,,         flour,  726,  734 
,,         kerosene,  725 
,,          river  steamers,  578 

shipping,  729 
,,         stamps,  658 
,,         syndicate,     Railway,     601, 

'603 

,,          tonnage,  729 
,,         trade,  293,  725,  726,  729,. 

732,  733 
Americans,  359 

,,          in  China,   193,  293,  294, 

6i3 

Amoor,  412 

Amoy,  to,  40,  102,  148,  175,  202, 
203,  208,  209,  225,  230,  274,  275, 
284,  288,  295,  297,  310-311,  372, 
461,  478,  496,  511,  607,  613,  614, 
661,  693-694,  708,  716,  733-734, 

737,  739,  741,  743 

Amoy,  Books  for  learning,  1 1 1 

Amsterdam,   714 

Amusements  and  Play,  etc.,  26-30, 
98,  138,  222-223,  236-237,  244- 
247,  280-283,  284-287,  290-291, 


777 


Index 


Amusements — (continued) 
295-296,    301-303,    330,    375-377, 
405,  406,  407,  420,  423,  431,  462- 
467,    501-502,    539-554,    576-577, 
579-585,  614-615,  615-616,  703-707 
Anamba  Islands,  Chinese  in,  152 
Anatomy,  Ignorance  of,  57 
Ancestor,  A  son's  deeds  ennoble,  722 
Ancestral  Hall  and  Temple,  9,   172, 

313,  422,  469,  644 
Land,  33-34 
Tablet,  32,  33,  458-459 
,,         Worship,  9,  10,  30-34,  91, 
93,   118,   172,    279,  312, 
419-420,   422,  423,   426, 
427,  438,  463,  557,  717 
,,         Worship    is    the    National 

Religion,  31,  97-98 
Ancient  art,  58 

beliefs,  118 
bronze-work,  118-120 
history,  327-341,  585 
missions,  435 
music,  462-463 
Philosopher,  The,  672 
style,  374 
tablets,  427 
Anglo-Chinese  syndicate,  601 

,,     Japanese  Alliance,    305,    344, 

345 

Anhui.     See  Nganhwui. 

Aniline  dyes,  726 

Animals  and  the  animal  creation,  17, 
18,  51,  56,  58,  60,  65,  72,  81,  82, 
83,  90-91,  119,  125-126,  170-171, 
177-178,  181-183,  194-195,  201, 
215-218,  218-222,  234,  243,  244, 
246,  271-272,  279,  282,  283,  287- 
292,  296,  314,  318,  327,  346,  350- 
356>  36l>  375-377,  394,  4*7,  420, 
424,  449,  45 1 -455,  458,  459,  460, 
497,  505-506,  513,  514,  518,  519, 
520,  524,  526,  531-532,  532-533, 

535,  536,  545,  548,  549,  55O,  55 1- 
552,  560,  567,  569,  570,  574,  578, 
583,  588,  604,  614-615,  617,  618, 
619-620,  620-621,  622,  629-632, 
651,  652,  660-661,  669,  670,  685, 
707-709,  719,  724,  725,  761,  768, 

771-775 

Aniseed,  Star,  735 
Annam,  418,  590,  749 

,,       Chinese  in,  146-147 
Anopheles,  452,  453,  454 
Answers  to  questions,  255 
Ant-eater,  773 
Antigua,  Chinese  in,  144 


Anti-matrimonial  league,  427-429 
Antimony,  730 
Anti-opium  pills.     See  Opium 
Antipodes,  Chinese  our,  717 
Antiquities,  34-35,  84,  585-586 
Antiquity,  Love  of,  34,  164 
,,         of  Art,  58 
,,         of  Porcelain,  558-560 
Antithetical     Sentences,      28,      238, 

769 
Ants,  351-352,  532-533 

„     White,  351 
Antwerp,  714 
Apelles,  65 
Apples,  35,  299 
Apricot,  26,  300 
Arab  traders,  142,  293,  444 
Arabian  art,  120 

,,        trade,  142,  190 
Arbours,  35 
Arbutus,  300 
Arch,  41,  42 
Arch  of  steel,  648 
Archery,  28,  51 

Arches,  Commemorative,  42,  766 
Architecture,  35-42 
Argentan,  713 
Arhan,  487 
Arithmetic,  I,  239 
Arms,  42-45,  47,  511 
Army,  45-54,  197,  198,  344,  477 
Army,  Ever  Victorious,  52,  647 
Arrows,  44,  47,  709 
Arsenals,  54,  344,  475,  476,  477 
Arsenic,  429 
Art,    54-66,     77,    243-244,    244-247, 

276,  286,  405 
,,     of  writing,  767-771 
Artificial  flowers,  284 
Artillery,  44,  48,  49 
Artisan,  13 

Ascending  on  High,  27,  66-67 
Asceticism,  678 
Asia,  590,  724,  726 

,,     Minor,  358 
Asiatic  Society,  China  Branch  of  the 

Royal,  67-68,  104 
Assam  tea,  683,  688 
Associations,  Money  Loan,  632-645 
Astrologer   and   Astrology,   68,  458- 

459,  461 
Astronomical  Instruments  at  Peking, 

1 20 

Astronomy,  404,  669-670 
Asylums    and    Leper   Villages,    389, 

390,  39i,  392,  393,  394 
Atlas  moth,  354 


778 


Index 


Atkinson's,      Dr,      conclusions      on 

Plague,  535 
Au,  River,  741 
Audience,  68-72,  344 

Hall,  70 
Australia,  358,  645,  733 

,,         Chinese  in,  153-155,  393 
,,         Consumption    of    tea    in, 

693.  696,  733 
Austria,  393 
Austrians  in   China,    193,   293,   294, 

295 

Au  To-huan,  60 
Autographs,  769 
Aweto,  72 
Azalea,  688 

B 

B.  A.,  265 

Babies,  136-138,  347-350 

Baby-clothes,  92 

Baby-towers,  350 

Babylon,  368 

Bacillus  pestis,  533,  534-535 

Back,  Carrying  on  the,  720 

Baden- Powell,  77 

Baldacchino,  199 

Baldness,  A  cure  for,  604 

Ballad  singing,  28,  464 

Balls,  Ivory,  132 

Bamboo,   n,  12,  38,  56,  62,   72-78, 
114,   117,   131,   170,  243, 
281,  361,  458,   704,  713- 
714,  769-770 
,,        snake,  630 

Bamboo-sprouts,  73 

Banana,  298,  538-539 

Band  for  the  head,  227-228 

Bangles,  324,  357 

Bank-notes,  79-80,  190 

Bankruptcies,  319 

Banks,  78-80,  503,  701 

Banners,  46,  244,  653 
,,        The  Eight,  46 

Bantams,  774 

Barber,  456,  589,  707 

Bargaining,  I,  3,  164 

Barometer   readings    in    a    typhoon, 

749-75° 

Barriers,  Likin,  397,  398,  399 
Baskets,  75,  81 
Bathing,  81,  761 
Batoum,  688 
Batrachians,  296,  774 
Bats,  8 1,  771 
Battledore,  615,  720 


Battleships,  474 

Batura,  197-198 

Bays,  306 

Beacons,  502 

Beads,  719 

Beans  and  bean  flour,  731,  759 

Bean-cake,  730 

Beard,  719-720 

Bears,  771 

Bcche-de-mer,  81-82 

Beckoning,  260 

Bed  and  bedsteads,  82-83 

Beef,  759 

Bees,  83 

Beetles,  350,  354,  775 

Beggar  spirits,  31 

Beggars,  74,  98,  252,  355,  430-434, 

492,  510,  665,  758,  766 
Belgian  railways,  601,  603 
Belgians  in  China,  193,  293,  294, 

295.  603 
Belladonna,  300 
Belles  Icttres,  2  58,  400,  407 
Bells,  83-84,  464-465 
Bequests  for  Ancestral  Worship,  33 
Beri-beri,  84-85 
Betel-nuts,  85,  86 

,,     vine,  86 
Betrothal,  86-89,  557 
Bhamo,  357 
Bible  in  China,  436,  439,  440 

,,     customs  illustrated  in  the  East, 

82-83 

Biblical  history,  513 
Bibliography,  89-90,  403 
Billingsgate,  253 
Binding  part  of  a  Chinese  marriage, 

425-427 

'  Bird  of  Fate,  The,'  542-543 
Birds,  55-56,  62,  65,'  75,  90-91,  93, 
243,  246,  287,  289,  291,  292,  361, 
362,  366,  375-377,  417,  424,  458, 
497,  505-50°,  518,  520,  536,  542, 
543,   548-549,   550-552,   567,    570- 
614,  651,  669,  759,  773-774 
Birds'  nests,  90-91,  289,  291,  759 
Birth,   Customs  connected   with,  91- 

95 

Birthday  of  Gods,  12,  26,  97-98,  703- 

704 

Birthdays,  95-98 
Black,  670,  720 

,,      art,  680-681 

,,      bones  of  fowls,  774 

,,      death,  535 

,,      eyes,  157 


779 


Index 


Black-haired  race,  140,  158 

,,      mouths  and  tongues  of  dogs, 
buffaloes,    and    cats,    772 ; 
and  of  bones  of  fowls,  774 
plague  and  death,  512,  514 
porcelain,  573 
silk,  619 
slaves,  628 
tea,  681,   697,  727,   732-733. 

733-734,  735 
tongues  of  animals,  772 
wood,  131-132,  302 
Blacksmiths,  734 
Rlanc  de  Chine,  560 
Blankets,  82,  83 
Blessings,  The  Five,  486 
Blest,  The  Golden  Isles  of  the,  676 
Blind,  28,  74,  43O-431,  432,  434,  464, 

766 

,,      singing  girls,  28,  464,  766 
Blockade  chess,  135 
Blocks  for  printing,  586,  587,  588 
Blood,  Drinking,  447 
Blue  for  mourning,  456,  720 
,,     plume,  197 
,,     porcelain,    565,    566,   573,   574, 

577 

Board,  The,  of  Foreign  Affairs,  320 
Boards,  The  Six,  320,  388 
Boat-men,  290 
,,     people,    32,    33,    98-102,    227, 

423 

,,     racing,  27,  223 
,,     women,  227,  720,  766,  767 
Boats,  27,  38,   57,   73,  98-102,  131, 
136,  252-253,  390,  613-614, 
720,    724,    730,    737,    766, 
767 

,,       manned  by  women,  720,  766 
Boccaro,  566 
Bodleian,  359 
Bogue  forts,  48,  50 
Bohea,  685 
Boles  of  trees,  131 
Bombay,  532-533,  534,  537 
Bones  of  dead  children,  429 
Book  name,  468 

,,     of  Rewards  and  Punishments, 

678 

,,     of  Secret  Blessings,  678 
,,     stalls,  300 

„     style,  374,  375,  45°,  4§i 
Books,  102-111,     111-114,    399-410, 
415,  441-442,  445,  45°,  486, 
671,  673,  674-675,  678,  718- 

719,  765 
,,      Business,  769 


Books,  Destruction  of  the,  333 

,,        Difference    between    English 

and  Chinese,  718-719 
,,        for  learning  Chinese,  111-114 
,,        on  China,  102-111 
,,        Printing  of,  586-588 
,,        Sacred,    104,   107,    123,   239, 
269,  333,  374,  399-400,  400- 
401,  406-407,  437  ,439,  440, 
441,  442,  45°, 458,  459,  486, 
506,  541-542,  586,  617,671, 
672,  673-675,  675-676,  677, 
678,  679,  680-681,  765 
,,      The  Four,  401,  486 
Boots,  226,  228-229 
Borneo,  511 

,,       Chinese  in,  151 
,,       Tea  in,  688 
Borrowed  uses,  768 
Borrowing    money    by    Association, 

632-645 

Botanical  works,  56,  117-118 
Botany,  56,  114-118,  277 
Bother  language,  25 1 
Bowing,  255,  262 
Bowls,  170 
Bows,  44,  255,  262 

,,     and  arrows,  44,  47 
Boxers,  199,  344,  612-613,  657-658, 

725,  730,  73i,  732,  734,  735 
Boy,  The  Old,  673 
Boys,  9-13,    136-138,    170,    234-243, 
251,  461,  600,  615-616,  627, 
721,  761,  762,  763,  764 

,,       Esteem    in    which,    are   held, 
137,  76i 

,,      of  more  value  than  girls,  761 
Bracelets,  719 
Braves,  46 
Brazil,  145,  358,  505 

,,     Chinese  in,  145 
Brazilians  in  China,  293 
Breast-summer,  39 
Breech-loaders,  44,  48 
Brethren  of  the  Pear  Orchard,  706 
Bribery,  32,  194,  381,  387,  449,  699, 

702 

Brick  tea,  686,  727,  731 
Bricks,  34,  35,  36,  82 
Bridal  chair,  420,  421,  423,  424 
'  Bridal  Song,'  541 
Bride,  92,  718 

„      crying,  718 
Bridegroom,  92 
Brigandage,  511 
Bridge,  35,  41,  42,  75,  98,  301,  302, 

334 


780 


Index 


Bristles,  726 

British  and  Chinese  Corporation,  601 
,,      Columbia,  358 
,,      Columbia,    Chinese    in,    143, 

144 

,,      concessions,  743 
,,      consumption  of  tea,  696 
,,      Empire,  Population  of  the,  558 
,,      Government,  398 
,,      Guiana,  Chinese  in,  144 
,,      gunboats,  511 
,,      in  China,  193,  293,  294,  295, 

490,613,  743 
,,      in  Shanghai,  294-295 
,,      Museum,  61,  79,  359 
,,      railways  in  China,    594,   600, 

601,  602,  603 
,,      sea-power,  511 
,,      shipping,  728 
,,      tonnage,  728,  729 
,,      zone  of  influence,  743-744 
Broad  and  enlightened  views,  321 
Broken  silver,  190 
Bronze,  118-120 
Brooches,  346 
Broth,  170 
Brush  for  writing  and   printing,   55, 

57,  767-768 
Buckwheat,  759 

Buddhism,  59,  61,  62,  107,  119-120, 
120-125,  !32,  M0.  !88,  189,  219- 
220,  301,  313,  334,  369,  370,  371, 
373,  406,  413,  430,  436,  445,  450, 
458,  460,  464,  500,  563,  577,  605, 
650,  656,  663-664,  672,  675,  677, 
678,  680,  717 
Buddhist  Sects  and  Divisions,  121- 

122,  605,  656 
Buddhistic  School  of  Art,  59,  61,  62, 

64,  119-120,  165 
Buffalo,  Water,  18,  125-126,  394,  520, 

772 
Bugle  call,  47 

Bugs,  355,  536 
Bull-frogs,  296 
Biingarits  fasciatiis,  629 
Bungarus  seinifasciatiis,  630 
Burglars,  504 

Burmah,  6,   121,    146,  339,  342,  357, 
358,  488,  630,  697 

,,        Agreement,  740 

,,        Chinese  in,  141 

,,         Frontier  Treaty,  737 
Burmo-China  Railway,  600 
Business  intellect,  732 

,,        men,  164 

,,        name,  471 


Business  style,  374 
Butterflies,  354 

Buttons,  199,  265,  416,  456,  719 
Buying  water  for  the  dead,  457 


CABINET,  126,  320 

Cages,  376,  377 

Cakes,  25,  669-670 

Calendar,  The  Chinese,  712 

Calicoes,  725 

California,  645 

Calls,  Congratulatory  wedding,  427 
,,      Official,  259-260 

Cambodia,"TJtrinese  in,  147 

Camel,  333,  772 

Camellias,  286,  682 

Cameos,  714 

Camphor,  126-127 

Camps,  47 

Canada,  Chinese  in,  143-144 
,,        Trade  with,  733 

Canadian- Pacific  Railway,   144 

Canals,  333,  418,  613,  724 

Canary,  377 

Candarin,  190 

Candida,  437 

Candied  melon  rind,  410 

Candles,  458,  726 

Cangue,  386 

Cannibalism,  127-129,  273 

Cannon,  Early  use  of,  44,  45,  336 

Canton,  35,  36,  37,  39,  40,  89,  102, 
105,  142,  148,  171,  175-176,  i£o, 
181,  187,  202,  203,  204,  205,  206, 
207,  208,  209,  210,  229,  230,  231, 
234,  241,  245,  267,  271,  287,  297, 
298,  300,  307,  309,  314,  346,  347, 
349,  39°,  39*>,  418,  423,  434,  444, 
445,  476,  479,  481,  496,  501,  511, 
5'6,  517,  53I-532.  536,  603,  620, 
646,  662,  695,  697,  704,  723-724, 
733,  735-  737,  738,  739,  74',  74^, 
743,  749,  750,  756,  757,  759,  760. 
See  also  Cantonese 
Canton  and  Hankow  Railway,  594, 

595,  597,  598,  601,  603 
„       Flotilla,  476-477 
,,        Kaulung  Railway,  594,  595 
,,        Railway,  594,  595,  602 
,,       River    and    Delta,    or    I'e.irl 
River,    102,  305.    310,    395, 
613,  741,  742,  773 

Cantonese,    148,   149,  150,  203,  206, 
207,  324,  357,  372,  460,  496 


78l 


Index 


Cantonese,      Books      for      learning, 

ill 
Capabilities   of  Chinese  as   soldiers, 

52.  53 
Cape  Colony,  Chinese  in,  156 

,,     Town,  360 
Capital  cities,  129-130,  307,  577,  601, 

603 

,,       punishment,  649,  652,  666 
Capping  of  verses,  28,  29,  553 
Caps,   228,   244,   253,  256-257,  456, 

505,  720 

Carambola,  299-300 
Caravan  tea,  686 
Caravans,  444 
Cardinal  points,  486 
Cards,  72,  579-580.  584 
Carnivora,  771 
Carp,  453 

Carpenter  sits  to  work,  722 
Carriage,  Cost  of  land,  590 
Carriers,  724 
Carrying  poles,  724 
Cart,  592,  758 

,,     tyres,  Old,  734 
Carved  lacquer,  366 
Carving,  38,  39,  42,  81,  130-132 
Cash,  79,  189-190,  457 
Cassia,  735 

,,      River,  742 
Cassini,  Count,  70 
Castor -oil  plant,  735 
Catafalque,  460 
Cathay,  139,  292,  514 
Cats,  287,  288,  771 
Cats'  flesh,  287,  288 
Cattle  and  cattle-breeding,  449 
Caucasus,  Tea  in  the,  688,  689 
Causes  of  typhoons,  746 
Cave  dwellings,  41 
Ceilings,  37,  40 
Celadon,  564,  570-571 
Celestial  Empire,  139 
Celibacy,  Vows  of,  428 
Celibates,  678 
Celts,  586 
Cement,  726 
Censorate,  320-321 
Census,  55S-558 
Central  China,  183 
Centre,  The,  of  China,  140 
Cents,  434 
Ceremonial   observances,    178,    279, 

457,  458 

Ceremonies,  The  Six,  87,  425-426 
Ceylon,  360,  394,  693,  695,  696 
,,       Chinese  in,  145 


Ceylon   tea,  688,  689,  690,  691,  692, 

693,  694,  695,  696,  732 
'Chaff, '763 
Chdf-muf,  295-296 
Chair,  302 

,,      coolies,  300,  346 
Chairs  of    Chinese   at    Universities, 

167-169 

Chdk-'t'in-kau,  583 
Chance,  Games  of,  579-584 
Chancellor,  Imperial,  265 
Chancius,  507,  675 
Chang  Chih-tung,  495 
'  Chang  Liang's  Flute,'  553-554 
Chang  Ngo,  669 
Chang  Sang-yiu,  58 
Chang-sha,  102,  434,  741 
Channels,  306 
Chao   Chati  fii,    1 80,    349-350,    392, 

737 

Chapels,  610 
Characteristics    of   a    Chinese    sage, 

672-673 
Characters,  Divisions  of,  767-769 

,,          Chinese,    3,   4,   52,   141, 

157-167,  607-609 
,,          Mongol,  448-449 
Charlatanism,  672 
Charms,    92,    200,   429,    675,    676, 

679 

Chastity,  162,  212 
Chau,  Duke  of,  330 

,,      dynasty,  330-331,  345 
Chau  Kung,  330,  331 

,,     Sin,  330 
Chaiichowfu,  741 
Chavannes,  Professor,  169 
Chefoo,  174,  396,  661,  730,  737,  739, 

741 

,,       Climate  of,  173-174 
,,       Convention,  737 
Chekiang,  148,  622,  737,  739,  741, 

772 
Ch'en  dynasty,  577 

,,       porcelain,  562,  577 
Cheng-fei,  397,  398 
Ch'engchung  fu,  63 

,,      Hwa,  566-567 
Chengtu,  434 
Cheques,  78 
Cherries,  759 
Chess,  27,  132-136 
Chests  of  drawers,  127 
Chihli,  26,  482,  592,  603,  738,  741, 

742 

Chikiang  or  Chekiang,  148,  622,  737, 
739,  772 


782 


Index 


Children,  26,  27,  28,  29,  30,  95-97, 
136-138,  148,  170,  185,  234-243, 
271-272,  273,  278-279,  282,  347- 
350,  456,  457,  458,  460,  461,  615- 
6 1 6,  624-627,  628 

Chile,  Chinese  in,  144,  490,  557 

China,  139-141 

,,  Association,  168 
„  Proper,  305-307 
,,  Sea,  306 

Chinanfu,  129,  600 

China's  Sorrow,  307 

China-ware,   no,  221,  558-578,616, 

735 

Chinese  abroad,  99,  141-157,  325,  481 
,,      American  Railway  Company, 

603 

Eastern  Railways,  60 1 
newspapers  abroad,  480,  481 
people,  Characteristics  of,  3, 

4,  141-142,  157-167 
postage  stamps,  579,  658-662 
tonnage,  728,  729 
Ching-fei,  397,  398 
Chinghiz  Khan,  412,  450 
Cbing-te-chen  or  King-teh  chin,  561, 

563 

Chingtu,  603 
Chingwantao,  741 
Chinkiang,  490,  601,  617,  731,  738, 

741 

Chinnery,  George,  64 
Chivalry,  Want  of,  763 
Chong  Jen,  62 
Chong-ylin-ch'aii,  584 
Chopsticks,    74,     169-170,     258-259, 

289,  456,  653 
Chow  dogs,  215-218,  559,  771-772 

,,     dynasty,  132,  330-331 
Chrysalides  as  food,  619 
Chrysanthemums,  243,  286,  287 
Chiin  porcelain,  564 
Chungking,  490,  66 1,  730,  737,  739, 

74J,  743 

,,  Convention,  737 

Ch'ung  Yong  festival,  66,  67 
Chwang-tsz,  507,  675-676 
Cicada,  170-171,  353"354 
Cigarettes,  714 

Cigars,  New,  made  from  old,  715 
Circulating  libraries,  485 
Cities,   171-172,  240,  307,  434,  487, 

5".  740 
Citrons,  300 
Civil  Service,  264-270,  416-417 

,,  Admission  into,  264-270 

Civilisers,  724 


i   Clans,  25,  34,  172-173,  699,  701 
Clarionets,  465 
Classes  of  Society,  Relative  position 

of,  13 

Classical  books  and  works,  104,  107, 
113,  239,  269,  333,  374, 
399-400,     400-401,    486, 
501,    506,   541-542,    586, 
617,  719,  765 
,,        style,  374 
Cleanliness,  81,  394 
Climate,  23,  24,  34,  35,  41,  173-177 

,,        Right,  for  tea,  682-683 
Clocks,  709,  712,  726 
Clogs,  229 

Clothing,  136,  223-230,  491,  719-720 
Coal,  310,  311,  590-591,  602 
Coalbeds  and  coalfields,  310,  311,  312, 

590-591,  602,  603 
Coal-mines,  602 
Coast  formation,  310 

,,      trade,  729 
Coats,  224,  226 

Cobalt  decorations  under  glaze,  560 
Cobras,  629 

Cochin-China,  147,  590,  688 
,,  Chinese  in,  147 

,,  Tea  in,  688 

Cockroaches,  177-178,  352-353 
Cocks,  424,  651,  759 
Cock's  head,  Chopping  off  a,  386,  651 
Cocoa-nuts,  300 

Cocoons,  6 1 8,  619,  620,  621,  622 
Coffins  and   coffin-boards,   188,  313, 

456,  460,  461 
Cognates,  9 
Coins,  34,  91 
Collar,  227 

College  de  France,  Paris,  169 
Colleges,  Naval  and  military,  477 
Collegiate  course,  239 
Colloquial,  368-369,  374,  450,  481 
Colomlx),  142 
Colonial   possessions,  304,  305,  697, 

743-744 

Colonies,  304,  305,  697,  743'744 
Colour  and  form,   Masterly  handling 

of,  560 

Colour  blindness,  158 
Colouring,  57,  62 
Colours,  the  Five,  487,  670 
Columbia  University,  New  York,  169 
Combined  ideas,  768 
Combs,  770 
Comedies,  300,  706 
Comity  of  nations,  320 
Communicability  of  leprosy,  393 


783 


Index 


Compass,  141,  142,  314,  709,  720 
Composition,  238-239 

, ,        of  Chinese  characters,  770 
Concessions  at  treaty  ports,  739,  742- 

743 
,,      for  mines  and  railways,  590, 

595-603 

,,      or  Settlements,  739,  742-744 
<_'oncubinage  and  concubines,  30,  89, 

212,  213,  425,  428,  764-765,  766 
Conference  on  Leprosy,  393 
Confucian  temple,  180,  445 
Confucianism,  120,  121,  178-180,  318- 

319,  328,  33i,  332»  401,  402,  671, 

675,  677,  680,  764 
Confucius,    172,    178-180,   328,    331, 

332,  392,  399.  40i,  402,  462,  463, 

473,  483,  671,  672,  675,  677,  680, 

772-773 
Congee,  606 
Congou,  685 
Congratulations      at      examinations, 

266-267 

Connaught,  Duke  of,  290 
Conquest,  The  Mongol,  62 
Conservatism,  268 
Constabulary,  Local,  46 
Constellations,  670 
Consuls,  262,  270-271 
Consumption   of  tea,   693-697,    717- 

722 

Contempt,  262 
Contrarieties,  615-616 
Conventional  expression,  547 
Converts,  344,  441,  442-443 
Coolie,  142*  225,  322,  730 

,,      Street,  714 
Coolie's  pipe,  713-714 
Copper,  713 
Corea,  336,  418,  698,  740,  746 

,,      Chinese  in,  153 
Cormorants,  181-183 
Coroner,  665 
Corps  Diploma!  ique,  68 
Corpse,  457,  461 
Correspondence  style,  450 
Corruption,     32,     162-163,    32I-322» 

449,  5",  701 
Cosmetics,  183,  422 
Cosmogony,  122,  327 
Cotton,  16,  114,  183-187,  730 

,,      mills,  186,  187,  343-344,  731 

,,       piece  goods,  726 

„       tree,  187 

,,       yarns,  725 
Councils  of  State,  320 
Counter,  Shop,  39 

7 


Counters,  580 
Counting-board,  1-3 
Counting-room,  39 
Country,  240 

,,        of  gentlemen,  4 
Courage,  128 
Courant,  Professor,  169 
Couriers,  578,  579 
Court  at  Peking,  398 
Courts,  37,  128,  417 

,,      of  Appeal,  320,  385 
Courtesans,  363,  464,  763 
Courtyards,  37 

Covenants,  The  Three,  87,  425 
Coverlets,  82,  83 
Cowardly,  Mongols,  449 
Cows  or  oxen,  518,  520 
Crackled   porcelain,    564,    565,    569, 

571-572 

'  Cranes,  The  Song  of  the,'  550 
Credulity  of  Chinese,  161,  608-609 
Cremation,  33,  188-189 
Crete,  393 
Criminal  classes,  Punishment  of  the, 

128,  319,  610 
Crippled  feet,  88 
Crocodiles,  774 
Crops,  16,  20,  21,  23,  272 
Cross-bows,  44,  709 
Crow  feathers,  197 
Crown  lands,  699-703 
Cruelty,  330,  604,  626,  628 
Cruisers,  474,  475,  476 
Cuba,  Chinese  in,  145 
Culex,  451 

Cultivation  of  tobacco,  715-716 
Cumbersome  language,  300 
Cupola,  42 
Curing  tea,  685-686 
Curios,  34 
Currency,  189-192 
Curtain,  No,  in  theatres,  705 
Custard-apples,  299 
Customs,  I.   M.,   192-194,  283,   395- 

396,  397,  398,  477,  578-579,  659, 

660,  694-695,  725,  726,  727,  731, 

732,    733,    734,    735,    739,    759- 

760 
Customs'    Post,    193,    578-579,    659- 

660 

Customs  of  Mongols,  448-449 
Cuttle-fish,  194-195 
Cycle,  195,  328,  710-711 
Cyclones,  745-75° 
Cyclopaedias,  405 
Cymbals,  465,  705 
Czarewitch,  70 

84 


Index 


DAGGER,  43 

Dahlias,  286 

Damascene  Work,  120 

Danes  in  China,  193,  293,  294,  295 

Dangers  of  Inoculation,  752 

Danish    Great    Northern    Telegraph 

Co.,  698 

,,       shipping,  729 
,,       tonnage,  729 
Darjeeling,  Tea  in,  69 5 
Dates,  710-711,  721 
Daughters,  30,  357,  703,  718 
Days  of  grace,  637 
Dead  Bride,  Marriage  of,  42 
Deadly  nightshade,  300 
Death-rate  among  children,  95 
Debt  slavery,  634 
Decadence  of  art,  63,  64 
Decades,  711 

Decapitation,  649,  652,  666 
Decentralisation,  49 
Decimal  system,  328,  660 
Decline  in  China  tea  trade,  689,  690, 

691-696,  727,  732-733,  733734 
Decorations,  38,  40,  195-199,  773 
Decorative  designs,  81 
Decrees  against  tobacco,  713 
Deeds,    White  and    Red,    670,    699, 

702 

Deer,  614,  772 
Deforestation,  176,  283,  307 
Degrees  of  mourning,  457 
Deluge,  The  Great,  328-329 
Demoniacal  possession,  200-202 
Demons,  200-202,  519,  536 
Density  of  population,  556-557 
Desperate  characters,  510 
Destitution,  510 
Destroyers,  476 
Destruction  of  the  books,  333,  369, 

399-400,  404,  463 
Devil  dancers,  201 
Diagrams,  The  Eight,  506 
Dialects,  130,  202-211,  324,  449-450 
Dice,  583,  584 
Dictionary,  369,  371,  719 
Diet,  759.     See  also  Food 
Dinner  parties,  300 
Dinners,  Chinese,  290,  291,  641,  642, 

643 

Diocletian  Persecution,  613 
Diplomatic  intercourse,  68-72 
Disciples  of  Confucius,  178,  179,  180 
Discipline,  Lack  of,  in  the  Navy,  475 
Discussion.  164 

785 


543 


Diseases  due  to  heat  or  cold,  751 
Disgrace,  The,  of  having  another  girl 

in  the  house,  349 
Dishonesty,  283 
Disowned  by  the  Clan,  172-173 
Disregard  of  time,  709-710 
'  Dissipation  of  Sorrows,  The,' 
Districts,  or  Counties,  419 
Disturlwinces   incident    to    typhoons, 

749 

Divination,  400,  405 
Divine  honours  to  Confucius,  180 

,,       right  of  kings,  318 
Divining  blocks  and  sticks,  74 
Divisions  of  the  watch,  712-713 
Divorce,  211-213 
Doctors,  213-215,  750,  754,  755,  757, 

759,  76o,  761 
Documentary  style,  450 
Documents,  The  Three,  87,  425 
Dog  ssvallowing  the  sun  or  moon,  670 
Dogs,    52,    215-218,    234,   287,   288, 

771-772 

Dollars,  190,  434,  731 
Dome,  42 
Domestic  slavery,  624-627 

,,         trade,  723-724,  736 
Dominoes,  579-581,  584 
Donkeys,  772 
Door-bells,  84 
Doors,  36 
Dosing,  742 
Drafts,  78,  79 
Draftsmen,  55 
Dragon,  40,   58,  218-222,   244,   283, 

314,  460,  660,  679,  685 
Dragon-boats,  27,  222-223,  543 

»       %,  453 

,,       River,  741 

,,       The  Green,  314,  709 

,,       The   Order   of  the    Double, 

196 
Drama,  407-408,  505,  703-707 

,,       History  of  the,  706-707 
Draughtsmen,  134,  580 
Dream  of  the  Red  Chamber,  406 
Dress,  6,  196-197,  198,  199.  223-230, 
244-247,  253,    256-257/260,  324, 
346,  705,  719-720 
Dress-suit,  229 
Drink,  503 

Drinking  tea,  259-260 
Drought,  730 
Drowning,  666 
Drum,  47,  234,  712,  713 
Drunkards,  449,  503 
Dual  principles,  97,  506 


Index 


Duck,  Mandarin,  417,  774 
,,      Receipt  for  Cooking,  292 

Duennas,  766 

Dunning,  255-256 

Durban,  360 

Dutch  consumption  of  tea,  696 
,,      East   Indies,   Chinese  in  the, 

151-152 
,,      East  Indies  trade  with  China, 

725 
,,      in  China,   193,  273,  293,  294, 

295,  341 

,,      in  Formosa,  341 
Dwarfing  plants,  285-286 
Dyes,  625 
Dynasties,  716 

The  Five,  337 


EAGLES,  Golden,  773 
Earrings,  229,  324,  346,  357,  456 
Earthenware  money-box,  641 
Earthquakes,  230-234 
East,  The,  140 

,,     Africa,  Chinese  in,  156 

„     India  Company,  754,  755,  759 

,,     Indian  Islands,  714 

,,     River,  708,  741 
Eastern  Chinese   Railway  system  in 

Manchuria,  595 
Eating  houses,  130 

,,      with  hands  during  mourning, 

456 

Eclipse,  234,  670 
Ecole  des  Languages  Oriental  Paris, 

169 

Edible  frogs,  296 
Edict,  The  Sacred,  403-404 
Education,      33,      163,      193,      234- 

243 
Eggs  and  Red  Eggs,  93,  94,  288,  734, 

735.  759 

Eggshell  porcelain,  574-575 
Egrets,  497 
Egyptians,  296 
Eight  Genii,  131 

Eighteen  provinces,  305-307,  418 
Elements,  The  Five,  486,  679 
Elephantiasis,  356,  451,  452 
Eleuths,  342 
Elixir  of  Immortality,  671,  675,  676, 

677,  678,  680 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  484 
Embankments,  128 
Emblems,  81,  243-244 


Embroidery,  243,  244-247,  459,  491, 

763 
Emigration,   20,    141-157,  627,  645, 

727 

Emperor,  14,  15,  68,  69,  70,  71,  72, 
142,   179,  218-219,  242,  251,  266, 

269,  303»  304,  317,  318,  319,  320, 
321,  327,  328-345,  371,  419,  445, 
456,  463,  472-473.  483,  484,  488, 
600,  617 
Empire,  419 
Empress,  488,  617 
Empress  Dowager,  68,  71,  242,  600 
Enamelled  Ware,  565 
Encroachments  of  the  sea,  309 
England,  English,  and  Great  Britain, 

3°4,  305,  343.  344,  345> 
506,  736,  737,  740 
,,         Chinese  in,  155-156,  293 
English  from  Chinese  pens,  247-252 
,,       Railways,  or  English  system 
of  Railways,  591,  594,  595- 
597,  601-603 

EnkyantJms  reticulatus,  284 
Enquiries  as  to  age,  255,  718 
Entail,  None  in  China,  699 
Entering  a  room,  255 
Enterprising,  723 
Epidemics,  512-538,  750-761 
Epidendrums,  243 
Equity,  640 

Esquimaux  Dogs,  215,  216 
Essayists,  239 
Essays,    13,   107,  108,  239,  264-270, 

374 

Estates,  The  Four,  13 
Etiquette,  252-262,  762,  763 
Eucalyptus,  453 
Eunuchs,  331,  336,  340 
Eurasians,  262-264 
Europe,  360,  537,  577 

,,        Trade  with,  724-736 
Ever  Victorious  Army,  The,  52,  647 
Everlasting  life,  671 
Evil  spirits,  II,  200-202,  280-281 
Evil,  The  greatest,  of  the  Age,  495 
Evils  of  morphia  taking,  495-496 
,,       opium  smoking,  491-495 
Examination  Hall,  172,  265,  267-268 
Examinations,  239,  264-270,  334,  374, 
501,  553,   58i,  584, 
677,  769 

,,  Military,  28,  51,  52 

,,  Naval,  52 

Example  to  his  subjects,  The  Emperor 

an,  14-15 
Excelsior,  248-249,  509-510 


786 


Index 


Exclusion  Act,  American,  145,  152 
Exemption   from    Plague,    513,   515, 

522,  525,  527,  534-535 
Exorcism,  675 
Expenses  of  officials,  322 
Extent  of  Chinese  Empire,  303-307 
Exterritoriality  or  Extraterritoriality, 

270-271 
Eyes,  157,  608 


FAILURE  of  Harvests,  510 

Fairy  tales,  201,  271-272 

'  Falcon,  The  Wounded,'  548 

Falcons,  773 

Family,  The,  the  unit  of  society,  172, 

419,  624,  699 

Famines,  272-273,  555,  730 
'  Fan,  Lines  inscribed  on  a,'  277 
Fangyen,  369 

Fans,  28, 273-277,  653,  726,  769,  770 
Fantan,  581 
Farces,  706 
Fares  on  railways,  592 
Farmer,  13.     See  Agriculture 
Farmers'  wives,  766 
Farmhouse,  24 
Farms,  19,  20,  24 
Fashion,  183,  229 
Fatshan,  536 
Fauna,  771-775 
Feasts,  26,  27,  93,  94,  222-223,  281, 

442-443,  711,  752 
Feather-fans,  275,  276 
Feathers,  197,  705,  719,  726,  773 

,,         Kingfishers',  773 
Federated  Malay  States,  150,  151 
Fees  for  doctors,  213-214,  760 
Feet,  Bound,  88,  226-227,  244>  7^3 
Female  parts  in  the  theatre,  705 
Ferns,  92,  277,  318 
Festivals,  26,  222-223,  7°3 
Feudal  States,  331,  332,  345 
Fidelity  in  representing  birds,  56 
Fights,  Clan,  172,  173 
Fiji,  Tea  in,  688 
Filature  silk  establishments,  622 
Filial  piety,  76-77,  129,  278-280,  348 
Financial  Administration,  398 
Finger  nails,  257,  455,  752 
Fire  crackers,  138,  280-283 

,,    Introduction  of,  327 

,,    screens,  245 

,,    works,  280-283 
Fire-fly,  Impromptu  to  a,  545 


Firing  tea,  685-686 

Fish,  289,  290,  291,  292,  356,  759, 

774-775 

,,     A  crop  of,  21 
Fisherman,  511 

,,  Swatow,  225 

Fishing-nets,  418,  511 

,,      with  cormorants,  181-183 
,,      with  otters,  772 
Fishmaws,  289,  356 
Five  Classics,   The,   113,   239,    308, 
330.  369,  401,  426,  501,  541 
542,  617 

,,     clawed  dragon,  219,  221 
,,     coloured    porcelain,    566,    567, 

573.  575.  576 

,,     degrees  of  mourning,  457 
,,     Dynasties,  345 
Flag,  220-22 1,  283 

,,      Yellow,  Order  of  the,  199 
Flails,  19 

Flambe  porcelain,  570,  571,  575,  576 
Fleas,  355,  533,  536 
Flesh,  Cutting  out  their  own,  129 
Flies,  355,  356 
Floods,  283-284,  510,  555 
Flora,  114-118,  301-303 
Flour,  American,  726,  734 
Flower  baskets,  285 
,,      beds,  301 
,,      boats,  131 
,,      gardens,  27,  301-303 
Flowers,  37,   56,  62,    114-118,  244, 
284-287,  301-303,  684,  68S 
,,       used  to  scent  tea,  688 
Flowery  names,  469 
Flowing  hand,  769 
Flutes,  465 

Fokien.     See  Fuhkien 
Fond  of  animals,  449 
Fondness  for  poetry,  539 
Fong,  General  and  Admiral,  199 
Foochow,  50,  So,  Si,  127,  181,  190, 
200,    202,   208,    209,    229, 

234,  3".  434,  475.  477. 
478,  479,  491,  614,  661, 
663,  688,  708,  709,  732, 

733.  737,  738,  74i 
arsenal,  476,  477 
Books  for  learning,  111-112 
lacquer,  366 
squadron,  476 
Food     21,    117,    169,    194-195,  287- 

292,  604,  632,  777 
all  cut  up,  109,  289 
for  a  baby,  92 
,,    mother,  92,  93 


787 


Index 


Foot-binding,  88,  226-227,  244>  324, 

763 
footpaths,  724 

„     rule,  74,  722 
Foreign  arms,  42,  43,  44,  47,  48,  49, 

50 

„       concessions,  739,  742-743 
,,       customs.     See  Customs 
,,       devil,  628 
,,        drilled    troops,    47,    48,   49, 

5°.  S2,  53 
,,        flowers,  286 
,,        fortifications,  48 
,,       goods,  390-399 
,,        instructors,   46,  47,  48,  49- 

50,  475.  477 

,,        officers,  48,  49 

,,        subjects,  419,  742 

„        trade,  723'736 

,,  words,  372-373 
Foreigner,  The,  in  Far  Cathay,  42, 
48,  49,  50,  62,  67-68,  68-72,  89-90, 
102-ui,  111-114,  120-125,  196, 
!97>  J98,  199,  241,  242,  262-264, 
270-271,  272-273,  283,  286,  292- 
295,  311-312,  314,  318,  334,  337, 
338-339,  340,  341,  342,  343,  344, 
345,  359-360,  371,  372-373,  395- 
396,  396-399,  4°9,  410-415,  434, 
435-443,  444-446,  446-45i>  473- 
4/8,  478-482,  487,  488-497,  497- 
502,  508-510,  511,  512,  527-531, 
532,  535,  S36,  537-538,  578-579, 
585,  589,  590-604,  607-613,  614- 
615,  655-656,  656-657,  657-658, 
658-662,  667-669,  674,  694,  697- 
698,  707,  707-709,  714-715,  723- 

736,  736-744,  75°,  754-762 
Forfeits,  295-296 

Forks,  170 

Formation  of  land,  307-309 

Formosa,    342,    344,   591,   688,  698, 

737,  740,  745,  773 
Formosan  stamps,  660-661 
Forts,  48 

Fortune  teller,  87,  92,  461 

'  Fountain,  A  visit  to  a  clear,  cold,' 

545 

Four  Books,  The,  113,  401 
Foxes,  201,  271-272,  679 
Fractions,  I,  722 
France  and  French,   296,   304,   577, 

740 
Franco-Belgian  Syndicate,  601 

,,      Chinese  War  (navy),  697 
Fraudulent,  716 
Free  Ports,  743,  744 

7 


French  concessions,   60 1,  602,  603, 

743,  744 

,,       consumption  of  tea,  696,  697 
„       in  China,  193,  293,  294,  295, 

304 

„  Railways,  or  French  system  of 
Railways,  595,  596,  601, 
602,  603 

,,       shipping,  729 
,,       stamps,  658,  662 

tonnage,  729 

„       treaties,  737'738,  744 
,,       war,  474 
,,       zone  of  influence,  744 
Frescoes,  40,  57 
Friar  Jordanus,  99 
Friendliness,  Marks  of,  260 
Friezes,  57 

Frogs,   296,  353,  774 
Fruit,  296-300,  735 
„     blossoms,  285 
,,     trees,  Cultivation  of,  21 
Fryer,  Professor,  169 
Fuh-hf,  327 

Fuh-kien  or  Fokien,  or  Fuk-kien  or 
Fukien,    126,    148,   149,  310,   323, 
334,  346,  347,  349,  49O,  646,  708, 
734,  740,  741,  756 
Fun,  300 

Funeral,  or  Burial,  34,  75,  76,   138, 
281,     389-390,     455-462, 
463-464 
,,        cards,  458 
,,        March,  466 
,,        Procession,  459-460 
,,        Rites,  457 
Fungshui,  312-315,  709,  717 
Funing,  739,  741 
Furniture,  75,  127 
Furs,  504 
Fusong,  418 


GABERDINE,  224 

Gall-bladder,  Eating  the,  128 

Galley,  720 

Gama,  Vasco  da,  662 

Gamblers,  27-28,  267,  579-585,  610 

Gambling,    i,   27-28,   156,  267,  579- 

584 

Game,  521,  614 

Games,  27,  28,  29,  361-363,  579-584 
Gardeners,  286 
Gardenia,  688 
1   Gardens,  27,  301-303,  688 

88 


Index 


Gardins,  630-631 

Garrisons,  46,  47 

Gazette,  Peking,  194,  260,  480-481 

Gemmy  Lord,  The,  459 

'  Gems  of  Chinese  Literature,'  550 

Genealogies,  172 

Genii,  The  Eight,  131,  487,  676,  679 

Gentlemen,  The  Country  of,  4 

,,          smoking,  714 
Geography,  239,  303-307,  402-403 
Geology,  307-312 
Geomancy  and  Geomancers,  312-315, 

501,  608 

Geometrical  patterns,  38 
German  concessions,  743 

consumption  of  tea,  696,  697 

hymn-hooks,  719 

Instructors,  46,  48 

newspaper,  478,  479 

shipping,  728-729 

stamps,  658 

tonnage,  728,  729 

treaties,  658,  662,  738,  739 

zone  of  influence,  744 
Germany,    and    Germans   in    China, 
193.  293.  294,  295,  304, 
344,     481,     577,     601, 
740,  743 

,,          Chinese  in,  156 
Germany's  trade  with  China,  725 
Ghengis  Khan,  412,  450 
Giles,  Professor,    167-168,   540,   541, 

543 

Gingals,  44,  47 
Ginger,  92,  93,  315-316,  410 
Ginseng,  316-317 
Giquel,  196 
Girdle  of  China,  307 
Girls,  10,  11,  12,  13,  86-89,  136-138, 

240,  244,  347-35°.  4i9-429>  471, 

615,  721,  761,  762-767 
Girls'  names,  471 
Glasses,  214 
Goats,  520 
Go-betweens,  86,  87,  88,  89,  426-427, 

625,  721 

God  of  City,  172 
Goddess  of  Mercy,  12,  122,  124 

Silk,  617 

Goddesses,  12,  120,  246 
Godowns,  37,  318 
Gods,  12,  120,  131,  172,  650,  679 
Going   to   the    Bridegroom's    house, 

420,  421,  423,  424,  427,  429 
Gold  Coast,  505 
Gold  fish,  302,  318,  775 

,,    Incrustations  on,  1 20 


Golden  eagles  trained  for  the  chase, 

773 

,,       Isles  of  the  Blest,  676 
,,        lilies,  226,  244,  763 
,,       Mirror  of  the  Medical  Prac- 
tice, 753754 
Gongs,  47,  223,  234,  421,  464,  465, 

670,  713 

Goods,  Foreign,  396-399 
,,       ;'//  transit '//,  397 
Goorkhas,  342 

Gordon,  General,  52,  196,  343,  647 
Gossiping,  29,  763 
Gould's  '  Birds  of  Asia,'  505 
Government,  108,  129,  279,  318-322, 
344,    37«,    3«o,    39<> 
399,    477,  495,    5"- 
591,    612,    617,    701, 
702,  703,  740,  743 
,,  encouraging       vaccina- 

tion, 757,  760 

Graduates,  241,  265-267,  268 
Grains,  The  Five,  486 
Grammar,  368 
Grand  Canal,  418,  741 
Granite,  36,  39,  42,  308,   309,   310, 

^3ii,  312 

Grant,  General,  262 
Grapes,  299,  322 
Grass-cutters,  766 

,,     hand,  769 
Grasshoppers,  354,  376 
Grave  looks,  300 
Graves,  188,  457,  716-717 
Great  Britain's  consumption    of   tea, 
686,  692,  693,  695, 
696,  697 

,,  shipping,  728 

,,  tonnage,  728,  729 

,,  trade  with  China,  725 

Greece,  394 
Greek  art,  58,  119 

,,       decorative  design,  119 

,,       drama,  707 
Green  porcelain,  567,  568,  570,  574 

,,       room,  704 

,,       standard,  46 

,,      tea,  686,  687,  690-691,  727 
Grenada,  Chinese  in,  144 
Grey  is  mourning,  457,  720 
Grits,  309 
Grosvenor,  Mr,  517 
Growth  of  foreign  trade,  724 
Grubs,  Silkworm,  288 
Guards  for  the  Palace,  46 
Guava,  300,  323 
Guests,  255,  258,  259-260 


789 


Index 


Guitar,  465 
Gulfs,  306,  602,  743 
Gunboats,  476,  477 
Gymnastic  exercises,  28,  269 


H 


HA,  or  Hsia,  dynasty,  140,  329 
Habitations  of  the  poor,  37,  38 
Hades,  675 

Hainan,  5,  6,  106,  147,  149,  209, 
231,  300,  305,  395,  479,  698,  744, 

749,  771,  773 
Hainanese   and   Books   for  learning, 

112,  209 
Haiphong,  603 

,,          and  Yunnansen  Railway, 

603 

,,          Chinese  in,  146-147 
Hair,  6,  227,  229,  324,  719-720,  735 

,,     presses,  357 

Hakka,  Books  for  learning,  112 
Hakkas,  149,  203,  206,  207,  208,  209, 

227,  229,  323-326,  349 
Halberds,  42,  43 
Hall,  Reception,  37 
Ham,  759 
Hamadryad,  630 
Hamburg,  714,  733 

,,          Chinese  in,  156 
Hammer  oyster,  775 
Han  dynasties,  34,  130,  140,  333-334, 

345,  358,  369,  373,  379,  400,  446, 

577,  676 

Han  jin,  140,  333-334 
Han  Man  Kung,  or  Han  Yti,  548-549, 

550-551 
Han  River,  602 

,,    Rivers,  741 
4  Han    Wen    Kung,    In    Memoriam,' 

550-551 

Handing  things,  258 
Handling  articles,  258,  718 
Hangchow,  102,   106,   129,  444,  481, 

732,  739,  741,  743 

Hankan,  60 

Hankow,  or  Hankau,  47,  102,  175, 
349,  479,  597,  600,  601,  603,  661, 
689,  694,  730,  733,  738,  739,  741, 

743 
Hankow  and  Canton    Railway,   594, 

595,  597,  598,  601,  603 
Railway,  593,  595,  596,  597 
Hanlin,  266,  584 

,,       College,  266 
Hanoi,  394,  603 


Harrow,  19 

Hart,  Sir  Robert,   193-194,  196,  197, 

198,  396,  578-579 
Hats,   74,   227,   228,   253,   256-257, 

324,  505,  7i8 
Haii-luk,  583 
'  Haunts  of  Pleasure,'  466 
Havana  tobacco,  714 
Hawaii,  Chinese  in,  145,  156 
Hawthorn  pattern,  575 
Headcloths,  227-228 
Heaven  and  Earth,  Worship  of,  118, 

605,  650,  65 1 ,  680 
Heavens,  Distance  of  the,  669 
Hebrew,  358,  359 
Hehlung  Kiang,  698 
Height  of  Chinese,  157,  160-161 
Hell,  679 

,,     King  of,  459 
Hemp,  726 

Henniken,  Major  von,  196 
Henry,  Prince,  71 
Heroes  and  deceased  men,  Worship 

of,  650,  679,  680 
Hia,  or  Hsia,  dynasty,  329 
Hides,  726 

Hien  Fung,  or  Hsien  Feng,  343 
Hieroglyphics,  767,  768 
High,  Ascending  on,  27 
Hilarity,  300 
Hillside  land,  700 
Hindrances  to  travel  and  trade,  510 
Hindustanee,  497,  589 
Hirth,  Professor,  169 
Historical  novel,  485 
»        plays,  705 
History,  28,  108,  235,  326-345,  401- 

402 
,,        of  Chinese   Porcelain,   558- 

576,  577 
Hives,  83 
Ho  Sin  Kwii,  99 
Hoang  Tsuan,  61 
Hoe,  19,  184 
Hoihow,  741 

Hokaii  or  Hokow,  737,  738,  742 
Hoklo,  346-347 

,,      speech,  208,  346 
Hok  ou,  741,  742 
Hokkien,  149,  230 
Holland  Potato,  585 
Holothuria,  81-82 
Home  of  the  Tea  plant,  683 
Honan,  140,  328,  329,  331,  358,  490, 

577,  596,  602,  603,  613 
Honesty,  723 
Honey,  83 


790 


Index 


Hongkew,  743 

Hongkong,  25,  26,  83,  175,  176,  190, 

191,    192,    220,    227,    230,  234,  241, 

263,  271,  277,  280,  286,  287,  293, 
296,  297,  310,  311,  314,  316,  322, 
325.  338,  346,  348,  359,  360,  36i, 
386,  391,  396,  410,  441,  452,  453, 
454,  455.  479,  481,  4*3,  487,  5°2. 
512,  513-  517,  519,  527-530,  531, 
532,  534,  535,  536,  537,  625,  626- 
627,  658-659,  704,  708,  709,  714- 
715,  744,  749,  750,  760,  761,  771, 

774 

Hongkong  dollar,  191 
,,         Flora  of,  115 
,,         Government    Vaccine    In- 
stitute, 761 

,,         stamps,  658-659 
Hong  Shan,  281 
Hongs,  37 
Honolulu,  480 

Honorary  distinction,  195-199 
Honour,  Place  of,  255 
Hookah,  713 
llornbills,  346 
Horseback,    Permitted    to    ride    on, 

197,  198 

Horses,  60,  449,  459,  772 
Horse-shoes,  734 
Hospitals,  394,  441,  442,  758,  759,  760 

,,         Origin  of,  394 
Hosts,  255,  257,  259 
Hot  water  cloth,  258 
Hour,  Chinese,  712 
Houses,  or  Mansions,   34,  35,  36,  37, 
38,   39,  40,   41,   100,    130, 
171,  376,  770 
„       Paper,  31 

'  How  do  you  do  ?'  in  Chinese,  718 
Howlik,  742 
Ilsia.     See  Ha 
Hsiang  Kiang,  741 

Hukwong,  or  Hunan  and  Hupeh,  6, 
126,  307,  315,   364,  595-596,  597, 
612,  692,  698,  737,  741,  742 
'  Humanity,'  549 
Hung  League,  646,  654 
,,      Sau-t'siin,  646 
,,      Wu,  79,  130,  339-340,  43° 
Hungarians  in  China,  193,  295 
Huns,  411,  446,  447,  448 
Hunting,  449 
Husband  going  to  wife's  house,  424, 

428 

'  Husbandman's  song,'  543 
Hwang-ti,  or  Huang  Ti,  7,  328,  462, 
559,  767 


Hwangpoo  River,  741 
Hypnotism,  657-658 
Hyson,  684-685 


I 


IBN  BATUTA,  99,  188 
Ichang,  66 1,  730,  737,  739 
Iconoclastic  persecutions,  I2O 
Idolatry,  675,  679,  680 
Ignorance,  608 
Hi,  305,  556 
Iltis,  Officers  of,  196 
Images,  131,  180 
Imitative  symbols,  767-777 

,,        words,  371 
Immigration,  323,  325-326,  329,  346, 

700 
Immortality,  Elixir  of,  671,  675,676, 

677,  678,  680 
Imperial   authorities,    194,  398,  399. 

Stu  also  Government 
,,       Library,  403 
,,       Manufactory     of     Porcelain, 

561,  562,  563,  564 
,,       Railways,  600,  601 
Incantations,  429 
Incense  sticks,  74,  91,  458,  460,  648, 

650,  752 

Incompetent  officers,  475 
Indefiniteness  of  the  Chinese,  71 1 
Index  Expurgatorius,  403 
India,   142,  360,  373,  391,  488,   S'3, 
534,    535-  577,    5^9,    590, 
629,  631-632,683,  707,  708, 
724,  725,  731 

,,      Chinese  in,  142,  145-146,  724 
Indian  art,  58,  563 

art,  in  China,  295,  563 
ink,  195 
language,  373 
opium,  489 

tea,  682,  683,  684,  688,  689, 
690,    691,    692,   693,    694, 
695,  696,  697,  732 
,,     yarn,  726 
Indo-China,  590 
Industry,  161 

Infanticide,  20,  279,  347-350,  460,  664 
Infection  from  Plague,  513,  520,  525, 

530,  533,  535-536 
Inheritance  of  property,  699 
Initiation  of  Triads,  647-652 
Ink,  28,  57 

Inland  Transportation  tax,  396-399 
,,      Waters  and  Rules,  511,  730 


791 


Index 


Inner  Apartments,  764 
Inoculation,  750-754,  756 
Insanitation,  177,  188,  522,  525-527, 

528-529 

Inscriptions  on  fans,  28,  274,  277 
Insects,  34,41,72,  126,  127,  170-171, 

177,  350-356,  532-533,  536,  775 
Insecurity,  511 
Insignia  of  rank,  417 
Inspector  General  of  Customs,   192, 

193-194,  196,  197,  198,  578-579 
Instructor  of  the  Emperor,  199 
Instruments  of  music,  463,  464-465 

,,  of  torture,  722 

Integrity  of  the  Empire,  344 
Intellect,    Seat   of,    in   the   stomach, 

718 

Intellectual  qualities,  Good,  166 
Intensive  farming,  24,  25 
Intercalary  month,  711 
Interjectional    element    in    the    lan- 
guage, 371 

Internal  trade,  723-724,  736 
Intonation  in  Chinese  music,  465 
Introduction  of  Buddhism,  121,  334 
,,  ,,  inoculation,  750,  751 

,,  ,,       ,,       into  the  West, 

752 

,,  ,,  tobacco,  713 

,,  ,,        ,,       into  America, 

715 

,,  ,,  vaccination,  750,  754- 

760 

,,  ,,  western  art,  62,  64 

,,  ,,  writing,  767 

Invention  of  printing,  586 

,,         ,,  writing,  767-768 
Inventions,  Adoption  of  Foreign,  712 
Ireland,  Snakes  in,  710 
Iron,  72,  713 
Iron-capped  Princes,  484 
Ironclads,  473-474 
Ironworks,  593 
Irregulars,  46 

Irrigation,  Methods  of,  17,  25 
Isinglass,  13,  356 
Islands,  305,  306 
Italian,  193,  293,  294,  295,  296 

,,      newspaper,  478 
Italians  in  China,  294,  295 
Italy,  484 
Ivory  carving,  131,  132,  170 


JACKETS,  136,  223,  225,  226,  229, 
230,  324,  346,  456>  720 


Jack  fruit,  300 

Jade,  356-35S,  7'9 

Jakutsh,  757 

Jamaica,  Chinese  in,  144 

Japan  and  Japanese,  7,  304,  318,  341, 

359,  36o,  363,  373,  48o,  505, 
590,  60 1,  683,  693,  712,731, 
732,  740,  746 

,,     Chinese  in,  141,  152-153,  418 
Japanese  concessions,  or  settlements, 

739,  743 

cotton  goods,  726 

dollar,  191 

in  China,  293,  294,  295 

matches,  732 

shipping,  728 

stamps,  658 

tea,  688 

tobacco,  714 

tonnage,  728,  729 

treaties,  739 

war,  473-474 

yarns,  726 
Jasmines,  688 

Java  and  Javanese,  149,  511,  590 
,,    Chinese  in,  151 
,,    Tea  in,  688 
Tay,  774 

Jealousies  of  polygamy,  425,  765 
Jeering  at  women,  763 
Jehovah,  Name  of,  674 
Jekutzh,  757 
Jelebu,  Chinese  in,  150 

Jelly,  323 

Jest-books,  300 

Jesuits,  64,   106-107,  341,  342,  404, 

419,  437,  438,  439,  674,  712 
Jewellery,  357 
Jews,  107,  358-359 
Jinrickshas,  359,  360 
Johore,  Chinese  in,  149,  688 

,,      Tea  in,  688 
Jokes,  300 
Joss  paper,  67,  458 
Journals,  67,  104,  106 
[u  porcelain,  562 
Judges,  386,  387,  388 
Jugglers,  28,  676,  677 
Junks,  99,    100,    141-142,    148,   361, 

473,  477,  5.01 
Justice,  Poetical,  706 
,,      Want  of,  128 


K 


KAEMPFER,  316 
Kaffirs,  360 


792 


Index 


Kaifung-fii,  129,  358,  359 

Kaiping  and  Taku  Railway,  591,  592- 

593 

Kalgan,  45°.  73 1 

Kamchatkan  consumption  of  tea,  696 
Kamchuk,  737,  740,  742 
Kang-hi,    or    K'ang    Hsi,    120,   210, 

269,  341,  342,  343,  366,  371,  43^, 
^463,  488,  568,  572,  573,  574,  712 
Kangra  Valley  tea,  695 
Kangs,  82,  758 
Kansuh,  444,  490 
Kaolin,  561 
Kaoping  River,  742 
Karakorum,  358 
Kashgaria,  450 
Kaiikong,  742 
Kaulung,  or  Kowloon,  or  Kowloong, 

171,  220,  398,  532,  735,  744 
Keeping  step,  720,  721 
,,        time,  709,  710 
Kerosene,  451;,   505,   725,   726,  730, 

,731-732,  733,  734-735 
Kerr,  Dr.,  760 
Khitai,  139 

Khitans,  139,  414,  447 
Khotan,  356,  358 
Kia    King,    or    Ka    I  ling,    or   Chia 

Ch'ing,  343 
Kia  Yi,  542 
Kiakhta,  757 
Kiang  Chow,  737,  741 
Kiangnam,  148,  304,  316,  756 
Kiangsi,  126,  310,  315,  323,  577,  708, 

737,  741,  742,  756 
Kiangsu,    309,    310,    490,    557,   621, 

739,  741 

Kiang  Tao-yin,  60 
Kiaochow,   344,  479.  60 1,  662,  730, 

744 

Kidd,  Professor,  167 
Kidnapping,  10 

Kieh  Kwei,  or  Chieh  Kuei,  330 
Kien  Lung,  or  Ch'ien  Lung,  342,  366, 

463,  558,  572,  575-576 
Kien  porcelain,  562 
Kimberley,  Chinese  in,  145 
Kin  dynasty,  706 
King-crabs,  775 
Kingfishers,  361 
Kingfishers'  feathers,  420,  773 
King  Hao,  61 

,,     of  the  Beggars,  430 
King's  College,  London,  167 
King-teh-chin,  or  King-teh-chiu,  561, 

563,  577 
Kins,  337,  412,  448 


Kiosks,  302 

Kirin,  490 

Kitah,  139 

Kitasato,  530,  533 

Kites,  28,  67,  361-363,  615,  720 

Kit-fat  marriage,  426 

Kiukiang,    174-175,   661,    695,  731, 

r  73».  741 
Kiung  Chow,  735 
Knickerbockers,   224,  225 
Knives,  169,  456 
Knotted  strings  for  recording  events, 

,4'3 
Ko  Yan,  564 

Kokonor,  305,  772 

Ko-lo-wui,  656-657 

Kongmun,  735,  740,  741 

Kon-mm-yong,  583 

Kowlung,    171,   220,   398,   532,  735, 

744 

Kow  Shing,  196 
Kowtow,  70,  97 
Koxinga,  or  Koshinga,  341,  483, 

70i,  773 

Kuan  porcelain,  564 
Kublai  Khan,  So,  1 10,  120,  130,  304, 
r338,  339,  340,  45' 
Kucheng  massacre,  657 
Kulangsu,  310,  743 
Kuliang,  709 

Kwangchowwan,  537,  602,  603 
Kwang-si,   5,   6,    14,    173,  207,   307, 

,3io,  323,  364,  5".  742 
Kwangtung,     or    Canton     Province, 
5,  6,    14,  97,   106,   126,  128,  148, 
173,  206-207,  208,  243,  307,  310, 
3'5,  323,  324,  334,  343,  346,  402- 
403,  5",  595,  7o8,  725,  737,  741, 
r  742,  75°,  756 
Kweichovv,  or  Kueichow,  5,  6,  310, 

490,  557,  667 

Kwok  Lun  :  A  Forgotten  Knight  of 
_  Old,  552-553 
Kwong-chau-wan,  740,  744 
Kwong  Sui,  or  Kuan-Hsu,    269,  343, 
710" 


LL.D.,  266 

Labourers,  142,  144,  151,  225,  730 

Labuan,  Chinese  in,  151 

Lacquer,  363-367,  616 

Ladies,  29 

,,      smoking,  714,  720 
Lakes,  303,  305-306,  308,  318 


•93 


3 


Index 


Lampblack,  195 
Lamp-glasses,  725 
Lamps,  725,  735 
Lamp-wick,  170 
Lances,  47 
Lancet,  758,  761 
Land  forces,  45,  54 

,,    formed  from  the  sea,  307-309 

,,    registration,  699,  700,  702 

,,    tax,  699,  700,  701,  702 
Landscapes,  55,   57,  59,  60,  61,  65, 

77,  274,  498 
Lang,  475 

Langson-Lungchow  Railway,  595 
Language,   5,    6,    7,     no,     111-114, 

140,  235,  323-324,  346,  367-375 
Lanterns,  456,  457,  460 
Laokai,  602,  603 
Lao-tsz,  331-332,  671-681 
Lappa,  735 

Largest  coalfield  in  the  world,  312 
Lark,  375-377,  773-774. 
Laughing  when  death  is  mentioned, 

718 

Laureate,  266 
Law,  33,  34,  108-109,  334,  33^,  37»- 

388,  627-628,  641,  643-644,  652 
Law-abiding  people,  610 
Lawlessness,  511 
Laws  of  the  Universe,  68 1 
Lawyers,  386 
Lay,  Mr  H.  N.,  193 
Lazar  houses  in  England,  394 
Lazy  Mongols,  449 
Le,  5,  6 

Leave,  Getting,  721 
Leaves,  98 

Leeward  Islands,  Chinese  in,  144 
Left  the  seat  of  honour,  718 
Legations,   Siege  of  trie,   in  Peking, 

102-103,  108,  344,  612 
Legendary  history,  327-328 
Legge,  Dr.,  167 
Leggings,  224,  226,  255 
Lepers  and  Leprosy,  211,  288,  388- 

395,  76o,  761 
Letter-writing,  238 
Letters  of  credit,  78 
Leyden,  169 
Lhassa,  742 
Li,  190 

Li  Cheng,  60,  61 
Li  Cheng-ho,  60 
Li  Hung-chang,  14,  197,  198 
Li  Kin  Kii  Sze,  63 
Li  Kwai,  379 
Li  Lung-yen,  65 


Li  Tai-p6,  407,  544-546 
Li  Ti,  62 
Li  Tsien,  60 
Liao  River,  741 
Liaotung,  740 
Library,  68 
Lice,  355 
Lichi,  298 

Licius,  or  Lieh-tsz,  507,  675 
Lictors,  387,  610 
Lien  Chow,  524,  744 
Life  and  property  insecure,  510 
,,    for  a  life,  388 
,,    of  little  account,  664 
,,    placid,  709,  710 
,,    Saving  of,  663 
Light  and  shade,  54,  63 
Lighthouses,    light-boats,   and  light- 
vessels,  193,  395-396 
Liki,  426-427 

Likin,  192,  396-399,  696,  727 
Lilies,  286 
Limes,  300 
Lin  Liang,  63 
Literary  Chancellor,  302 
Literati,  268,  610 

Literature,     61,     102-111,     111-114, 
238,  333,  399-410,  412, 
413-415,  436,  440,  441, 
442,  445,  765 
,,         God  of,  131,  679 
Liturgies,  679 

Loan,  Money,  Associations,  632-645 
Local  Administration,  322 
,,     Constabulary,  46 
,,     Post  Offices,  578,  659,  661-662 
,,     Taxation,  399 
Lodges,  647,  648,  649,  652,  654 
Loess  formation,  309 
Lo  Fau  Mountains,  418 
Loin  cloth,  225 
Lolo,  523 

London,  537,  696,  733,  737 
,,       Chinese  in,  155,  156 
,,       Professors  of  Chinese  in,  167 
Loochoos,  The,  418 
Looms,  184,  185,  621,  622 
Loquat,  299 
Lotishui,  397 
Lotteries,  581-582 
Lotus,  243,  286,  301,  303 
Love,  706 
Love  letters,  763 
Lo-yang,  577 
Lii  Ki,  63 

Lu-chi-kou,  737,  742 
Lucky  days,  753 


794 


Index 


Lu-Hnn  Railway,  600,  601,  602 

Lulq>a,  742 

Lukto,  742 

Lung-chow,  602,  735,  738,  742 

Luttg-ck'iian-yau,  564 

Lung  Ngdn,  298-299 

Lutes,  465 

Luzon,  713 

Lyons,  Chinese  Classes  at,  169 


M 


M.A.,  265 

Ma  Ron,  61,  62 

Ma  Twan-lin,  402 

Ma  Yuen.  61,  62 

Macao,  89,  106,  175,   176,  227,  230, 

263,  281,  293,  296,  297,  360, 

396,478,  479,  502,  531,  577, 

662,  709,  733,  744,  750,  774 

,,      postage  stamps,  662 

Macaoese,  263 

Macartney,  Sir  II.,  198-199 

Mace,  190,  660 

Machin,   139 

Machinery  for  tea,  689-690,  694-695 

Magic,  313,  608,  676,  678,  680 
,,      sword,  680 

Magicians,  676,  678-679 

Magistracy,  70x3 

Magnolias,  286 

Mahning,  742 

Malacca,  Chinese  in,  148,  149 

Malaria,  355,  356,  45 1  -455 

Malay,  318,  361,  497,  508,  511 

Malaya,  356 

Malays  in  China,  295 

Malaysia,  Chinese  in,  147,  148,  149, 

15°.  151 

Malt  sweets,  410 
'  Mamma,  Oh,'  466 
Mammalia,  771-773 
Man  the  beast  of  burden,  722,  724 
Manchu,  46,  211,  226,  317,  337,  342, 

343.    344,    345.    38o>   4'°- 
415,  450,  451,  589,  650 
,,       language,  372,  413-415,  451 
Manchuria,   304,   306,  316,  317,  344, 
556,  601,  603,  619,  697,  708,  740, 
741,  771,  772 

Manchurian  railways,  598-600 
Mandalay,  Chinese  in,  146 
Mandarin,    129,  244,    256,    259-260, 
262,  283,   324,  344,  416- 
417,  609,  610,  702 
,,         Books  for  learning,  112 


Mandarin  duck,  417,  774 

,,        language,    130,    203,    206, 

209,  210,  211,  370,  417 
,,        orange,  297-298,  417 
,,         porcelain,  575 
Mangrove,  417-418 
,,         hark,  418 
Mang-hao,  738,  742 
Mango,  299 
Man-hsi  River,  742 
Manila,  480 

,,      Chinese  in,  152 
,,      cigars,  714-715 
,,      men  in  China,  295 
Manipur,  Tea  in,  694 
Manliness,  Want  of,  166 
Man-tsz,  5,  6,  188,  589 
Manu,  Laws  of,  139 
Manuring,  17,  22-23 
Maoris,  Consumption  of  tea  amongst, 

696 
Maps,  418-419 

,,     on  fans,  275 

Marco  Polo,  80,  99,   no,   123,  129, 
142,  188,    190,  218,  304,  338-339, 

436>  5°5>  558 
Marine  forces,  46,  473-478 
Maritime  trade,  723  736 
Market  gardens,  171 
Marks  on  porcelain,  576 
Marriage,  34,  86-89,  9^,  98,  138,  281, 
419-429,     455,    460,    461, 
463,    467,    469,    558,   625- 
626,    628,   633,    663,    678, 
721,  762-766 
,,       lines,  421 
,,       name,  467,  469 
,,       The   Three    Covenants    and 

Six  Ceremonies  of,  87 
Marseilles,  505 
Martial  law,  53 
Martin,  Dr.,  546 
Marts,  307,  487 
Mass,  458,  675 
Massacres,  344,  608,  611-613 
Mat,  mats  and  matting.  74,  83,  456, 

458-  726,  735 
Matches,  726,  732 
Matchlocks,  44,  47 
Mathematics,    241,    242,     269,    404, 

405 

Matheson,  196 
Matricides,  387 
Mats  and  matting.     Sf?  Mat 
Matsheds,  38,  73,  458,  704 
Mauritius.  394 

,,         Chinese  in,  145 


795 


Index 


Mausolea,  Imperial,  600 

Meadow  land,  Absence  of,  23,  115 

Meals,  258-259,  289-291 

Measures,  74 

Medals,  195-196 

Medical  works,  400,  404,  753-754 

Medicine,   75,    170,     178,    213-215, 

3'6,  491.  735 
„        and  Disease,  Gods  of,  679 

Melon  rind  candied,  410 
,,     seeds,  704 

Melons,  300 

Memory,  161 

Men  of  war,  473-478 

Mencius,  319,  328,  332,  473,  483,  507 

Mendicants,  430-434 

Mengtze,  or  Mengtze,  or  Mengtsz, 
or  Mengtszii,  or  Mengtseu,  490, 
523,  524,  603,  736,  738,  742 

Mental  characteristics,  161,  162-163 

Menu  of  Chinese  dinner,  291 

Mercantile  honesty,  163,  723 

Merchant,    13,    356,   396,   730,   731, 

735 
Metals,   or  Minerals,  312,  486,  670, 

726,  734 

Metaphoric  symbols  and  combina- 
tions, 768 

Metempsychosis,  644 
Methodical  in  trade,  723 
Mexican  dollar,  190,  731 
Mexico,  358,  688 

,,      Chinese  in,  145 
„      Tea  in,  688 
Miau-tsz,  5,  6,  7,  315,  342,  589 
Mice,  287,  288,  513,  514,  772 
Micius,  507 

Middle  Flowery  Kingdom,  140 
,,      Kingdom,  69,  139-140 
Midnight  burials,  462 
Midwife,  91 
Mih-tsz  or  Micius,  507 
Mileage  of  coast,  305 

,,        ,,  telegraph,  698 
Milfoil,  506 
Military,  45-54,  416-417 
,,        Colleges,  477 
,,        Defence  tax,  397,  398 
,,        examinations,  51-52,  269 
,,        officers,  50,  51,  52,  53,  269, 

416-417 
Milk,  449 
Milk-name,  468 

,,     of  the  buffalo,  126 
Millet,  607 
Milne,  440 
Min  River,  741 


Minerals,  312,  590,  714 

Ming,  42,  62,  63,  80,  130,  304,  326, 

333.  339,341,345.371,380, 
404,  405,  430,  438,  448,  488, 
559,  565-568,  629,  649-650, 
701,  713 

,,      porcelain,  565-568 
Mining,  603 

Mint,  191-192,  344,  434 
Minute,  Economy  of  the,  23 
Miracle  plays,  707 
Mismanagement  in  Navy,  475 
Missions  and  missionaries,  no,   199, 
200,    241,    272-273,    324, 
344,  346,  435-443,  481,  610, 
611,   612,   613,   727,    758, 

759,  76o,  76i 

,,      Protestant,  31,  324,  346,  481 
,,      Roman  Catholic,  31,  437-440 
Moats,  172 

Modern  music,  463-467 
Modes  of  expressing  time,  710-713 
Modesty,  230 

Mohammedan,  31,  42,  140,  336,  343, 
359,  444-446,  488,  520,  707, 
711 

,,      literature,  445 
Mohammed's  uncle,  444,  445 
Momein,  740 

Monasteries,  123,  680,  688 
Money,  78-80,  189-192 

,,      Loan  Associations,  632-645 
,,      scales,  190 
Mongol   dynasty,   62,    80,    120,    142 

325,  337-339 
,,      language,  449-45* 
Mongolia,  211,  305,  772 
Mongolian,  The  Family,  157 
,,      language,  211,  372 
,,      lark,  377 
,,      soldiery,  46 

Mongols,    325,    337-339,    345,   37L 
411,    414,    446-449,    589, 
757,  773,  774 
,,      Characteristics  and  customs  of, 

448-449 

Monkeys,  533,  771 
Monsoons,  115,  142 
Monstrosities  in  goldfish,  318 
Monte  Video,  358 
Moon,  27,  234,  651,  669-670,  711 
,,      cakes,  27,  669-670 
,,      feasts,  27,  223,  669-670 
Morality,  162,  165,  678 

,,  The  Chinese  consider  them- 
selves far  superior  to  us  in, 
35° 


796 


Index 


Morphia,  419,  421,  622 

Morra,  296 

Morrison,  Dr.,  439,  440 

Mortality  amongst  infants,  348- 349 

,,      from  inoculation,  751-752 
Mortgage  and  mortgagee,  699,  703 
Mosques,  445 
Mosquito,   164,   274,  355,   356,  451- 

455 

Motherhood,  Dread  of,  428 
Mothers-in-law     and     fathers-in-law, 

420,  422,  423,  427,  428,  429 
Moths,  350,  354 
Mountains,  284,  305,  306,  418,  419 

,,      Worship  of,  118,  680 
Mourning,  9,  n,  45:5-462,  628,  650, 

720 

Mouse-deer  skins,  735 
Moustache,  719-720 
Mulberry,  115,  617 
Mules,  772 

Municipal  Council,  Shanghai,  661 
Municipalities  at  Treaty   Ports,   66 1- 
662 

,,      taxation,  399 

Mural  decorations,  57,58,  221,  222 
Murder,  279 
Mushrooms,  759 
Music,  27,  28,   138,  457,   459,   460, 

462-467,  705,  706,  707,  763 
Musical  boxes,  725 

,,        instruments,  84,  464-465 
Mutton,  291,  449,  759 
Mutual  responsibility,  319-320 
Muzzle-loaders,  48 
Mysore,  Chinese  in,  145-146 
Mystery  plays,  7°3 
Mythological  period,  327,  345 
Myths,  605 


N 


NAKEDNESS,  158 

Names,    137,    138,  139-141,   260-261. 

467-473,  721 
,,         for  China,  139-141 

,,  God,  43^-439,  679 
,,         ,,  tea,  681-682,  684-685 
Nankeen,  184-185 

Nanking,  42,  130,    174-175.  184-185. 
339,  36o,  430,  434.  499, 
501-502,  602,  731,  741 
,,          pagoda  or  porcelain  tower, 

42,  499,  501-502 
,,          Treaty  of,  441.  73"-/37 
Nanning,  595,  602,  734,  740 


Narcissus,  284 
Natal,  Tea  in,  688 
National  Bank,  78 

,,        ideals,  445 
Natural  Philosophy,  671 

,,       Science,  Rudiments  of,  313 
Nature,  love  <tl,  285,  539 

,,       sounds,  371 

,,       The  Three  Towers  of,  486 

,,       The   Worship  of,    118,   539, 

605 
Naval  Colleges,  477 

,,      Officers,  52 
Navy,  loo,  283,  344,  473'477 
Needles,  456 

Negri  Sembilan,  Chinese  in,  150 
'  Neighbour,  My,'  553 
Nestorian  Monument,  435-436 
Ncstorians,    123,  336,  414,  435'437, 

,45« 
Netherlands   India,   Chinese  in,    151- 

152 

New  Guinea,  Chinese  in,  155,  156 
,,     South   Wales,  Chinese  in,   153, 

154 

,,     Territory,  Hongkong,  361,  630, 
700,  702,  744 

„     Year,    96,    97,    138,   223,    253, 
280,  284-285,  711 

,,     Zealand,  72,  358 

»  »       Chinese  in,  153,  155 

Newchwang,  i73-'74,  395-  593,  »oo> 

601,  729-730,  73',  737,  74',  743 
Newspapers,  441,  478-482 
Ng  Sam-kwai,  or  Wu  San-kwai,  291, 

341-342 
Ngan-ching,  or  Nganking,  or  Ngan- 

kin,  434,  737,  741 
Ngan  Hwui,  61,  65,  741 
Nganwhui,    or   Anhui,    or    Anhuei, 

171,  310,  318,  490,  667,  737.  775 
Ngaii-p'ai,  584 
Nickel,  713 
Nicknames,  469 
Nienfei,  396 
Ningpo,  106,  132,  174,  203,  209,  359. 

397,   732,  737,   73s-  74'. 
752,  760 

.,        Books  for  learning.  112 

,,       carving,  132 

,,       lac«[uer.  3'>6 
Nirvana,  61  1 
Nobility,  482-484,  722 
Noise,  256,  280 
Noises,  Disagreeable,  256 
yVc'w  </<••/>//////<•,  473 
North  America,  505 


'97 


Index 


North  of  China,  82,   103,    176,   187, 
242,  322,  344,  349,  350,  434, 
505,  602,  612,  614,  620,  657, 
700,  725,  771,  772 
,,     River,  708,  744 
Northern  Buddhism,  121-122 

fleet,  344,  473,  475,  477 
,,         Mandarin,  130 
,,        School  of  Painting,  60,  61 
,,        Squadron,  473,  475 

Sung,  335 
Norway,  394 

Norwegians  in  China,  193,  293,  295 
Notches     in     sticks     for     recording 

events,  413 
Notification,  234 
Novels,  334-335,  405-406,  458.  459, 

764 
Number  of  Chinese  vaccinated,  754, 

755,   756,    757,    7S». 
759,  76o,  761 
,,         ,,  foreigners  in  China,  292- 

295 

Numerical  Categories,  235,  485-488 
Numismatics,  34 
Nuns,  428,  429,  459 


OAK,  253,  619,  620 

Oars,  720 

Oaths,  253,  386-387,  650,  651 

,,      of  Triads,  650-651 
Obeisance  to  bridegroom's  father  and 

mother,  427 

Obscenity,  212,  253,  763 
Observatory,  120 
Ochotzk,  757 
'  Ode  to  a  Wife,'  543-544 
Odes,  541,  544 
Odoric,  Friar,  181 
Offerings  to  the  dead,  31,  32 
Officers  and  Officials,  13,  48,  52,  318- 

322,  344,  396,  397,  398,  399,  416- 

417,  475,  477,  479,  5°5,  S».  5^4, 
610,  612,  700,  719,  721,  723,  727 
Off  cial  calls,  259-260,  464 
mourning,  458 
name,  468,  469 
rank,  719 
religion,  1 18 
residences,  40 
salaries,  322 
Oils,  726 
Old  age,  131,  132 
,,   Hoy,  The,  673 


Old  music,  466 

Oleafragrans,  688 

Olive  seeds,  131,  132 

Onfa  tea  trade,  692 

Open  doors,  344 

Opera,  706 

Opium,  399,  429,  488-497,  503,  666, 

667,  668,  669,  733,  734 
,,       dens,  156 
,,       pills,  496-497 
,,       smokers,  490-495,  610,  734 
Opposition  to  railways,  591,  593-594 
Orange-pips,  Guessing  the  number  of, 

582 
Oranges,    115,    297-298,    299,    417, 

424,  582,  688 
Orders  of  Merit,  195-199 
Organ,  465 

Origin  of  the  Chinese,  5,  303 
Ornaments  and    Ornamentation,    35, 

38,  324,  357,  769-770 
Otters,  772 
Ouan  Mo-kie,  60 
Outdoor  pursuits  for  women,  766-767 

,,        sports,  27,  28,  29 
Outings,  27,  66,  67 
Outrages,  740 
Owen's  College,  168 
Oxford,  Chair  of  Chinese  at,  167 


PACIFIC,  746 
Paddy,  497,  606 

,,       birds,  497 

Pagoda,  42,  171,  445,  497-502 
Pahang,  Chinese  in,  150 
P'af-kau,  584 
Painstaking,  243 
Painters,  54-66,  77 
Painting,  54-66,  77,  81 
Paints,  726 
Pakhoi.  524,  525,  595,  602,  603,  735, 

737,  73«,  741,  742 
,,       Railways,  595-596 
'ak-kop-piii,  582 
'alace,  70 

'aleozoic  rocks,  310 
'aim  leaf,  273 

,,       ,,     fans,  273 
'angolin,  773 
'antomime,  706 
"aoting-fii,  302-303,  60 1,  603 

,,  Railway,  603 

'a  pay  a,  300 
'^pi-'r,  57,  75,  5^7 


798 


Index 


Paper  notes,  190 

,,      storks,  458 
1'apov,  Professor,  168 
Parasites,  137,  355,  356 
Parental  authority,  278-280,  580,6215, 

627,  628 

,,        Parsees,  502 
,,        Government,  319 
Parents,  95-97,  457 
Parker,  Professor,  168 
'arks,  171 
'assagc  boats,  51 1 
'assenger  boat,  101 

,,         traffic,  102,  51 1 
'assports,  742 
'asteur  system,  622 
'asture  land,  Absence  of,  23,  115 
'aternal  Government,  272 
'alienee,  21,  130,  161,  166,  245,  714 
'atriarchal  Government,  319 
"atrick,  St.,  710 
'atriotism,  445 
'awnshops    and    pawnbrokers,    245, 

491,  503-504 
'awn-tickets,  504 
'ay  of  soldiers,  50,  5 1 
"eaceableness,  161 
'eaceful,  607 
'caches,  26,  285,  299 
'eacock  feather,  197,  199,  719 
'eak  in  Hongkong,  176,  745 
'ea-nut,  504-505 

oil,  505,  732,  735 
'ear,  299 

'earl  River,  310,  741,  742 
'earson,  Dr.,  754-755.  757,  759 
'eas,  731 
'easants,  610 
'echili,  309,  743 

,,       Gulf  of,  306 
'ecoe,  or  Pekoe,  684,  690 
'eculations,  50 
'edlers,  244-245,  252 
'eiho,  308,  741,  742 
'eking,  46,   71,    103,    105,    120,    130, 
171,    174,    184,    202,    211, 
217,    218,   267,   307,   339, 

359,  398,  444,  450,  478, 
479,  481,  593,  597,  600, 
601,  602,  603,  612,  697, 
737,  738,  739,  743,  75°. 
75",  757,  758 

,,       Canton  Railway,  593,  597 
,,       Gazette,  479,  480-481 
,,        Hankow   Railway,   596,  597, 

598 
Syndicate,  602 


Peking,  Tientsin    Railway,  597,  600, 

602 

,,       Tientsin  Shanhaikwan   Rail- 
way, 600 
Pekingese,   Books  for  learning,    112, 

481 

Pen,  or  Pencil,  35,  55,  57,  75 
I't'n    7's'ao  and   botanical  works,  56, 

115,  117-1 18 

Penal  code,  334,  378,  379,  388 
Penang,  149,  480 
Peony,  286,  287 
Perak,  Chinese  in,  150,  151 
Perfect    morals,    ethics,     laws,    ami 

regulations,  700 
Perfumery,  726 
Pcri(xlicals,  478-482 
Persecutions  of  Buddhism,  120,  124, 

436 
,,  the  Neslorians,  436- 

437 

,,  the  Protestants,  613 

,,  the  Roman  Catholics, 

438,  439,  613 

Perseverance,  161,  1 66,  245 
Persia,  336,  359,  373,  502 
Persian  Art,  120,  575 
„      language,  359 
Persimmons,  300 
Perspective,  Chinese,  54,  64,  131 
Peru,  Chinese  in,  145 
Pescadores,  698 
Pese,  595,  602 
Petit  culture,  20,  23 
Petroleum,  603 
Petticoats,  225,  244 
Pewter-ware,  Swatow,  734 
Pheasants,  505,  614,  774 
Philippines,  394,  511,  688,  715,  755 
,,  Chinese  in,  152 

,,          Tea  in  the,  688 
Philistines,  513 
Philology,  109,  no,  367-375 
Philosopher's   stone,    676,   677,   678, 

680 
Philosophy,  178,  179.   180,  235,  400, 

403,  506-508,  513,  670,  671-681 
Phonetic,  768 
Photographs,  1 10 
Physical      Characteristics,       157-161, 

I 66,  177 

Picking  tea,  684-685 
Picnics,  302 
Pictures,  28,  54-66 
Pidgin  Knglish,  508-510 
Pietermaritzhurg,  360 
Pigeons,  532 


799 


Index 


Pigments,  57 
Pigs,  772 
Pigs'  wash,  766 
Pikes,  42,  43 
Pillows,  83 
Pinafore,  225 
Pineapple,  299 
P'ing  Wang,  331 
Pins,  357 
Pipes,  75,  7I3-7I4,  715 

„      Opium,  75,  488,  493-494 
Piracies  and    Pirates,    343,   510-511, 

726 

Pi-se,  562 
Pith  flowers,  284 

Plague,  223,  355-35°,  512-538,  604 
Plains,  306,  307,  309,  556-557 
Planets,  The  Five,  670 
Plantains,  298,  538-539 
Plantations,  Tea,  682-683,  684 
Plays,  370,  703-707 
Pliny,  402 
Ploughing,     Emperor    and     Officers, 

14,  IS 

Plum,  243,  285,  300 

Poe,  E.  A.,  542 

'  Poet,  The,'  546 

Poetry,  77,   109,   503,  539-554,  678, 

706,  719,  764,  769 
Poets,  77,  503,  539-554 
Poisoned  arrows,  709 
Polite  enquiries,  255,  718,  763 
Politeness,  161,  252-262,  434 
Political  geography,  306-307 
Politics,  109 

Polygamy,  322,  425,  449,  558,  663 
Polygnotus,  65 
Polytheism,    Buddhistic    and    other, 

122,  673 

Pomegranate,  300 
Ponds,  301,  303,  318 
Pools,  301 
Poor  relief,  33 
Pope  of  Taoism,  679-680 
Popped  rice,  607 
Poppy,  Cultivation  of,   16,  488,  489, 

49°>  733.  734 

Population,  555'558>  74O,  77 1 
Porcelain,    lio,    219,    221,    558-578, 

616,  770 
,,          Tower  in  Nanking,   130, 

566 

Porcupine,  773 
Pork,   72,  287,   289,   291,  423,  759, 

772 

Porpoise,  773 
Port  Arthur,  344,  602,  603,  743 


Porto  Rico,  Chinese  in,  145 
Portraits,  63 
Ports  of  call,  737,  742 
Portugal,  418 

Portuguese,  263,  293,  297,  341,  343, 
361,    478,    505,    508, 

55»f  577,  715,  754 
,,          colony,  744 
,,          in  China,  293,  294,  295, 

341,  343,  744 

Possession  by  demons,  200-202 
Possessions    of    foreign     nations     in 

China,  743744 
Postage,  578,  579 

,,       stamps,  579,  658-662 
Post-cards,  659,  660,  66 1,  662 

,,    Offices,  578-579,  658,  659,  660, 

66 I,  662 
Posthumous  adoption,  9 

,,  name,  469,  472 

,,  titles,  198-199,  483,  484 

Posts,    193,   578-579,  658,  659,  660, 

661,  662 
Potato,  585 
P6-tsz,  579-581 
Pottery,  558-559 
Poultry,  774 
Poverty,  322,  349 
Powers  of  Nature,  The  Three,  486 
Poyang,  102,  305-306,  741 
Practical  jokes,  300 
Practice  differs  widely  from  precept, 

701 

Prayer  Books,  679 
Precious   stones,   312,   336-337,   356- 

358 

Prefectures,  306,  419,  487-488 
Preliminaries    to    the   marriage,    All 

important,  425-427 
Preparation  of  tobacco,  714,  715-716 
Presents,  87,  93,  95-98,  194,  254 
Priests,   124,  435-436,  439,  458'459, 

460,  464,  675,  678,  756 
Primitive  man,  585,  586 
Primordial  Essences,  The  Five,  486 
Prince,  The,  278 

,,       The  Venerable,  673 
Principles  of  government,  318-322 
Printing,    337,   370,    440,  441,    442, 

480,  586-588 

Prisoners,  271,  381-382,  722-723 
Prisons,  381,  723 
Privet,  302 
Probity,  322 
Processions,  221,  244,  281,  420,  421, 

423,  426,  427,  459-460,  463-464 
Proclamations,  721 


800 


Index 


Professors  of  Chinese  in  Kurope  and 

America,  167-169 
Progress,  344,  712 
Progressive  Party,  243.     See  Preface 

also. 

Promissory  notes,  79 
Promontories,  306,  309 
Promotion  of  officials,  584 
Proprieties,  252-262,  762 
Prostitutes,  626-627,  763 
Prostitution,  558,  626-627,  628,  763, 

764-765 

Protestants,  31,  440-443,  613 
Proverbs,  588-589,  765 
Provinces,  305,  306,  307,  309,  310, 

311,312,321,332,418,419 
Provincial  Army  and  Forces,  46,  49- 

50 

,,         Authorities     or     (iovern- 
ment,     194,     398,    399, 

445 

cities,  171,  172,  307,  434 
Proxy,  Marriage  l>v,  424 
Prudery,  762,  764 
Prussia,  393 

Pseudo-adoption,  10,  11,    12 
Public  buildings  and  works,  39,  332- 

333 
,,      opinion,  319 

,,      speaker,  276 

,,      worship,  677 
Pulse,  214 
Pumelo,  300 
Pumpkins,  300 

Punishments,  30,  378,  381,  385-386 
Punkah,  589 
Puns,  300 

Pure  Ones,  The  Three,  679 
Purse,  225,  244 
Pwan-Ku,  327 
Python,  631 


QUAKERS,  71 1 

Quail,  614 

Quarrels,  668 

Queen's  College,  Hongkong,  263 

Queensland,  Chinese  in,  153-154 

Queue,  227,  257,  456,  649 

,,      Cutting  off,  649 
Quinine,  453 


R 


RACK,  589-590 
Raconteurs,  484 


Radicals  or  Key  words,  719 
Railways,    210,  272,  314,   343,   590- 

604,    614,     686,     726, 

727,  730 
,,         Imperial,  of  North  China, 

600,  601 
Railway,  The,  a  Messing  to  rich  and 

|Mx>r,  592 
Rain-coats,  74 
Rain-fall,  174,  175,  176 
Rain-hat,  74 
Rake,  74 

Rangoon,  Chinese  in,  146 
'  Rapids  of  the  White  River,  A   Visit 

to  the,'  545 
Rats,  287,  288,  513,  518,   520,  530, 

532,  533.  535,  536,  538,  604,  772 
Rattan,  704 
Raven,  542-543 
Raven,  a  Chinese,  1542 
Reading,  113-114,  240-241,  763 
Rebellions,    326,   342,   345,  445-446, 

510,  520,  555,  610,  700;  734 
Rebels,  48,   IOO 

Receipts,  Chinese,  82,  91,  291-292 
Receiving  the  bride,  421,  427 
Reclamation  of  land,  700 
Reconstruction  of  the  Navy,  475 
Record  Office  for  land,  700 
Red  Deeds,  699,  700 
,,    1'aper,  456 
,,    River,  742 
,,    sedan-chair,  420,  421,  423,  424, 

426,  427 

,,    the  festive  colour,  230,  720 
A' ceres' s  Pheasant,  505 
Regatta,  27 
Regent's  Sword,  743 
Registry  of  land,  700,  702 
Reign  name,  472,  710 
Rein's  '  Industries  of  Japan,'  504 
Religion,  n,  12,  30-34,  58,  84,    107, 

120-125,    '31'    J32>    178-180,   362- 

363,  403,  449,  604,  605,  671-681, 

703-704,  706 

Renaissance  of  Buddhism,  62 
Rendition,  271 
Reorganisation  of  Navy,  477 
Rescripts,  388 
Residents,    344.      Sec    Foreigner    in 

Far  Cathay. 
Respect  for  age,  162,  164,  253-254 

„    writing,  770-771 
Responsibility,  Mutual,  319-320 
Restaurant,  25 
Resurrection,  671 
Retrogressions,  344 


So  I 


Index 


Returns  for  trade  for  ten  years,  725- 

726 
,,       of  shipping    for   ten    years, 

729 

,,     1890,728 
,,     190°,  728 

,,       of  tonnage    for    1890,    728, 
729 

i,     1900,   728, 
729 

,,       of  trade   for   1890,  726-727, 
729-736 

,,     1900,  727 
»  ,.          „     1901,          73L 

732,  734 

Revenge,  665-666 
Revenue,  194,  477,  699 

,,         cutter  and  cruiser,  476,  477, 

712 

Rhubarb,  726 
Rhyme,  539 
Ricci,  437 

Rice,  145,  169,  289,  291,  605-607 
birds,  497 
crops,  128 
fields,    20,    21,    296,     606-607, 

699,  716 
glutinous,  410 
paper,  281 
Richardson,  485 
Ridgepole,  41,  721 
Rifles,  44 

Right-of-way,  253-254 
Ring-necked  pheasant,  506 
Rings,  357 

Riots,  426,  607-613,  656,  698,  730 
Ritual  music,  463 
River  of  Death,  The,  283 

,,     Steamers,  American,  578 
Riverine  ports,  174,  738 
Rivers,  99,   100,  101,  102,   283,  293, 
305,  306,  307,  308,  309,  310,  311, 
418,  419,  502,  613,  708,  724 
Roads,  309,  329,  333,  613-614 
Robbers,  171,  426,  504,  726 
Robbery,  Highway,  510 
Robes,  224,  226,  229,  244,  245,  274, 

456,  705,  720 
Rocher,  M.,5i5,  519,  520,  521.  522, 

523 

Rock-dwellings,  41 
Rock-work,  285-286,  301,  302,  303 
Rodents,  772-773 
Roman  Catholics,  31,    122-123,  *99> 

437-440 

,,       Empire,  Trade  with  the,  724 
,,       dramatists,  707 


Roman  law,  384 

,,       merchants,  292,  334 

,,       missions,  31,  437-440,  613 

Romanisation,  in,  112,481 

Romans,  292,  296,  334 

Roofs,  35-36,  37,  38 

Roseapple,  300 

Rose-coloured  porcelain,  569,  575 

Roses,  286,  688 

Rouge,  183 

Ruination    of    the    tea     trade,    The 
causes   of    the,    690-692,    693-695, 

732-733 
Ruins,  41 

Rule  of  road,  253-254 
Rules  for  inoculation,  753-754 

,,     for  vaccination,  758-759 
Ruminants,  772 
Running  away  to  bark  another  day, 

216 

Running  hand,  769 
Russia  and  Russians,  139,    193,  293, 

304,    344,    393,     590,    601,    740, 

743,  757 
Russian  concessions,  743 

,,      consumption  of  tea,  693,  696- 

697 
,,       system  of  Railways,  594,  596, 

598-600,  601,  602,  603 
,,       tonnage,  729 
,,       trade  with   China,  725,   727, 

732 

,,       Treaties,  727,  739 
Russians  in  China,  294,  295 
Russo-Chinese  Bank,  601 


SABLE  skins,  198 
Sackcloth,  455,  456,  457 
Sacred  Edicts,  403-404 

,,  music,  463,  464 

Sacrificial  vessels,  118 
Sagacious,  723 
Sages,  178-180,  328,  673 
Sailors,  322 
Salt  Revenue,  397,  399 
Salted  pig,  730 
Sam  Hop  Wui,  645-656 
Sampan,  73,  766 
Samsah,  740 
Samsha  Bay,  74 l 
Samshu,  737 

Samshui,  102,  735,  740,  741,  742 
San  Francisco,  169,  480,  481 
San  Kwok,  405-406 


802 


Index 


San  King,  536 

Sanctity  of  life  of  parent,  387 

Sandal-wood  carving,  1 32 

Sandals,  226 

Sandstone,  308,  310,  311,  312 

Sandwich  Islands,  145,  394 

Sang-tie-twitf,  569,  573,  574,  576 

Sanitary  Science  and  want  of  Sanita- 
tion, 5°',  512-513,  5'5,  522,  525- 
526,  527,  528-529,  536 

Sanscrit,    121,    370,    373,    406,    497, 

,  577 

Santu,  740 

Santuao,  732,  737,  741 
Sap,  irritating  nature  of,  363 
Saw,  722 
Scaffolding,  73 
Scale  of  Chinese  music  compared  with 

that  of  Nature,  465 
Scandinavians    in    China,    293,    294, 

295 

Scarification,  8 

Scarlet  fever,  756 

Scavengers,  766,  773 

Sceptics,     or     Sceptical      School      of 

Historians,  329,  332 
Schaal,  Adam,  438 
Schlegel,  Professor,  169 
Scholar,  13 
Scholarly  stoop,  264 
School-boys,  j,  234-243,  264,  276 

,,      name,  468 
Schools,  234-243,  252,  441,  442,  450 

,,       of  Painting,  59,  60,  61,  62 
Sciences,  403,  405 
Scripts,  The  Six,  371,  768-769 
Scrolls,  57,  769 
Scutage,  699 
Sea-air  bad  for  tea,  686 

,,    board,  99 

,,    borne  commerce,  398 

,,    cucumber,  81-82 
Seal  characters,  770 
Seamstresses,  766 
Seas,  306,  418,  419 
Season  for  typhoons,  748 
Secondary  wives,  89,   212,  425,  628, 

663,  764,  765,  766 
Secret   Societies,    75,    109,    164,    173, 

645-658 

Sedan-chairs,    29,    70,    73,    SS,    198, 
420-421,  423,  424,  426,  427, 

459,  763 

,,       Imperial,  70 
Seeing  into  the  earth,  6oS 
Selangor,  Chinese  in,  150,  151 
Self-denial,  Instances  of,  279 


Self  government  by  ihc  |>cople,  322 
Selling  girls  and  women  into  slavery, 

624,  625-626,  627-628 
Semi -nudity,  230,  256 
Senegambia,  505 
Seres,  139,  140 
Serious  looks,  300 
Servant-girl  question,  156 
Servants,  83,  253,  257,  258,  259,  262, 

624-626,  627,  628,  721,  706 
Servia,  Tea  in,  688 
Servitude  of  women   in   China,   721, 

762-767 

Sesamum  seed,  726 
Settlements,  739,  742-744 
Sevres,  577 
Sewing,  763 
Sexagenary  cycle,  195 
Shaking  hands,  257  258,  718 
Shakspeare,  402 
Sha-shih,  737 
Shamien,  743 
Shang  dynasty,  118,  330 
Shanghai,    106,    112,    174,    1 86  187. 
1 88,  192,  202,  203,  209, 
231,  234,263,  281,  308- 
309,  360.  456,  477,  478, 
479,  481,495,496,591, 
658,  661,  662,  708,  725, 
73',  733,  737,  738,  739, 
74',  743,  759 

,,          Books  for  learning,  112 
,,          flotilla,  476 
,,  Foreign      population     of, 

294-295 
fowls,  774 

,,  Ilangchow    (and   Ningpo, 

Wenchow  and  Canton) 
Railway,  602,  603 
,,  postage  stamps,  66 1 

,,  Soochow     Railway,     591, 

601 
,.  Soochow    and     Nanking, 

60 1 
,,  and    \\oosung     Railway, 

591,  600,  60 1,  603 
Shanhaikwan,  490,  601,  602,  740 
Shansi,  or  Shanhsi,  26,  232,  312,  331, 
349,  477,  490,  595,  60',  603,  617, 
750,  752 
Shanties,  38 

Shantung,    106,    129.   311,  328,  331, 
391.  490.  ^56,  60 1.  740, 

74',  743 

,,  Railway,  596,  597,  600 

Shap-tsai,  584 
Shark,  7/5 


So- 


Index 


Sharks'  fins,  289,  291-292 

Shashi  and  Shashih,   or  Shasi,  730, 

737,  739,  74 «,  742,  743 
Shaving,  93,  94,    137,   337,  448,  456, 

720,  761 

,,        child's  head,  93,  94,  137 
Shawls,  245 
Sheds,  38,  458,  704 
Sheep,  520,  725 
Sheng,  465 

Shenfo,  or  .S7//////0,  479,  495 
Shen-si,  303,  444,  490,  577 
Shi  King,  541-542 
Shin  Nung,  or  Shen   Nung,   14,    15, 

328 

Shingking,  740,  741 
Shin-kiin-t'o,  584 
Shipping,  728-729 
Ships,  361 
Shirtings,  725 

Shiuhing,  735,  737,  740,  742 
Shoes,  226,  244,  324,  456,  459,  615, 

6 1 6,  650,  720,  763 
Shooting,  614-615 
Shop-keeper,  190 
Shops,  39,  130,  357,  709,  769 
Shorthand,  769 
Shrimps,  759 

Shu  King,  308,  330,  369,  617 
Shun,  319,  328,  378,  462,  486,  559 
Shuo-wen,  369 
Shutters,  39 

Shuttlecock,  28,  615-616,  720 
Siam,  Chinese  in,  147 
Siamese  in  China,  193 
Siberia,  Chinese  in,  153,  391 
Siberian  Railway,  590,  598,  602 
Siege   of  the    Legations   in    Peking, 

102-103,  I08,  344,  612 
Signboards,  39 
Silesia,  358 

Silk,    187,   245,    273,    274,    616-623, 
726,  731,  735 

,,     filatures,  622,  730 

,,     floss,  245 

,,     worms,  274-275,  354,  617,  618, 
619-620,  621,  775 

,,     worm  grubs,  288 
Silken  cord,  666 
Silver,  189-192,  713 

,,      fish,  318,  775 
,,      pheasants,  774 
Similarity  of  all  Chinese  to  the  new- 
comer, 158 
Simpson,   Professor,   on   the    Plague, 

.535 
Smae,  139 


Si-ngan-fu,  130 
Singapore,  360,  480 

,,          Chinese  in,  147-148,  149- 

150,  360 
Singing,  464 

,,       girls,  28,  464 
Sinim,  Land  of,  140 
Sinologue,  140 
Skiing  down,  255 
Siuen  Tih,  or  Ilsiian  Te,  565-566 
Six  Ceremonials,  The,  420,  426 
Skins,  726 
Skirts,  225 

Skull-caps,  253,  256-257 
Slates,  309 

Slavery,  263,  273,  557,  558,  623-629 
Sleep  invented,  327 
Sleeves,  229,  719 
Slicing  process,  387 
Small-pox,  735,   750-752,  755-  756, 

758 
Smokers  of  opium,  488-489,  490-492, 

492-495,  496-497 
Smoking,    704,    7I3'7I4,    7*5,    7i6, 

720 

Snake-eating  cobra,  630 
Snake  skin,  616 
Snakes,  288-289,  533,  629-632,   710, 

774 

Snipe,  614,  632,  774 
Snuff,  and  mode  of  taking  it,  714 

,,    bottles  and  spoons,  714 
Soap,  726 

Soap-stone  ware,  132 
Sobriquet,  469 
Societies,  532,  658 

,,        Secret,  75,   109,   164,  173, 

645-658 

Socks,  227,  720 
Sofa,  302 
Soldiers,    43,   44,   45'54,    322,    344, 

495,  5,IO>  6°9,  612,  705,  727 
'Soldier's  Wife,  A,  to  her  Husband,' 

546 

Soles  of  shoes,  720 
Solidified  scent,  300 
Son,  9-13,  322,  718,  762 

,,    of  Heaven,  15,  69,  445 
Song  birds,  375'377 
Songs,  541-542,  543-544,  55° 
Soochow,  or  Suchow,  102,  387,  391, 
479,  499,  732,  739,  74', 
743,  752 

,,          Books  for  learning,  112 
Soochow-Ningpo  Railway,  598 
Sorrow,  The,  of  China,  283 
Sorrows,  The  Dissipation  of,  543 


804 


Index 


Sou-chong,  685 

Souffle  porcelain,  572 
Souls,  Three,  32 
Soup,  170,  356 
South  America,  630,  754 

,,     Australia,  Chinese  in,  153,  154 

,,     Carolina,  Tea  in,  688 

„     of  China,   35,    127,    177,    272, 

296,322,  323,  389,  390,  418, 

505,  613,700,724,  745,  750, 

75*S  771 
Southern  Buddhism,  121-122 

,,        School  of  Landscape  Artists, 

61 
,,        School  of  Painting,  60,  61, 

62 

,,        Squadron,  476 
Sovereigns,  The  Three,  327 

,,          The  Five,  327 
Spaniards,  394 

,,         in  China,    193,   293,    204, 

295 

Spanish,  193,  293,  294 
,,       dollars,  190 
,,       shipping,  729 
,,       tonnage,  729 
Sparrows,  394 
Spears,  42,  43,  47,  75 
Spectacle-cases,  244,  245 

,,        thrush,  377 
Spectacles,  256 
Spheres  of  influence,  344,  595,  743- 

744 

Spiders,  775 
Spinning-wheel,  619 
Spirits,  n,  12,  200-202,  296,  423 

,,        Calling  back  the,  215 

,,        Evil,  or  Devils,  n,  200-202, 

423,  469-470 
Spiritualism,  413 
Splashed  ware,  561,  570-571 
Spoons,  Earthenware,  170 
Sport,  614-615 

Sports,  Outdoor,  28,  29,  614-616 
Squeezes,    322,    381,    398,   610,    665, 

666,  701 

Squirrels,  533,  772 
Stage,  703-704,  704-705,  706 

,,     Low  estimation  of,  706,  707 

,,     properties,  704-705 
Staking  on  orange  pips,  582 
Stamps,  658-662 
Standard,  The  Green,  46 
Standing,  254 

,,         Army,  47 
Stars,  68,  118,  669-670,  679 
Starvation,  5,  10,  511 


State  slaves,  627 

States,  The  Three,  334-335,  370 

Stations,  Tax,  397,  399 

Statistics,    212,    349,    389,    479-480, 

49',  499,  555-557,  667, 

669 

,,          of  Railway,  590,  592 
Statutory  law,  388 
Steam-launches,  101,  102,  511 

,,     traffic,  730 
Steamers,    99,    102,    142,   578,    737, 

739 

Stern-wheel  passage  boats,  101 
Stink  pots,  45 
Stockings,  226-227 
Stomach  the  seat  of  the  intellect,  718 
Stone,  34,  36,  39,  41,  42,  302,  308, 
309,  310,  311,  312,  714 

age,  585-586 

axeheads,  585-586 

coolies,  721 

drums,  34 

musical  instruments,  464 

Philosopher's,  676,  677,  678, 

680 
Stools,  302 
Stopping  -  places   for    steamers,   737, 

739,  742 
Stories,  271-272 
Storks,  243,  458 
'Stork,  The,'  551-552 
Stoves,  82 

Straits-born  Chinese,  149 
Straits   Settlements,    99,     138,     142, 
173,    190-191, 

«95,  325,  356, 
538,   653-654, 

655 
,,  ,,  Chinese    in    the, 

142,  147,  148- 

150,    346-347. 

653-654,  655 
Tea  in,  688 
1  Strange  Tales  from  a  Chinese  Studio,' 

406 

Strawbraid,  730,  732 
Streams,  Worship  of,  118,  680 
Streets,  25,  26,  36,  39,  244,  763-764 
Strokes  in  Shuttlecock-playing,  615- 

616 

Stucco  work,  38 
Style,  Another,  469 
Stylus,  Metal,  767 
Su  Tung-po,  407,  549-552,  707 
Su  Wu,  543-544 
Sub-dialects,  204-205,  207,  208 
Suburbs,  171 


8CK 


Index 


Success  of  Mission  work,  440-443 

Succession  to  throne,  30,  320 

Sugar,  145,  187,  735 

Sui  dynasty,  370 

Suicide,  428,  429,  492,  662-669,  766 

Sumatra,  Tea  in,  688 

,,         Tobacco  in,  714 
Sumatran   kerosene,    732 
Summer  houses,  302 
Summers,  Professor,  167 
Summons  to  Secret  Society  Meetings, 

75,  647-648 

Sun,  234,  651,  669-670 
Sunday,  Want  of,  177 
Sung  dynasty,  61,  62,  65,   129,   133, 
183,  269,  325,  335,  337,  345,  370, 
379,  412,  507,  562,  563,  564,  565, 
677,  706,  707,  750,  752 
Sungchi  River,  742 
Sungei  Ujong,  Chinese  in,  150 
Sunlight,  533 
Sun  Tsz  or  Suncius,  507 
Superiority   to    other    Asiatics,     162, 

163 
Supernatural   Creatures,    The    Four, 

219 

Superstition,   3,    10-12,   92,  98,   200- 
202,    234,   271-272,    423,  460-462, 
519,  524,  666,  670,  675,  676-679 
Supreme  Court,  270,  271 
,,         Ruler,  679,  680 
Surinam,  Chinese  in,  144 
Surnames,  467-468,  721 
Suttee,  663 
Suzerain  State,  68,  69 
Swaddling  bands,  92,  95 
Swallowing  gold,  667 
Swatow,  38,  102,  106,  148,  158,  175, 
203,    207,   208,  209,  225, 
227,    230,  233,  268,  275, 
288  -  289,  296,    297,    298, 
346,  372,   392,    417,  419, 
423,   502,  607,   613,  620, 
687,  708,  716,  734,   737, 
741,  767,  773,  775 
,,        and   Ch-auchao-fu    Railway, 

594 

,,        Books  for  learning,   112-113 

,,        fans,  275 

,,        oranges,  298 

,,         Railway,  594 

Swedes  in  China,  193,  293,  295,  613 
Swedish  matches,  732 
Sweetmeats,  97,  170 
Sweet  potato,  585 
Sweets,  410 
Sweet-sop,  299 


Swiftlct,  90,  91 
Swiss  in  China,  295 

,,     lake  dwellings,  358 
Sword,  43-44,  658 

,,       scabbard,  198 
Sydney,  480 

Syllables  in  Chinese,  209 
Symbols,  Imitative,  767-768 

,,         Indicating  Thought,  768 
,,         Uniting  Sound,  768 
Synagogue,  359 
Syriac,  451 
Szchuen,  72,  130,  146,  188,  232,  233, 

234,  364»  444.  490,  586,  603,  617, 

667,  7i5»  730.  734,  737,   740,  74i, 

750 

Sz-ma  Kwang,  401 
Szemao,  736,  738,  740,  742 


TABASHEER,  75 

Table  of  Ports  of  Call,  742 

,,      of  Treaty  Ports,  741-742 
Table-covers,  245 
Tablets,  300 
Taboo,  473 
Taels,  190,  660 
T'ai  P'ing  Rebellion,   130,  192,  326, 

343,  396,  555-556,  563,  610,  645- 

647,  653,  655 
Tai-chow,  113 
Ta-i  cups,  560,  562 
Tai  Mo  Shan,  745 
Takhing,  737,  742 
Taku,  742 

,,      Forts,  612 
Talienwan,  743 
T'ang  dynasty,    54,   60-6 1,    65,    140, 

142,  325,  335-337,  345,   370,  373, 

379,  400,  413,  447,  463,  544,  560, 

562,  586,  628,  657,  677,  706,  707 
Tangchow,  737 
Tangiereens,  297 
Tang-ku,  602 
Tannin,  692 
Tao,  611,  674,  680-681 
Tao  Teh  King,  671,  673-675,  676 
Tao  Kuang,  343 
Taoism,  107,  120,  122,  220,  272,  313, 

406-407,  445,  458,  459,  460,  464, 

507,  650,  671-681 
Taotai,  479 
Tartars,  331,   337-339,  34O,   341-345, 

577,  646,  647 
,,         Golden,  707 


806 


Index 


Tasmania,  Chinese  in,  153,  155 

'Taste,'  549 

Tal'ung,  737,  742 

Taxation    and   Taxes,     15,    33,    272, 

396-399.  495,  69'.  695,  696,  699, 

700,  701,  702,  727,  731 
Ta-yi  Railway,  593 
Tea,   1 6,  89,  259-260,  289,  429,  448- 
449,  616,  681-697,  727,   732- 

734,  735 
,,     girls,  766 
Teapots  and  cups,  687 
Teapoys,  302 
Tef-P'6-wuf,  641,  642-643 
Telegraph  mileage,  698 

,,         offices,  698 

Telegraphs,  314,  697-698,  748-749 
'  Tell  me  a  story,'  484 
Temper,  137-138 
Temperance  of  the  Chinese,  687-688 

,,  Society,  656 

Temperateness,  166 
Temples,  14,  26,  32,  33,  34,   35,   39, 
40,  59,  83,  84,  122,  124,  172,  1 80. 
188-189,  302,  3I3-3I4,    392,   445, 
500,  644,  646 

Tender  for  loan,  636-637,  639,  643 
Tent,  37,  42 
Tenure  of  land,  699-703 
Teochiu.     See  Ilokkien,  or  Hoklo 
Term  Question,  438-439 
Terraced  fields,  20,  21,  185 
Thaumaturgic  mysteries  and  priests, 

672,  675 

Theatres  and  theatricals,  26,  29,  98, 
206,  300,  302,  456,  464,   505,  628, 
652,  703-707 
Theatrical  costumes,  245 
Theine,  692 
Thieves,  363,  510 
Three,    Character  Classic,  The,  235- 

236 

Documents,  The,  425-426 
Generations,  The,  426 
Handed  Chess,  136 
Lights,  The,  486 
Posvers  of  Nature,  The,  486 
Pure  Ones,  The,  459,  679 
States,    The,    334-335,    345, 

370 

Throneless  King,  The,  179 
Thrush,  377,  773 

Tibet,   Tibetan,  and  Tibetans,    105, 
218,    305,    342,   446,    449, 
450,   451,    490,    556,    727, 
742,  772 
,,      Tea  sent  to,  727 


Tientsin,  47,  50,  322,  434,  477,  478, 

479,  592,  593,  601,  602, 

603,  612,  658,  727,  736, 

741,  742 

,,        Chin    Kiang   Railway,  596- 

597,  603 
,,        Shanhaikwan  Railway,  596 

Treaty  of,  737 
Tiger,  The  White,  314,  709 
Tigers,  614-615,  679,  707-709,  77 « 
Tiles,  34.  37,  40 
Tillers  of  the  ground.   13-15,   16-23, 

25 

Time,  245,  709-713 
,,      Keeping,  720 
Timour  postage  stamps,  662 
Timur,  339 
Tin,  734, 
T'in  Kaii,  584 
Ting,  Admiral,  477 
,,    Porcelain,  562 
Titles,  195-199,  482-484 
Toad  in  the  Moon,  669 
Tobacco  and    pipes,    713-716,    726, 

735 

Foil,  Unremitting,  21 
Toleration,  445 

,,          Edict  of,  439-440 
Tombs,  32,  34,   172,   1 88,  313,  716- 

To-morrow,  710 

Tones,  369,  370,  539 

'l^ong  name,  470-471 

Tonnage,  728-729 

Tonquin,   or  Tonkin,  340,   590,  602, 

603 

Topographical  works,  402-403 
Topsy-Turvydom,  95,  717-722 
Torpedo-lx>ats,  476 
Tortoise,  219,  506 
Torture,  75,  271,  382,  722-723 
Toucans,  346 

Towns,  240,  610,  724,  740 
Toys,  28,  29,  74,  138 
Tract  on  vaccination,  757 

,,      Native,    on    vaccination,     757, 

758-759 

Trade,  190,  292-293,  396-399,  558, 
688,  690-691,  693-696,  723- 
.736 

,,       with  Europe,  724-736 
,,       with  foreign  lands,  724-736 
Traders,  356,  511,  610 

,,       Adoption  by,  10 
Trading  Race,   The  Chinese   are   a. 

723 
voyages,  724 


807 


Index 


Tragedies,  706 

Tramway,  Peak,  66 

Trans-Caucasian  Railway,  688 

Transit  pass,  397 

Transmigration  of  souls,  32,  124 

Transport,  18,  24 

Transvaal,  Chinese  in,  155 

Travels,  Books  of,  104,  105,  106, 
108,  no,  in 

Treaties,  396,  397,  399,  441,  736- 
740 

Treaty  Ports,  106,  294,  295,  396, 
441,  478,  502,  658, 
659,  66 1,  697,  709, 
712,  725,  729-736, 
736-744,  761 
,,  ,,  Foreigners  in,  293- 

295 

Tree  frogs,  296 

Trees,  11-13,  32,  35,  61-62,  72-78, 
114-118,  126-127,  131-132,  170, 
171,  176-177,  187,  246,  249,  271, 
285,  286,  297-300,  302,  303,  313, 
323,  327,  354,  363,  364,  4i7-4i8, 
422,  453,  510,  513,  617,  619,  620, 
682-684,  688 

Triad  Society,  645-656 

,,  ,,       in   the  Colonies.   653- 

654,  655 

,,  ,,  ,,      United  States, 

656 

Tribute,  68,  69 

Tricks  of  Trade,  732 

Trigrams,  The  Eight,  506 

Trinidad,  Chinese  in,  144 

Trinity,  674,  679 

Tripang,  81 

Trousers,  223-226,  720 

Trousseau,  421 

Truitt,  574 

Trustworthiness,  166 

Tsang  Porcelain,  572 

Ts'ao  Fuk-hing,  58 

Tseng  kwo-chuan,  199 

Ts'i  or  Ch'i  dynasty,  335 

Tsin,  or  China,  139 
,,    Shih  Huang  Ti,  332,  333,  369, 
399-400,  404,  676 
dynasty,  34,  So,  325,  332- 
333,  335,  345,  577,  676 

Ts'ing,  or  Ching  dynasty,  63-64,  65, 
So,  140,  326,  341-345,  373 

Tsung  Li  Ya-men,  396 

Tsz  fa  lottery,  582 

Tu  Fu,  503,  546-547,  560 

Tuberoses,  286,  288 

Tung  Chih,  68,  343,  456 


Tunghsing,  738,  742 

Tung  Ting,  305,  739-74O 

Tung  Wa  Hospital,  760 

Tung  Wen  Kwan,  241 

Tuning  of  instruments,  465 

Turbans,  230,  346 

Turkestan,  358,  451 

Turkey,  590,  752 

Turkish  language,  372 

Turks  in  China,  193,  295,  448,  752 

Two  Emperors,  The,  486 

Typhoons,  34,  607,  745'75° 


U 


UlGHUR,  414,  450-451 

Uganda,  537 
Umbrellas,  74,  459,  460 
,,          Official,  199 
Uncle  of  Mahommed,  444,  445 
Uniform,  50 

Union  Pacific  Railway,  144 
Unit  of  Society,  The  family  is  the,  10, 

172,  319,419 
United  States,  656 

,,  Chinese   in,     142-143, 

144,  656 

,,  consumption    of    tea, 

690-691,    693,    694, 
696 

,,  Tea  in,  688,  689 

Uniting  Sound  Symbols,  768 
Universal  Provider,  72 
University  College,  Liverpool.  168 
University  of  London,  168-169 
Unknown  Husband,  An,  429 
Unpunctuality,  709-710 
Unshaven  and  unshorn,  455 
Urh-ya,  369 


VACCINATION  and  Inoculation,  750- 

762 
Vaccinators,  754,  755,  756-757,  759' 

760,  761 

Vaccine  establishments,  758,  759,  760 
,,       Institute,  Hongkong  Govern- 
ment, 761 

Vagabonds,  492,  609,  610 
Vagueness  in  language,  710 
Valid  marriage,  A,  425-427 
Valour,  52 

Vancouver,  Chinese  in,  144 
Varieties  of  bamboo,  75,  76,  77,  78 


808 


Index 


Varieties  of  fish,  774-775 

Varnish  tree,  363 

Vases,   35,   75,   118,    119,    131,   357, 

770 

Vaudeville,  706 
Vegetables,  289,  735,  759 
Vegetarians,  21,  73,  657 
Venerable  Prince,  The,  673 
Venezuela,  358 
Venezuelans  in  China,  193 
Veracity,  Want  of,  161-162,  164 
Verbiest,  438 

Vermin,  137,  355,  513,  514,  533,  536 
Verse-making,  238 
Vessels,  361 
Viceroys,   14,  46,    49,    50,    321,  322, 

398,  477 

Victoria,  Chinese  in,  153,  154 
Village,  108,  128,  136,  172,  511,  724 

,,        fights,  128 
Villagers,  510,  644 

,,         manage   their   own  affairs, 

128 

Violins,  465 
Viper,  630,  631-632 
Virtuous  women,  766 
Viscera,  the  Five,  670 
Visiting,  29,  259-260 

,,        cards,  456 
Vissiere,  Professor,  169 
Vocal  gestures,  371 
Voyages,  141-142 


W 

WAGTAIL,  376 

Waichau,  741 

Waf  Sing  lottery,  581 

Waistcoats,  224 

Wall,  The  Great,  41,  332-333,  341, 

418 

Walls,  35,  36,  38,  40,  171,  172,  309 
Wang,  Madame,  466 
Wang  Wei,  60 
Wanhsien,  741 

Wan  Lieh,  or  Wan  Li,  341,  437,  568 
Wan  Wong,  330 
Want,  510 
War  junks,  100 
Wars,  128,  331,  332,  333,  334,  335, 

336,  337,  338,  339,  340,  341,  342, 

343,  344,  345>  555,  706-707,  725, 

740 

War-tax,  396-399 
Washing,  81 
Washing  babies,  92 


Watch  of  the  night,  712-713 
Watches,  709,  712,  726 
Watchmen,  712-713 
Water,  670 

,,      colours,  57,  64 

,,       pipes,  hookas,  etc.,   73,   713- 

714 

,,      rights,  128 
,,      shoes,  228-229 
Waterways,  272,  590 
Waves  of  Immigration,  323,  325,  326, 

347,  700 

Way,  Right  of,  253-254 
Weapons,  42-45,  47,  48,  49,  50,  51, 

52,  54 

Web-footed  birds,  774 
Wedding  feasts,  422,  423,  424 
,,         march,  466 
,,        presents,  87,  89,  625 
Week,  712 

Wei  period  or  dynasty,  577 
,,    River,  602 
,,    State  of,  672 
Weighing  money,  190 
Weights  and  measures,  328 
Wei-hai-wei,  174,  234,  304,  344,662, 

740,  743-744 
Welsh  Mortgage,  703 
Wen  chang,  243,  269-270 
Wenchow,  732,  734,  737,  741 
West  Coast  of  Africa,  505 
,,     Indies,  358 
,,     of  China,    42,    175,    595,    604, 

668,  741,  750 
,,     River,  602,  603,  708,  737,  740, 

742 
Western  Australia,  Chinese  in,  153 

,,         Paradise,  122 
Whampee,  298,  739 
Whampoa,  603,  742 
Wheat,  410 
Wheelbarrows,  456,  592 

,,  in  mourning,  456 

Whipping  through  the  streets,  386 
Whirlwind  caused  by  dragon,  220 
Whiskey,  or  Rice  Spirit,  759 
Whispering,  260 
White,  230,  456,  458,  670,  720 
,,       ants,  126,  350-351 
,,      Deeds,  699,  702 
,,       is  mourning,  456,  458,  720 
,,       Porcelain,  558,  559,  560,561, 
562,    568,    569,    570,    573, 

574,  575 
,,       rice  fish,  775 
,,       porcelain,  569 
,,       tiger,  709 

809  3  i: 


Index 


White  wood-carving,  132 
Wicks,  732 

Widow  of  Ephesus,  485 
Widows,  455,  456,  765-766 
Wife,   86-89,    9i-95>    H3.    211-213, 
148-149,  244,  258,  261,  277, 
322,  449,  456'457>  471-472, 
624,  625,  626,  627,  628,  663, 
668,  718,  762,  763,  764,  765, 
766 

,,       Hire  of,  628 
,,      Sale  of,  627-628 
'  Wife,  The  Deserted,'  547-548 
Wild  cats,  771 

Williams,  Professor  Wells,  169 
Wills,  Chinese,  33 
Window-glass,  726 
Windows,  36,  37 
Wine  or  Spirits,  28,  250 

,,     parties,  28,  97,  300 
Winnowing  machine,  19 
Winter  solstice,  223 
Wire-netting,  453,  511 

,,         ,,        for  mosquitoes,  453 
Wistarias,  303 
Witness,  256,  271,  387,  723 
Woman,  The,  marrying  the  man,  424 
Women,   status  and   position  of,   27, 
28,  29,  86-89,  9!-95>  97>   '85,  242, 
244,  245,  261,  281,  282,  457,  492, 
582,  633,  642,  703,  706,  762-767 
Wong  Fung,  Dr.,  759 
Wonks,  771-772 
Woo,    or   Wu,    Emperor,    132,    330, 

331,  677 
Wood,  670 

„      carving,  130,  131,  132 
Woodcock,  614 

Wooden  instruments  of  music,  465 
Wool,  726 

Woollen,  725,  726,  734 
Woosung,  739,  740,  741 
,,          Railway,  591 
„          River,  308,  739,  741 
World's  consumption  of  tea,  696-697 
Worms,  288 

Worship,  Ancestor,  9,  10,  30-34,  118, 
172,  419,  420,  422,  423, 
426,  427,  438,  463,  624' 
at  the  grave,  9,  27,  32 
Evening,  464 
of  antiquity,  118 
,,  Confucius,  1 80 
,,  Heaven  and   Earth,  463, 

605,  650,  651 

,,  mountains      and     rivers, 
605 


Worship   of  Nature,   118,    605,   650, 

651 

,,  stones,  605 
,,  sun  and  moon,  463,  651 
,,  the  dead,  458,  650 
,,     Pleiades,  670 
,,     Wind,  118 
when  inoculating  for  small- 
pox, 752 

Write,  Ability  to,  240 
Writing,  55,  1 14,  368,  369,  697,  763, 

767-771 

of  the  Khitans,  414 
„       Les,  6 
,,      Lolos,  5 
,,      Manchus,  413,  415 
,,       Uigurs,  414 
Written  language,  374,  450,  767-771 
Wu,    or   Woo,    Emperor,    132,    330, 

331,  677 

,,      Empress,  336 

,,      San-kuei,  655 
Wu,    Tao-tsz,    59,    65 
Wu,    Wang,  132,  330,  331,  677 
Wuchang,  434 
Wuchow-fu,  102,  603,  734,  737,  740, 

742 

Wuhu,  661,  730,  737,  741 
Wusueh,  737,  742 


XANADU,  129 


YALE,  169 

Yamen,  81,  171,  322,  381,  610,  723 

,,        Expenses,  322 
Yang  Chii  Yiiau,  549 
Yangtsz,  303,  305,  306,  307-308,  311, 

328,  332,  338,  395,  412,  418,  526, 

600,  601,  603,  614,  698,  737,  739, 

740,  741,  773 

Yao,  or  Yaou,  319,  328,  378,  486 
Yasus,  726,  730 
Yatung,  736,  739,  742 
Year,  A  lunar,  71 1 

,,      name,  or  year  style,   472-473, 

710-711 
Yeh,  197 
Yellow  fever,  356,  451,  452 

,,      Flag,  Order  of  the,  199 

,,       Riding  Jacket,  196 

,,       River,     283-284,     305,     306, 

3°7,    308,    309,    328>    329. 
412,  418,  447 


8lO 


Index 

Yellow  Sea,  306,  308,  746  Yung  Cheng,  64,  342 

Yen  Lf-pun,  59  Yiingki,  742 

,,    Lf-teh,  59  Yung  River,  741 

Yersin,  530,  534  Yunnan,   5,   6,    146,   305,  356,  424, 
Yik  King,  114,  506  444,  446,   512,  515,   517- 

Yi-wiif,  633-642,  643-645  518,  519,  520,  521,  523, 

Yochow,  730,  739-74".  74'  524,   557-   S8^.  594-595. 

Yokohama,  360  596,  602,  603,  667,  697, 

Young,  Arthur,  16  698,  734,  738,  742,  772 

Ysbranti  Ides,  569  ,,          Railway,      594-595,      596, 

Yu,  The  Great,  328,  329,  617  602.  603 

} '//  kwo  /if/i  tsin^\  563  Yunnan-fi'i,  or  Yunnan-sen,  602,  603 
Yuan,  or  Yuen,  dynasty,  62,  65,  184, 

l85.   337,    340,   345.    379, 

448,  564,  567,  706,  707  Z 

,,     Shih-kai,  477 

Yuen  Ying,  60  ZKUXIS,  58,  65 


Yuetling,  742 
Yuh  Yuen,  543 


'/.'me,  713 

/ones  of  influence,  743-744 


Yule,  Colonel,  505  ,    /oology,  771-775 


811 


GLOSSARY 


Attap.  A  Malay  word  signifying  the  kind  of  mats,  or  leaves 
made  into  these  mats,  used  to  cover  a  house,  or  even  for  the  walls 
of  a  house. 

Bogue.  The  mouth  of  the  Canton  River.  The  word  is  derived 
from  the  Portuguese  Bocca.  Bocca  Tigris  is  a  translation  of  the 
Chinese  Fu-miin,  'The  Tiger's  Mouth.' 

Candarin  is  the  vs  of  a  mace,  worth  i£  cents  silver,  or  nearly  a 
farthing  and  a  half. 

Cash  is  the  current  coin  of  the  Chinese,  ten  or  more  of  which 
are  worth  a  cent  silver,  and  forty  a  penny  English. 

Catty=i3  Ibs.  avoirdupois.     Plural— catties. 

Cent^ltf  of  a  dollar  (silver)  worth  |d. 

Chang  =  chong  is  ten  Chinese  feet  (ch'ek  or  ch'ik),  the  latter  being 
approximately  14  English  inches. 

Character.  A  Chinese  written  or  printed  word,  or  a  syllable  in 
a  compound  word. 

Chow  has  a  number  of  meanings  as  used  by  foreigners  in  China. 
It  is  not  a  Chinese  word.  Amongst  its  meanings  is  that  of 'food,'  or 
'to  eat.' 

Chunam.  A  mixture  of  lime  and  earth  beaten  into  a  hard  substance, 
and  used  in  place  of  cement  and  concrete. 

Coir  is  the  external  husk  of  the  cocoa-nut  palm  which  is  made 
into  ropes,  cordage,  brooms,  brushes,  etc. 

Colloquial  is  the  language  as  spoken,  differing  in  different 
parts  of  China.  In  character  colloquial  the  Chinese  characters  are 
employed,  or  adaptations  of  them.  In  romanised  colloquial  the  sound 
of  the  Chinese  is  represented  by  an  English  spelling,  i.e.  by  the 
letters  of  our  (or  Roman)  alphabet. 

Concubine.  A  secondary  wife  not  holding  legally  the  status  of 
the  chief  or  fully  legitimate  wife,  but  whose  children  are  legitimate 
and  who  shares  as  a  widow  in  her  husband's  estate.  Socially  she  is 
looked  on  as  a  wife,  and  there  is  no  stigma  attached  to  her  position, 
though  subordinate  and  inferior  to  the  first  wife,  and  a  position  not 
desired  by  well-to-do  people  for  their  daughters. 

813 


Things  Chinese 

District  is  a  division  of  country,  geographical  and  political, 
somewhat  equivalent  to  an  English  county,  and  occasionally  so 
styled.  A  district  city  is  the  capital  city  of  a  district  where  the 
district  magistrate  (the  ruler  of  the  district)  resides.  Its  analogue  in 
our  country  is  a  county  town. 

Dollar  always  means  a  silver  dollar  in  the  East,  constantly 
fluctuating  in  value,  but  worth  just  at  present  something  between 
is.  gd.  or  is.  i  id.  A  cent  is  1^,77  part  of  this. 

Dutch-wife  is  a  kind  of  pillow  or  frame-work,  made  of  bamboo, 
and  used  to  rest  the  legs  on  in  bed  in  hot  weather  to  keep  them 
cool. 

Fish-maws  are  the  stomachs  of  certain  kinds  of  fish  used  as 
food. 

Fu  means  a  city  of  the  second  order,  i.e.  a  prefectorial  one. 

Go-between  is  a  broker,  or  brokeress  in  betrothals,  marriages, 
business  transactions,  the  sale  and  purchase  of  slave-girls,  and  of 
women  and  boys,  etc. 

Governor.     Each  province  has  a  Governor. 

Hong  is  a  mercantile  firm. 

Hsiu-ts'ai  =  sm-ts'ai  =  saii  ts'oi  is  the  Chinese  B.A. 

Joss-paper  is  paper  stamped  with  holes  to  represent  money,  or 
folded  into  the  shape  of  sycee  and  scattered  on  the  roadside  at 
funerals  especially,  or  burned  in  worship  at  the  temples,  or  at  the 
front  doors  of  shops  or  houses,  the  incineration,  according  to  the 
Chinese  idea,  transmuting  it  into  real  money  in  the  spirit  world,  to 
which  it  is  wafted  by  the  flames.  Joss  is  from  Deos,  the  Portuguese 
for  God. 

Joss-sticks  =  incense-sticks.  The  various  substances  used  for 
the  manufacture  of  incense  are  made  into  a  paste  and  rolled  round 
the  upper  part  of  a  tiny  stick  of  bamboo.  The  lower  part  of  this, 
being  uncovered,  serves  to  support  it  upright  in  a  censer  full  of  ashes 
or  in  any  hole,  while  the  upper  part  burns  slowly,  giving  out  a  fragrant 
smell. 

Kam-kwat  is  a  fruit  of  the  orange  or  citron  tribe,  of  a  golden- 
reddish  colour,  and  about  the  size  of  half  a  finger. 

Kowtow.  The  nine  knockings  of  the  forehead  on  the  ground 
distributed  equally  over  three  kneelings  on  both  knees,  which  is  an 
act  of  worship  or  reverence  before  the  Gods  of  heaven  and  earth,  and 
an  act  of  reverence  or  respect  accorded  to  the  sovereign  officers  of 
Government.  It  is  also  rendered  to  parents  on  their  birthdays,  and 
to  superiors  in  age  or  station  by  their  inferiors  or  by  those  younger 
in  years. 

Kung-he"f-fat-ts'of  = '  Congratulations  :  may  you  gather  wealth.' 

Li  has  two  meanings  as  thus  spelled  in  English  :  first,  a 
Chinese  mile  =  -i  English  mile  ;  and  second,  iV  of  a  candarin.  Lis, 

8I4 


Glossary 


candarins,  mace,  and  taels  are   used   in   expressing  the   weights   of 
medicine  as  well  as  of  silver. 

Lictors.     See  Yamen. 

Mace,  ,'0  of  a  tael,  in  money  worth  14  cents  silver,  or  jid.  As 
a  measure  of  weight  a  trifle  less  than  7  of  an  ounce  avoirdupois. 

Meiling.  A  range  of  mountains  at  the  north  of  the  Canton 
province. 

Moon  =  Month.  The  same  word  is  used  in  Chinese  for  both 
moon  and  month,  being  also  employed  very  generally  by  the  foreign 
resident  in  China  to  designate  the  Chinese  month,  which  is  a  lunar 
one,  to  differentiate  it,  without  the  need  of  any  explanation,  from 
the  foreign  month. 

New  Dominion  =  Turkestan. 

New  Territory  =  The  latest  addition  of  land  to  the  Colony  of 
Hongkong,  leased  from  the  Chinese  Government. 

Pei  Yang  Squadron  is  the  Northern  Squadron. 

Provincial  Governor.     Every  province  has  a  Governor. 

Riverine  ports.  Usually  applied  to  the  treaty  ports,  on  the 
Yangtsz,  such  as  Chinkiang,  Kiukiang,  etc. 

Runners.     See  Yamen. 

Sampan.    A  small  boat. 

Sen,  or  rather  Shen,  or  Slieng.  means  city,  a  provincial  city. 

Shan  sz  are  the  gentry  and  elders  and  literary  graduates  of  a 
village,  or  of  a  locality  in  a  city.  They  are  invested  by  custom,  etc., 
with  a  quasi-authority  over  their  fellow-villagers  and  neighbours. 

Shen-nung.  A  mythical  (?)  emperor  of  China,  deified  as  the  God 
of  Agriculture. 

Soy.     A  sauce  made  from  beans,  largely  used  by  the  Chinese. 

Sycee.  Lumps  of  silver  cast  into  a  curious  shape  said  to  be  like 
a  shoe,  but  requiring  a  strong  imagination  to  see  the  likeness.  These 
were,  and  are  used  instead  of  coins,  as  the  Chinese  till  recently  have 
had  no  silver  coins  in  general  use. 

Tanka.  The  boat  population,  descendants  of  aborigines,  despised 
by  the  landsmen,  and  with  customs  and  habits  of  their  own,  scarcely 
ever  intermarrying  with  the  dwellers  on  shore. 

Taotai.     An  Intendant  of  Circuit. 

Tartar-General.  Generals  who  have  the  banner-men  (see 
Army),  etc.,  under  their  command  at  certain  important  cities,  such 
as  Canton,  Foochow,  and  Hangchow. 

Tiao.  A  string  of  cash=iooo,  worth  about  Si  silver,  or  from 
is.  Qd.  or  2s.  id.  English  money. 

Yamen.  An  official  residence,  comprising  within  its  boundaries 
prisons,  court-houses,  offices,  gardens,  etc.,  etc. 

Yamen  lictors.     A  species  of  police  attached  to  a  yamOn. 

8I5 


Things  Chinese 

Yame'n  Runners.  A  species  of  process-servers  or  bailifts,  etc., 
attached  to  a  yamen. 

Yen  is  the  Japanese  pronunciation  for  yuan  or  yiin,  which  is 
used  as  a  name  for  the  dollar  by  the  Chinese. 

Yin  and  Yang  =  Yum  and  yong.  The  two  principles  of  Nature 
from  which  everything  is  derived. 

Viceroy,  or  Governor-General,  has  rule  over  one  or  two  provinces 
usually. 

Wan  means  a  bay.     Kwongchowwan  =  Kvvongchow  Bay. 


PRINTED    AT    THK   KDINDURCH    PKESS,    Q    AND    II    YOUNG   STKEK.T. 

816 


A     001  115  135     4 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
University  of  California,  San  Diego 

DATE  DUE 


Cl  39 


UCSD  Libr. 


